Sermon – Nutana Park Mennonite Church – June 13, 2010
Themes: Created and thrown
Scripture: Romans 12:9-13
Jeremiah 18: 1-6
Wendy Harder
There is an interesting term that is used when talking about pottery – to throw. A potter sits down at a pottery wheel and throws a piece of pottery. A potter shapes the piece of pottery that they are making. Over and over, the clay is worked. If you add too much water, the clay becomes too soft and does not keep it’s shape. If you don’t support the base and cut away too much, the sides flop over and it will not hold it’s structure. I took a pottery class this year, together with Carolene Funk, and this was something that I seemed to struggle with. Just the right amount of water, and handling is needed. No piece is the same. Each piece is unique. It does not help to look over at the person working on the wheel next to you because your piece will not turn out like theirs. I can admire the piece that Carolene, has made and wish that my pottery was just like hers, but that is not for me to decide. When I first started, I hoped by sitting next to her that I would learn by osmosis and my piece would turn out as beautiful as hers did. It did not matter that I was a beginner and she had been taken pottery for a number of years. I wanted to skip the learning step. As I work on my own piece of pottery in front of me, so many factors come into play that shaped my piece. If I am too rough, the clay goes off center and might fly right off the wheel. If I am too gentle, nothing happens and it stays as a lump of clay. Sometimes, even after I have classes of experience, there are some days that nothing works out and I try again tomorrow.
In the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah the prophet visits a potter’s house and walks away with a message. Jeremiah has a tough job. He is to prophecy the destruction of Israel unless they turn from what they are doing and acknowledge God in their life. No one likes the job of telling someone that they are not acting appropriately. You just don’t know how the hearer will react. Well in this case, they did not react well. When one of the chief officers of the temple heard about the destruction – he had Jeremiah beaten and put in stocks. It was thought by the Jewish tradition that he was stoned to death. The Israelites are being hard headed and insisting of doing their own thing. They do not acknowledge that God is in control. If God is the potter, we are being shaped and moulded by God. The pottery’s wheel is the wheel of life. Things happen in life and we need to adapt. The potter starts out with an idea but circumstances change and the vessel now is too big and it becomes a bowl. This was something that happened to me all the time. I set out to make a mug but then the piece became too wide and suddenly I was making a bowl. Or the air was too humid and my piece did not dry enough to trim it and because I was not patient enough, part of it flopped over and so I had to make a new lid and change the outlook of the container. I have learnt patience and delight. I have felt frustration and joy. I would like to think that this is similar to how God feels when He is watching us make our mistakes, start over again, stubbornly and with determination try and control everything around us. Or He watches some of us give up and just sit there like lumps of clay. It gives me hope to read in verse four, “but the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. God, as the potter, does not want to give up on us. He wanted to give the Israelites another chance by sending Jeremiah. If only they would listen. If only we would listen. The wheel of life goes around and we are shaped into something that is different from what was originally set out, but we are still being moulded and shaped and thrown.
I counted how many youth have come through our church doors during the time that I was here. Over the span of 17 years, 113 teenagers have been shaped by us in some way. I have observed much over that time period. Each youth was different, each came with different gifts, each reacted differently to what the world dealt them. Some went through the rebellious stage, some felt their parents compared them to their friend’s children, some wanted nothing to do with the church, some went through the drinking stage in grade 9, or in grade 12 or not at all, some were forced to grow up quickly because of the choices their parents made or because of their own choices, some prayed freely and others struggled to pray, some opened up easy and others wanted to curl up into a ball and shut off the world.
When I sit down to throw a piece of pottery, there is uncertainty about how a piece is going to turn out even when I have an idea in mind when I started. I started youth ministry not even being able to fathom the life giving experience that I would be shaped into. It all started 17 years ago when I did not even want to open the door and walk through. Many of you have heard the story before. I just came back from Europe and being on Intermenno (with Patrick) and I was looking for a side job while I went to University. Vern called my house because he heard that my sister was going to be living in Saskatoon. Well Angie was moving to Calgary and so told him he had the wrong sister because it was me that was going to be living in Saskatoon. So I got on the phone and talked to Vern and I think I told him that I wasn’t really interested. But then I got off the phone and I talked to my mom about it. She said – “You know Wendy, you prayed for a job, and now here is one being offered to you and your turning it down without even considering it?” So I said “Fine, I will check it out.” Well I came for an interview and the rest is history. So here I was a farm girl from a small church coming to a city church and hanging out teenagers. Why would I want to do that? I didn’t even like teenagers, I was barely recovering from being one myself! This was the start of a 17 year journey. One that I did not even know that I was on. Now I am having to let go of something that I thought I did not event want to grab onto in the first place? This has been an interesting concept for me to explore as I have grown in ministry. I have learned to embrace who I am as a pastor and to accept that God’s love flows through me to others. I have learned to accept that when I pray and people hear the words that I say, they are not my words but words that God wants them to hear. I have learned that I can’t lose sight of seeing the potential of the people around me. It has been my privilege to have been apart of the formative years of the lives of your teenagers.
You as a congregation have loved me, have made me feel cherished and this is what you expected me to do for your children. I have done this to the best of my ability with God’s help. Loving the youth has been a gift to me. I sometimes wonder, how can one person have so much love? The love is from God. It is not me, but the love comes from God. It is knowing that I am loved, have been sacrificed for, have been offered grace. I need to share this gift with others. Henri Nouwen talks about being beloved in the context of a society that does not embrace us or makes us feel like we are not wanted. Although this has not been my experience, I recognize there are those that struggle their whole life to feel loved and accepted. And I quote:
“ In the midst of this extremely painful reality, we have to dare to reclaim the truth that we are God’s chosen ones, even when our world does not choose us. As long as we allow our parents, siblings, teachers, friends and lovers to determine whether we are chosen or not, we are caught in the net of a suffocating world that accepts or rejects us according to its own agenda or effectiveness and control. Often this reclaiming is an arduous task, a lifelong work because the world persists in its efforts to pull us into the darkness of self-doubt, low self-esteem, self-rejection, and depression. And this because it is as insecure, fearful, self- deprecating people that we can most easily be used and manipulated by the powers surrounding us. The great spiritual battle begins – and never ends – with the reclaiming of our chosenness. Long before any human being saw us, we are seen by God’s loving eyes. Long before anyone heard us cry or laugh, we are heard by our God who is all ears for us. Long before any person spoke to us in this world, we are spoken to by the voice of eternal love. Our preciousness, uniqueness and individuality are not given to us by those who meet us in clock-time – our brief chronological existence – but by the One who has chosen us with an everlasting love, a love that existed from all eternity and will last through all eternity” (Life of the Beloved, Henri Nouwen, p. 57,58)
Nouwen goes on to say that it is because we know that we are chosen that we have a deep desire to help others also discover that they are chosen. It is not that we are more valuable then others, our chosenness helps us see the beauty and uniqueness in others. There is a brokenness in each of us that crying to be heard. There is a longing to be listened to. There is a need to be understood. There is a pleading to have someone walk with us. As we walk along side each other, in our brokenness and our chosenness, we realize our vulnerabilities, and our weaknesses. I have carried both of these with me as I ministered to youth. Most days I felt that this is where God wanted me but lets be realistic, I was working with teenagers, and they have a mind of their own. Just recently, I was leading Bible study on a Tuesday night and I had my own agenda in mind of what I was trying to accomplish. Well, I am not sure whether or not it was the full moon or what they had for supper but there was no way the senior high were going to discuss what I had prepared. It is quite a humbling experience as I realize I am not in control and some days it does not matter how much experience I have.
You as a congregation have loved me, have made me feel cherished me and now you have to let me go. I am not sure what that will look like. I am not sure where I am going but one thing I am certain about – God is preparing me for something. That might sound strange, especially for someone like myself, who is a planner, likes to be in control. This reminds me a poem that my sister Audrey found a long time ago about riding a bike with God.
At first I saw God as my observer, my judge, keeping track of the things I did wrong, so as to know whether I merited heaven or hell when I die. He was out there – sort of like the queen. I recognized his picture when I saw it, but didn’t really know him. But later on, when I came to know God it seemed as though life was rather like a bike ride. But it was a tandem bike, and I noticed that God was in the back helping me pedal. I don’t know just when it was that he suggested we change places, but life has not been the same since. Life with God, that is. He makes life exciting. When I had control, I knew the way. It was rather boring, but predictable. It was the shortest distance between two points. But when he took the lead, he knew delightful long-cuts, up mountains, and through rocky places and at breakneck speeds! It was all I could do to hang on!!! Even though it looked like madness, he said, “Pedal!” I was worried and anxious and asked, “Where are you taking me?” He laughed and didn’t answer, and I started to learn to trust. I forgot my boring life and entered into the adventure. And when I ‘d say, “I’m scared”, he’d lean back and touch my hand. He took me to people with gifts that I needed, gifts of healing, acceptance and joy. They gave me their gifts to take on my journey, our journey – God’s and mine. And then we were off again. He said, “Give the gifts away; they’re extra baggage, too much weight.” So I did, to the people we met, and I found that in giving, I received, and still our burden was light. I did not always trust him at first to take in control of my life. I though he’d wreck it, but he knows bike secrets, knows how to make it bend to take sharp corners, jump to clear high rocks, fly to shorten scary passages. And I am learning to shut up and pedal in the strangest places, and I’m beginning to enjoy the view and the cool breeze on my face with my delightful constant companion, my God. And when I’m sure I just can’t do any more, he just smiles and says… “Pedal.” Author unknown
I have had a sense over this past year that I need to let go. I have sat with the uncertainty of my future for a number of months now, knowing that I do not have another job lined up and I am not enrolled in school. I will be here for a few more weeks and then my time will end with the youth with our mystery camping trip. I will be taking the rest of July off as holidays. I know that I need a time of rest and a time of discernment in regards to what I am going to do next. We talk about trusting God. That is what we do at church. We talk about God being in control and so I am letting go and praying that when the time is right, the door will open. I may show up at church here every once in a while but I want to give the new youth pastor space to get to know my kids.
I have fondly called the youth group my kids. That started a long time ago and it has stuck. When someone asked me if I have children, I usually respond “Yes, about 40 of them but I have not had to give birth to them. So now it is time to recognize that my kids have only been entrusted into my care for a short while. You (look at the youth group) are not Wendy’s youth group, you are not even Nutana Park’s youth group, you are God’s youth group. You are being trained and built up to serve God, so even if I leave, you need to continue to make every effort to live for God. God has placed us in relationships so that we learn more about ourselves. Now you have the opportunity to embrace a new youth pastor and to learn from each other. They may do things different then I did and that is okay. They will have different gifts. They will have as much to learn from you as you from them.
And so we come back to the potter, God is the potter and we are the clay. I am being created and thrown. You are being shaped and thrown. We have been together on this journey for a while and now are our paths diverge. Our mandate is still the same as Romans 12 tells us. Whether we live in Saskatoon, in Rosthern, in Toronto or across the ocean. God has shaped us to love sincerely. To be devoted to one another in brotherly and sisterly love. To honour one another. To pray regularly. To share and to practise hospitality. We can do this while we are together and while we are apart. We want this of our young people, for those that are just graduating and sticking around and for those that move away to school or to work or to travel.
I want to end with a quote that I found a long time ago. I am not sure who wrote it.
Some people come into our lives and quickly go
Some people stay awhile and leave footprints on our hearts
and we are never quite the same.
Thank you to each of you for imprinting yourselves on my heart. Thank you for showing me God’s love and being Christ’s examples in the world.