Lectionary Selections for Sept 8

Jer. 18
I love the idea here of God the artistic creator, the fashioner, the experimenter. One could tell of artists and the artistic impulse for creativity.

We get a parade example of God being willing to change the divine plan.

An artist respects the quality of the material used and surely God is getting used to the obduracy of human material. God may well be surprised at the interaction i of intention, working, and result. God is more flexible here than we would often imagine.

The moment verses (7,9) may indicate a bit of caprice, but the openness to repentance would undercut that notion. Again, the otter notion works here as it is prior to the work being fired.
One could go the art history route and show both fragments and full vessels in the time of Jeremiah.

Do you think God does work for and against nations?
Do you notice that God has reshaped you?
Do you notice that God has been responsive to changes in you?
Has God seen things in your raw material that have escaped your notice?
When we say God has a plan, do you see that plan as firm, even irrevocable, or a work in progress?