ADVENT HOPE

Yet, O LORD, you are our Father;
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand.

ISAIAH 64:8

Welcome to Advent!

In my previous post, I stated my goal of writing a reflection for each day of the Advent season. I will do my best to keep these brief and readable. I realize that you, dear reader, have a myriad of options for devotional resources. I am honored that you are taking the time to read mine.

The thoughts expressed here won’t be bound together by any one theme. I am simply choosing one of the assigned readings for a particular day and letting my imagination take me wherever the Spirit chooses to lead me. They are, after all, personal reflections, not academic theses.

I will make every effort not to waste your time, but rather hopefully provide you with something that inspires, encourages, and nurtures your soul.

Even though each reflection begins with a springboard verse from one of the readings, I would urge you, if at all possible, to read the entire lesson before my reflection. It may help to better understand my thought process, and perhaps even trigger some thoughts of your own. Simply click on the links to go to the texts.

Now, after that rather long preamble, let me wade into this first Sunday of Advent.

This First Sunday of Advent, we light the first candle – the candle of hope. But the doom and gloom of the readings sent me digging beyond them for something more hopeful than what they instilled in me.

And the prophet Isaiah’s image of the potter and the clay immediately kindled in my mind the hymn “Have Thine Own Way, Lord,” written by Adelaide Pollard (1862–1934). These are the words to the first stanza:

Have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way.
Thou art the potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after thy will,
while I am waiting, yielded and still.

Pollard’s inspiration was Jeremiah 18, which paints a fuller image of the potter. It is a popular Old Testament illustration that is also referenced in other places. I wrote a Lenten reflection two years ago on the Jeremiah reading. I’ve borrowed a few thoughts from that post for today.

It takes the hands of a skilled potter to mold a formless lump of clay into a work of art. That shapeless mass is at the mercy of the artisan’s inspiration.  Anyone lacking the experience, or the training, could ruin a potential masterpiece.

The potter working with the clay reminds us that God is at work in us. We are that clay in the potter’s hands.

Yet at the same time, we are human beings with a rebellious nature that doesn’t want to be a mere lump of clay formed according to God’s will. 

Our arrogance and our self-centeredness often deceives us into thinking that God has nothing to do with what happens to us here on earth.

One need look no further than the media headlines to see how disastrous the consequences of that narcissistic attitude have been for us.

As the prophet Isaiah pleads on behalf of the people of Israel, we, too, pray for God’s forgiveness on behalf of all humankind today, in words similar to those of the Psalmist, that God would, “Stir up [God’s] might, and come to save us!” [Psalm 80:2]

Let us pray:
Lord, as we await the coming of your Son, give us the confidence to trust in your promise of salvation, that we may not rely on ourselves, but always look to you to guide our ways, and mold our thoughts. Amen.