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A Boat with No Oars
Collage by Beth A. Richardson It has been a year since our lives were upended by Read More
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J. Philip Wogaman | Read Jeremiah 18:6-11
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Sign Up TodayJeremiah sees God at work in our lives and invites us to respond. God’s presence draws us into deep communion with God and the loving purposes that infuse all of creation. We may be tempted to read this assertion in individualistic terms—God the potter seeking to make something beautiful out...
O God, we trust that you are the God of all the ages and that your purposes will ultimately prevail everywhere. Grant us your light in the presence of so much evil and confusion, and make us humble about our own righteousness. Amen.
Jeremiah brings another warning of impending judgment. If the people will not turn to the Lord, God will break the nation and reshape it, just as a potter breaks down and reshapes clay on a wheel. The psalmist praises God for God’s intimate knowledge of each one of us. Even from the moment of conception, God knows us and has a plan for our lives. Philemon is often overlooked, but it packs a punch. A text that some used in the past to justify slavery teaches a very different message. Paul warns Philemon not to enslave Onesimus again but to receive him back as a brother. Secular power structures have no place in God’s kingdom. In Luke, Jesus uses striking examples to teach us that the life of faith cannot be lived well with half-hearted commitment.
Read Jeremiah 18:1-11. As clay, how can you better respond to the Potter’s guiding hand?
Read Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18. God knows you better than you know yourself, yet God has given you the ability to make your own decisions. How do you respond to God?
Read Philemon 1-21. How do you honor the full humanity of those who serve you through their work?
Read Luke 14:25-33. What does it mean for you to take up the cross in your life?
Respond by posting a prayer.
I join many of those who will pray for you as you seek to discern what you are called to be at this moment. May God grant you the courage to fulfill that calling. May we all open our eyes and see the misery, open our ears and hear the cries of God’s people, and, like God through the Lord Jesus Christ, be incarnate amongst them.”
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