Henrietta United Church of Christ

Rev. David Inglis October 28, 2005

2 Corinthians 4:7-11

Creating a Hopeful Future Today–2. “Working the Clay”

It sounds like Paul was having a bad day when he wrote those words. “We are afflicted in every way...perplexed...persecuted...always carrying in the body the death of Jesus.”   From what we know of Paul’s life, it was probably more like a bad year–of arrests, whippings, imprisonment, shipwrecks.  Would you want to trade your life for Paul’s?  Well, amazingly, Paul wouldn’t have wanted to trade his for yours either.  He never felt like a powerless victim of life, circumstances, or even his persecutors.  No matter what seeming “misfortunes” happened to him, he was always given what he needed to turn it into a gift, to see how it worked for good, and even to “count it all as joy,” as he said.  For Paul, hope wasn’t just waiting for better days in the future.  Hope is what empowered him to live courageously and creatively in the present, which then set in motion new ripples of spiritual energy that were able to create a future that wasn’t determined by the past.  And those ripples of faith, hope and love are still washing up on the shores of our lives today.

Paul had the ability to do this because he never lost sight of this secret: “We have this treasure in clay jars.”  He knew that he wasn’t just his clay jar–he wasn’t just his body, and his life wasn’t just his circumstances. He was given his body so that the treasure part of him could engage with the world, even with its trials and hardships, and so that he could take these raw materials of his life and create something that reflected the treasure of his true spiritual nature. So, though  He was afflicted in every way, he was not crushed; though perplexed, he was not driven to despair; though persecuted, he was not forsaken; though struck down, he was not destroyed; and even though he carried in his  body the death of Jesus, the life of Jesus was made more visible in his mortal flesh.”  Through it all the treasure wasn’t diminished or destroyed. It only grew stronger and more beautiful, until it reflected light like a diamond.

 Listen to the words of a modern Paul, Paul Ferrini, who heard Jesus’ spirit saying these words to him:

If you want to discover your integrity, you need to stop pretending to be a victim. You need to stop pretending that you weren’t given the right tools. You need to take the clay and work with it.... It would be easy for the potter to reject the clay as inferior and unworthy of him. But were he to do so, his life would have no meaning. He is not defined by the clay, but by what he chooses to do with it.  The clay gets molded by your willingness to stay in your process. In your struggle and in your surrender, the clay gets molded.¹

If we carried this awareness into our life, we couldn’t be victims any more.  We’d grow into being co-creators with God. 

A week or two ago, Ted Potter, Brian Ritchie and I were talking about this power God gives us to turn victimhood around into co-creating.  Brian talked about a person at his job who seemed to make it a habit of finding fault with other people and making a big deal out of their shortcomings.  He felt like a victim–until he began using this challenge to strengthen the treasure in him.  He wanted to share his experience with you himself today, but he has to work today.  So Jerry Hawk is going to play Brian and Cheryl is going to play his co-worker “Sandy.” 

  Brian: Hey, Sandy, what was that new form Jim was saying we have to fill out to report our overtime?

Sandy: Brian, don’t you pay attention to anything around here?  If you read your email once in awhile, you’d know these things.

Brian: Sandy, I’m not in the office every day.  I’ve got scads of emails to catch up on.  I guess I just hadn’t come to it yet.

Sandy: Well, it’s not my fault if you can’t keep up with your own email.  I think that’s pretty rude of you to bother me about something like that, just because you can’t manage your own email! 

Freeze-frame

Pastor: Now Brian, how do you want to respond to her?

Brian: Want to respond?  You don’t want to know how I want to respond!  At least not here in church!

Pastor: Yeah I do.  What’s your natural reaction?

Brian: Okayyyy.  You inconsiderate, nit-picking little scum-ball of a person! If I weren’t such a gentleman, I’d take that putrid, pretentious scarf of yours and shove it down your venomous, rotten throat... (begins moving toward her).

Sandy suddenly comes out of her freeze frame and lunges towards Brian’s throat.

Pastor: Hold it!  Back to your positions. (Freeze frame positions again.) I see that’s not a real productive solution, and besides, you’d never get away with it..  Brian, try adding some smarts to your response and see what you come up with.

Brian (slyly): Oh, yeah! (Both come out of freeze frame and interact).  Okay, Ms. Perfect.  Wasn’t that you I saw going into the ladies’ room last Friday at 3:00 and coming out at 3:30 with all that makeup on, and slipping out early, after having spent a very long time clinching the 4:00 “deal” with your “customer” by going, “Mmmm-hmmmm,” “sweeeeeet,” and “I’d loooove to”?  Maybe I need to let Max know what a productive worker you’ve been lately.

Sandy: You wouldn’t!  Well, maybe I need to tell Max how much your computer gets used for computer games.

Brian: That’s only on my breaks!

Sandy: Can you prove it?

Pastor: Okay, time to freeze again. (Back to freeze positions.)  We can see where this is going.  Each one is determined to make a victim out of the other.

Sandy (coming out of freeze): Excuse me, but that’s not true. I’m not trying to make him a victim.  I’m just trying to keep from being a victim–of him.

Brian: Same here.

Pastor: Well, Sandy, how about when you ridiculed Brian for not reading his email?

Sandy (reflectively): Well, I suppose if I keep putting everyone else down a peg or two, maybe I don’t end up looking so bad by comparison.

Pastor: That’s very insightful.  So you both end up creating a toxic atmosphere for each other and for yourselves because you’re both afraid of being made to look bad. Brian, since this is your story, what else could you create out of this situation if you get in touch with the treasure that you carry inside yourself?

Brian: Well, instead of seeing her as my enemy, I could see her as my teacher.

Pastor: Your teacher?  How?

Brian: Well, she’s teaching me patience, for one thing.  Every time she attacks me, I have a new opportunity to learn to step back from the situation, not react out of defensiveness, and see what’s really going on.

Pastor: And what might you see if you did that? 

Brian: Well, maybe I’d see that I feel defensive because I question my own adequacy.  And maybe I’d see that Sandy’s attacks are really her own desperate attempts to keep from feeling inadequate. 

Pastor: So what might you do with this awareness?

Brian: Well, if I remember who I am, a treasured soul who’s in this world learning as I go along, and if I try to keep grounding myself in God, I can start acting out of a place of love instead of inadequacy or fear.  Then I can see her as a soul who’s learning as she goes along too, and maybe needs a little help learning that she’s not as inept as she’s afraid she is. 

Pastor: Do you want to try seeing what you might create with the awareness of who you are and who she is?

Brian: I’ll try.  (To Sandy) I’m sorry I bothered you about that overtime sheet.  I do tend to get behind on my emails.  Somehow you seem to manage to stay on top of things pretty well.  I’ve noticed how you stay organized, get right to the heart of the matter, don’t waste time on distractions, and even have time to spare at the end of the week.  I guess I could learn a thing or two from watching how you work.

Sandy: Well, thanks, Brian.  Nobody else seems to appreciate my work around here. Look, why don’t you take my overtime sheet. Like you say, I doubt I’m going to need it, and I can always print out another one if I do.

Brian: Thanks, Sandy! I really appreciate that.

Now close your eyes and think about some challenging person or situation you are dealing with in your life.  Picture yourself holding a lump of clay in your hands.  This is the raw material of this situation–the people involved, the parts of them you see, the parts you don’t see, the hidden treasure in you and in them.  God has given you the ability, not to be a victim of this, but to shape it and mold it into something that reflects your true nature as a precious soul.  We so often think of hope as waiting for something better to come along or us.  But you hold the power of hope in your hands.   By the power of God working in you, you can take this clay that’s in your hands, add faith and love, and create a hopeful future...today.