“For A Time Such As This”
2 Corinthians 4:7-18
Based on a sermon given by The Rev. Dr. Candace L. Lewis
Recently, a therapist was asked to give a pulse on where she thought people were as we are posting almost year two of this season we are navigating.
These are just the highlights of what she said:
1. Every single person is having a hard time.
2. Motivation is generally low.
3. Lack of sunshine is actually getting to people.
4. Pandemic burnout is real.
5. For many, the grief, the death and the loss of this season hurts.
6. Small tasks can feel huge.
7. Moving our bodies helps.
8. These feelings aren’t going to last forever.
9. There is no shame in medication.
10. Finding just one thing each day to enjoy helps.
11. Planning something to look forward to helps.
12. Making connections helps.
These are some of the ideas the
therapists are recognizing that are really disquieting in this season.
When I was praying about the message for this morning I thought of this Scripture Passage in 2 Corinthians 4.
“We have this treasure in jars of clay” and we are to remember that we are clay.
And here’s the thing about clay:
If you drop it—it impacts it.
(drop the clay)
Clay.
We are like clay…
…we are very malleable.
We can stretch.
But we can be torn.
We can be impacted by the things that are happening to us.
If we were in a rainstorm today and water were to fall on this clay, we would be impacted.
We need to realize that we are like clay.
We might feel like we are all together on one occasion.
(start putting the clay pot together)
But let something happen to us and we fall apart.
And this is because we are like clay.
We are fragile.
We are worn.
Outside elements impact us.
We can become hardened by elements…
…we can also be softened by elements…
…so can we just accept the fact that we are like clay?
Let’s give ourselves permission to be like the clay that we are.
And when we begin to see ourselves like clay we can hear what the Scripture says.
It says, “We have this treasure in jars of clay.”
That means we are an earthen vessel.
So, when we begin to recognize that the treasure has been placed inside an earthen vessel we can begin to recognize that our relationship with Jesus Christ is a treasure!
Christ’s life in me—that’s a treasure!
Christ’s life in you—that’s a treasure!
Christ’s Word in me—that’s a treasure.
Christ’s power in me—that’s a treasure.
Christ’s power working through me—that’s a treasure.
Christ’s love in me—that’s the treasure.
Christ’s forgiveness of me—that’s the treasure.
Christ’s grace—that’s the treasure.
Living as a Christian—that’s the treasure.
The fact that you watched church on Facebook during the lock-down—
and then worshipped God in the park —that’s the treasure.
The fact that you have come back to church—that’s the treasure…
…and that you have been doing this for the past 52 weeks…
…and that you are in your next year doing it faithfully—that is the treasure.
If you are still walking with Jesus—that’s the treasure.
If you are still doing ministry together—that’s the treasure.
If you are still loving people in real and tangible ways through the power of Jesus Christ—that’s the treasure.
If you are in mission, if you are helping feed the hungry, cloth the naked, welcome the stranger…
…If you are continuing to speak up and speak out—that is the treasure.
Our Scripture Passage tells us that we have been given this treasure in clay vessels, so that “this all-surpassing power” will be about God and not about us!
This season is not being wasted…
Through the power of Christ working in and through us—even when we have been limited and felt weak…
…even when we have felt like failures…
…In light of all the things we have gone through…
…in light of all this…
…are we starting to see the “all-surpassing power” of God working through this?
I mean, we are still here are we not?
There are days that I know you don’t want to show up, but you still do.
The fact that you are still seeking, and the fact that you are still giving…
…well, we ought to praise God for that!!!
That is the “all surpassing power” of God at work in you, in me!
It’s not us.
And that’s why I get excited about the next part of our Scripture Lesson for this morning, because it says that “we are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed.”
I believe this whole Covid Virus has been pressing us hard on every side.
We have watched our brothers and sisters and loved ones pass away.
We have watched people we love be hospitalized.
We have been burying people and having funerals for people.
We have been “hard pressed on every side, but not crushed.”
Our Scripture Passage goes on to say that we are “perplexed, but not in despair.”
How many of you have been perplexed?
I’ve been perplexed about masks and I’ve been perplexed about political tensions.
What have you been perplexed about in this season?
Racism?
School?
Church division?
Conspiracy theories?
Christian Nationalism?
Poverty across our nation and in our own back yard?
What are you perplexed about?
I think that if we can name what we are perplexed about we can do what the Scripture says.
We can say we are perplexed, but we have not been driven into despair.
These things are not going to keep us down.
They are going to make us struggle, but they are not going to take us out of here because we have “this treasure”—this—“all surpassing power from God.”
Verse 9 says that we have been “persecuted, but not abandoned.”
Has anyone in here been persecuted?
Has anyone been persecuted by politics?
Has anyone been persecuted by injustice?
Has anyone been persecuted by poverty?
Has anyone been persecuted by depression, anxiety?
If you have been persecuted, know that you are not abandoned.
God sees you.
God hears you.
God knows you by name.
Verse 9 goes on to say that we have been “struck down, but not destroyed.”
Oh, this has been a season when many feel as if they have been struck down.
Perhaps people that you didn’t think were going to talk about you talked about you.
People you thought weren’t going to leave have left the church.
These are the things we did not think were going to happen, but they have happened.
And it just creates this experience of being “struck down.”
But the good news is that we are not destroyed!
We have “this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”
My friends, if we have nothing else to hang on to—we have our faith—this treasure—this gift from God.
And we have to believe even when we might not want to believe.
We have to believe that God is still with us and that God has not left us…
…and if all else fails—that is the most important thing…
…and when all else is stripped away that is enough—more than enough!!!
We are told in our Scripture passage that we have the “spirit of faith.”
What a gift.
What an incredible gift.
Even though I might not understand it.
Even though I might not see everything.
Even though everything might not make sense…
…Lord help me to be faithful.
Verse 16 says, “Therefore we do not lose heart.
Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.”
I have a friend whose son was in the basement playing…
…and then she heard a crash!
(Put the pot back together and let it crash on the pulpit)
She ran down to the basement saying,
“Colton, is everything okay?”
He is only two years old.
And then she looked and she saw what made the crash sound.
It was her favorite vase and it was in pieces.
So, she said to Colton, “What happened to my vase???”
And Colton replied, “I don’t know.”
As she walked back upstairs she said to herself, “I can’t believe my vase is broken.”
And then about thirty minutes later Colton ran upstairs and said, “Mommy, Mommy look!
It’s fixed!”
Her two-year-old had found some brown tape and had put the vase back together again.
(put the pieces of the vase back together)
He said, “Mommy, look. It’s fixed.
It’s okay Mommy.
It’s better.”
Then she started crying because it reminded her how much God loves us and although we may feel broken, and we may feel shattered…
…The Potter wants to put us back together.
Just like that vase.
Remember how, in Jeremiah Chapter 18 God compared Himself to a Potter?
God, the Potter wants to put us back together again.
It may not be as simple as that vase, but that is the good news…
…that God loves us so much and is seeing us in this season.
God is seeing the confusion, the hurt, the pain, the perplexities, the challenges, the disappointments…
…and we don’t have to allow these things to defeat us.
God knows the shape we are in, and God is the Potter and we are Clay!
You know what I think God wants to do with this service this morning?
I think God wants to heal us.
I think God wants to encourage us, mold us, shape us, form us, create new things in us and out of us.
Can we trust the Potter?
Can we trust that the Potter knows what He is doing?
Can we trust the Potter…that the Potter cares, and that the Potter has an idea and that the Potter has a vision, and a plan for every one of us?
If you have experienced brokenness…
…and all of us have because we are all clay…
…I want to invite everyone to talk to the Potter.
We have some prayer warriors up front here, and we will pray for you.
Please come up front and ask for prayer, or you might want to ask for prayer on behalf of someone else.
And we will anoint your head with oil.
And God, the Potter will start the healing process.
Won’t you come?
