United Church in the Valley: October 30, 2016Student Minister: Matthew Heesing

Reformation Sunday: “Clay and Constant Reformation!”

Scripture Reading:Jeremiah 18:1-11:These are the words which came to Jeremiah from God:“Go down to the potter’s house,and there I will give you my message.”

So I went down to the potter’s house, and saw the potter making clay pots on his pottery wheel. And whenever the clay would not take the shape he wanted,he would start again,shaping and forming the same clay into another pot.

Then, the word of the Lord came to me:“Can I not deal with you, Israel,” said the Lord,“as the potter deals with the clay? In the same way that this potter works his clay,I work on you, people of Israel. At any moment, I may threaten to uproot a nation or a kingdom,to pull down and destroy it. But if the nation which I have threatened turns back from its wicked ways,I will think twice and start over with them.At another time,I might decide to plant a people or a country,but if they don’t cooperate and won’t listen to me,I will think again, and give up on the plans I had for them. Go now,and tell the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalemthat these are the words of the Lord:I am the potter.”

Sermon on following page.

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499 years ago, on October 31, 1517,a monk named Martin Luther made a momentous decisionand nailed a document to the door of a cathedral.

The document in questioncontained ninety-five theses—or arguments—against certain ideas of the Roman Catholic Church—which, at the start of the sixteenth century,was the one and only church in Western Europe. At that point in time,the church supported the sale of indulgences:the idea that one could purchase forgiveness of sins from a priest.The Church also insisted that God’s love and gracehad to be gained by one’s good actions:the things we do, the deeds we perform.

Luther disagreed with these developments,and by posting his thoughts in a public place, he simply hoped to start a conversation.

But his ninety-five proposals quickly provoked tension and conflict,questioning and creativitythat would completely and profoundlytransform Christianity.

Today, we call this eventthe Protestant Reformation.

And every year,on the Sunday before October 31st,Protestant churches around the worldcelebrate Reformation Sunday:an opportunity to commemorate the past,reflect on the present,and remember the ways we are constantly reformedas a people of God and community of faith. But for those unfamiliar with history in the 1500’s,the Protestant Reformationwas exactly what the name suggests:a protest, and a re-formation.

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People like Martin Luther, or his wife, a former nun named Katherine von Bora,or John Calvin, Thomas Cranmer, or Katharina Schütz-Zell,and countless other individuals“accused the church of their dayof being too rich, too political,”1

too closely tied to kings and princes,and too detached from what God intended.

These men and women raised a whole series of questions,challenging the church’s authority, tradition, and theology. “This is not right!” they proclaimed:God’s grace cannot be earned by money or merit.God’s Word, the Bible,is for everyone to read and study, not just the few who know Latin or Greek.God’s call to serve includes everyone,not only clergy and priests who get paid.

And God’s love is given to all people—it can’t be controlled by those with power,it can’t be obstructed or taken away,it can’t be secured through saints or sacraments, but is freely offered for all, found through faith alone.

These sixteenth-century individualsfirmly believed that the church—the family of God—needed re-forming. That the shape—the form—of Christianitywas crooked and contorted, warped and awry, and far from the model that God had in mind. It needed correcting.It needed reconstruction.It needed reformation—re-formation—to go back to the beginning, and give it another try.

And because of that,we gather here today.

One could argue that without the Reformation,our worship service wouldn’t be in English, but in Latin.

1 Diana Butler Bass

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We wouldn’t have our own Bibles, in our own language, to read and explore as individuals. We wouldn’t believe that God is with us, always,no matter what we do or say;that no matter who we are,we can walk in God’s way. Today, we know, that as we are, we are enough; and we are all equal—whether clergy or congregation, no one is closer to God.

499 years later,from Martin Luther’s momentous decision,we are free to keep asking questions,to keep wondering and challengingto keep reforming as we faithfully respond to God’s guidance and Word.

Because the reformation—the re-formation—continues.

Martin Luther and his fellow Protestantswere not the first people to rethink the Christian faith,and they were also far from the last. “They knew that they hadn’t gotten it perfect forever.They knew that the things they said and did and wrote and decided would need to be revisited. Rethought. Reworked.”2

Reformed even furtherfor another place and time.

As Karl Barth reflected in 1947,the church is reformedand always being reformed by God. We aren’t finished. God’s not finished—for God is the one who ultimatelyshapes us and shows usthe way we should go.

2 Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis, 12

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God is the one guiding the process,like a potter at the wheel,working with some clay.

That’s the image we find from Jeremiah,written thousands of years before Martin Luther.

Jeremiah gets a message from God to “go down to the potter’s house”—so he goes down to the local pottery shop,and sees an artistmaking pots of clay.

And as the potter worked at the wheel,Jeremiah noticed that whenever the clay would not take the desired shapethe potter would start over,sculpting and forming the same clay into another pot.

Sometimes the clay gets all crooked and contorted,warped and awry,far from the model the potter has in mind—yet the spoiled clay is not cast aside or discarded,but simply reformed.

What a beautiful image.

God says to Jeremiah that Israel—the people of God—are like the clay in the potter’s hands. “Can I not deal with you, Israel,” says the Lord,“as the potter deals with the clay? In the same way that this potter works his clay,I work on you, people of Israel.”

And the people of Israel,as this precious piece of clay,have a choice—they can be cooperative and open,accepting and adapting to the potter’s actions.Or, they can choose to be stubborn and unresponsive,ignoring the potter’s original vision.But either way,it’s always a work in progress.

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No matter what,there is potential and possibility,for God will continue to work with his people,re-shaping, starting overand making all things new.

Even when the clay potbecomes a completely failure,even when God’s peopleneed correcting and reconstructionthe divine potter doesn’t give up.

So down at the potter’s house,as the potter takes the same piece of clay,patiently starting over and over,steadily shaping and sculpting and working,Jeremiah watches,as a re-formation unfolds.

People of God,what re-formation is unfolding today?

On this Reformation Sunday,in what ways might God be re-forming us?

Last week, we began a discussion of the General Council remits:decisions to restructure our entire denomination,to re-form how we functionas a wider family of faith.

Next month, the General Board will be having budget talks:setting priorities, shaping and sculpting our financial future.

In February, we’ll have our Annual General Meeting:What might we need to challenge?What might we need to change? How will we be open and responsiveto the ways God is working and craftingthis community of faith?

499 years ago,on October 31, 1517,Martin Luther started a Protestant Reformation.

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Today, this morning,October 30, 2016,we celebrate Reformation Sunday—but every Sunday,we are formed and re-formed by the God who doesn’t give up,by the patient potter who always sees potential,who never stops starting overbut continues working with his precious clay:a constant re-formationof the family of God.

May we respond with faith and courage.

Thanks be to God.

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