Pastor Don's Ponderings

Jeremiah received the Lord’s word: Go down to the potter’s house, and I’ll give you instructions about what to do there. So I went down to the potter’s house; he was working on the potter’s wheel.  But the piece he was making was flawed while still in his hands, so the potter started on another, as seemed best to him.  Then the Lord’s word came to me: House of Israel,  can’t I deal with you like this potter, declares the Lord?  Like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in mine, house of Israel! Jeremiah 18:1-6 CEB   The good news is this: We are in God’s hands. We may be cracked, flawed, weak, unprepared, seemingly unusable, unstable or even outright broken, yet we are still in God’s hands. I don’t know about you, but I am clinging to that good news with all my heart, mind and spirit!! Pulling down statues does not change history. Changing your heart and being molded by the Potter transforms the present and the future. Covid-19 exploits our weaknesses...

"The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," (I Cor. 12.29a NRSV) Watching teams of horses or mules work together fascinates me. Whether it is a team of Clydesdales plowing a field or the huge team of Clydesdales which pull the Anheuser Busch Wagon around Busch Stadium, whether it is a team of Belgiums pulling a corn picker in the Fall or Percherons pulling a hayfork up a barn, it never ceases to amaze me how they can work together - and work together with the person driving them. In musing over that thought, it occurs to me that we may have lost that notion in these days, with the animals we raise and train - and with the people standing right beside us: We all have to work together and have need of each other. Can you imagine how a field would be plowed if one of the horses told the other they weren't needed? Can you imagine where the horses would be if the person walking behind didn't hold and guide the plow? And, for that matter, where wo...