©Thomas B. Cundiff
Jeremiah 18: 1-11
Luke 14: 25-33
Jeremiah 18: 1-11
1The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2“Come,
go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” 3So
I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4The
vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked
it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.
5Then the word of the LORD came to me: 6Can
I not do with you, O house of Israel Israel Judah Jerusalem
Luke 14: 25-33
25Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he
turned and said to them, 26“Whoever comes to
me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and
sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. 27Whoever
does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first
sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? 29Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to
finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, 30saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to
finish.’ 31Or what king, going out to
wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he
is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty
thousand? 32If he cannot, then, while
the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of
peace. 33So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do
not give up all your possessions.
I.
INTRODUCTION – JEREMIAH and
SYMBOLS
Are you ready? Are
you re-energized from summer activities to re-commit to a host of activities
through worship, mission, fellowship and sharing the gospel with others? A new season upon us. Are you ready? Several exciting things are being planned.
The Mission Team is in
conversations about helping to support the Henry Marsh Habitat for Humanity
Endowment Fund…..you will be hearing about this in just a couple of weeks.
Also from the Mission
Team, we have invited Tiffanny Goodman to speak on October 7th. She is the local playwrite – her cast
rehearsing in our church on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, the production
“Speak Up! Speak Out!, her cry as a
mother against violence….a story of her son’s murder – Stèvon – in
March of 2009.
For the first time in recent history, on Sunday, October
28th, we will move our worship to the First Presbyterian Church helping
them celebrate their 175th Anniversary….the Alma College Alma College
Exciting things are happening in our church. And it is time for to open our minds and
hearts to look for the spiritual food and the enriching experiences that will
build us up and doing Christ’s work as the Warren Avenue Presbyterian Church.
Our stewardship theme this year will be “Simple
Gifts”. Now is the time for us to
reflect on the “Simple blessings” received from God that allow us to be here
today. Packed calendars in hand, there is
so much we want to accomplish in the name of our Lord. But let’s slow down a bit. Lets look at the simple gifts along with
spiritual food God provides that help us move forward in positive, intentional
ways in doing the work of our Lord.
Each week – as a preacher – I look to scripture for
inspiration that will support us with all that is going on in our lives. So this morning and with scripture in hand: What
simple things do we learn from the prophet Jeremiah?
Jeremiah is speaking to us as a prophet from roughly 600
years before Christ came to this world.
Jeremiah likes to use symbolism to communicate his points. Today he says: “I am the potter and you are the clay”.
Symbolically, who is the
potter? The Potter is God! The Spirit of God who gives us breath and
life…..the Creator God who molds us and makes each of us special?
The Son of God who helps us live and move forward in living our
lives. God is the potter who formed everything
around us – as the hymn sings to us:
Earth and all stars, loud rushing planets, sing to the Lord a new
song! Hail, wind and rain, loud blowing
snow storm, sing to the Lord a new song!
Earth and All Stars, Hymn #458
Another of my favorite
hymns: :
God who stretched the spangled heavens infinite in time and place….
Flung the suns in burning radiance through the silent
fields of space…. Hymn #268
The potter – God – is breathing
life and depth and breadth, color and texture, taste and smell, touch and sound -- into all
we experience in life?
And we are the clay. Homosapiens! Human beings!
Breathing and thinking, seeing and feeling, praying and worshipping -- the
depth and breadth of all God is molding in this precious life God has
given us.
And we cannot forget this
reality in contemplating clay….life is pliable and easy to mold… complete with blemishes,
imperfections….pottery that sometimes breaks.
Things sometimes break in our lives.
But God, the potter, is always ready to fix things, restore things, re-mold
us so that we can start each day fresh and new – so that we can start today
resh and new!.
That’s what this fall celebration is all about. God is ready and willing to work with us to
mold new and fresh things in our lives and in the life of this church. We are in this place, this time and hour,
this sanctuary full of symbols that remind us what we are all about.
Two symbols before us that I have focused on in the past
in my preaching: THE CROSS AND THE
TABLE.
More than inanimate or lifeless fixtures, these are living
symbols speak to us and help us grow as persons. They help us grow as Christ’s church.
II.
THE
SYMBOL OF THE CROSS
THE CROSS
is the most prominent of all the symbols before us. The CROSS is central to our worship.
From time
to time I am asked why we don’t have the “Crucifix” in our church? The crucifix has Jesus hanging on the
cross. While we believe Jesus suffered and died for
us and our sins, his life is our focus.
His life as a human who lived with us thousands of years ago and his
life with us today as the risen Christ in our midst is our focus.
The cross
is now empty because Jesus came down from the cross; raised to live eternally
with God; raised to live eternally
with each of us giving us the same promise, the same hope in the
resurrected life and hope in eternal life.
Another way
of describing the cross as a symbol…one of my favorite images that emerge from
the Ten Commandments and the Great Commandment of Jesus:
You shall the love God with heart and
mind and soul, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Two foci:
Love of God & Love of Neighbor
The
vertical plane of the cross is God’s reaching down to us it love us … giving us the gift of Jesus
Christ … giving us all good, simple blessings – life itself – from the hand of
the potter/God. Within this vertical
plane of the cross is our reaching up to God in worship and praise for all God
has entrusted our care. This vertical place
represent our desire to nurture a close relationship with God…reaching up with
this personal prayer I heard this past week and invite you to pray:
“God – give
me strength I need to be
the person you want me to be; the person you need me to be!”
The
horizontal plane of the cross is our reaching out to others to share with the same love God
has offered each of us, personally, through Jesus life and death and
resurrection. I envision in this horizontal
plane Jesus reaching with open hands to accept and love each and every one
of us – open hands because God never approaches us with anger, clinched fists. We may be judged for what we do in our lives
but always with open and friendly and loving hands – Jesus takes hold of our
hands in teaching us how to live as his disciples.
Crosses are found in our lives in many different places
and remind us that Jesus is also to be found in our lives, different contexts, in
many different places. We wear crosses. I like to display crosses in my home and
study. The cross means different things
to different people…..so as you gaze upon this large cross or encounter smaller
crosses in a host of locations….ask yourself:
What is God saying to you today?
In what ways is the living Christ going to guide you this day? With open hands, in what ways, the name of
Jesus Christ, can I share the love of God with someone else this day?
This Communion Table is another symbol before always
before us in our worship. Beneath this
cross of Jesus, this table represents God’s bringing us sustenance, food,
nourishment in Christ’s spirit each and every week. This is a SACRED table with God always reaching
down inviting us to be in fellowship with our Lord.
In the Presbyterian church we don’t have altars. Altars are for sacrificing gifts to God….and
we don’t do that in our church. (We
don’t sacrifice lambs on the altar—that’s a different kind of table). This table represents the common meal Jesus
shared with his disciples….a meal that reminds us of Jesus’ communal meal the
last day of his life. It is a table that
reminds us giving us strength to move forward in living our lives as disciples….the
horizontal reach from the cross that touches each of us.
Call me an
old-fashioned pastor, but I adhere to the tradition that this table needs to be
set before us every Sunday reminding us that Jesus wishes for us to always be
ready to share a meal with our Lord…. whether we actually receive communion or
not.
By the way, don’t you
love the way Isabella Dominguez has brought texture and color to
the table with seasonal runners and symbols of the good earth around us. The table, with the chalice and shell, represent
the two sacraments we observe in the Presbyterian Church – Baptism and
communion. All of us as members of
the church are baptized into the family that together-gathers for worship. Baptized in Christ, we are invited today to receive
the spiritual food of bread and cup.
Just as the
Communion Table is more than a symbol, the elements of the bread and cup are
more than symbols. We actually consume the
bread and juice asking God to enrich us in His spirit and in fellowship with
His Son.
Eating the bread and juice is more than a symbolic
gesture. We are receiving , through
faith, Christ into our lives. We don’t just
think about eating the bread or drinking the cup. We don’t just think about what we are
going to do to share God’s love wiith others.
Through this sacrament, together, we become the living body of
Christ—the Church. We become the
hands and feet, arms and legs – sharing God’s love with others just as Jesus
shares his love with us.
IV
Back to
thinking about Jeremiah and all that God wishes to MOLD into our being as women
and men – as disciples of Jesus Christ.
The cross
and the table go together. They are
related. The cross and table have
meaning for us as we begin this new fall season in the life of the church. God is with us. Jesus is in fellowship with us. God the potter is prepared to mold us and
motivate us as Christ guides us in doing HIS work this coming year.
My invitation
today: Make some plans. As we break bread together and drink from
the cup of salvation, look for God in your planning. Ask for Christ’s help in organizing you
days. Ask along with your lord, today,
what’s the most important thing for me to be doing? In the name of God in fellowship with the
living Christ, what comes next as I order things in my life?
Friends in
Christ, as we begin another season in working together, may God move in and
with us as we break bread and drink from the cup—basking in the shadow of the
cross. May God continue to mold us as
disciples as God reaches to us, and as we reach to God….and as we reach out to
others with open, loving and caring hands -- sharing God’s love with others.
May God
bless us and our worship and these sacred symbols of faith.
AMEN.
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