ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
September 7, 2025
Today in worship, we will be reflecting on the theme: Painting by sacred numbers. I’m sure most of you have done a paint by numbers, even if it has been many years since you tried to match the little container of paint with the number on the canvas. And though the image and language of the sermon will focus on the metaphor of painting, there are many images of an artist at work in scripture, such as Isaiah 64:8, where we read:
We are the clay, and you are our potter.
All of us are the work of your hand.
For many people, they think of the image of the divine potter as a single event in time, in the sense that God formed us at our birth. In the second creation account found in Genesis 2, God plays in the mud and forms the first human, breathing breath into the body to give it life. I find the intimacy, skill, and care in this image to be quite beautiful. With that said, I do not wish to limit this image to the beginning of something alone. I believe God is not the potter who creates something in one moment of time and then announces that it is done. I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel done. I do not feel complete or that I have reached the firing process by which a piece of pottery is locked in its final shape. It is interesting how the Isaiah passage comes at a time in Israel’s history when change was needed, and though the words from the Prophet appear to be talking about how God acted (past tense) in the creation process, I believe contextually, it is a statement about who God is in every moment of time. When life is feeling a little rough around the edges or entirely broken, it is good to know that God continues to work with a creative power to renew, reshape, refinish, or whatever else might be needed.
I trust you, O Holy Artist, to continue to bring your creative power and beauty to my life, for though you have declared me to be good from the beginning, sometimes life can nick or scuff me up a bit. Thank you for all you do! Amen.
