{"id":81,"date":"2019-08-05T16:40:23","date_gmt":"2019-08-05T16:40:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/index.php\/watchword-reflections\/monday-reflection-august-5-2019-our-father-and-potter\/"},"modified":"2019-08-05T16:40:23","modified_gmt":"2019-08-05T16:40:23","slug":"monday-reflection-august-5-2019-our-father-and-potter","status":"publish","type":"watchword","link":"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/index.php\/watchword-reflections\/monday-reflection-august-5-2019-our-father-and-potter\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday Reflection (August 5, 2019) &#8211; Our Father and Potter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Our Father and Potter - August 5, 2019\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CeqleMyu1JU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h1><b>Our Father and Potter<\/b><\/h1>\n<p><b>\u00a0<\/b><b><i>Yet, O Lord, you are our Father;\u00a0we are the clay, and you are our potter;<\/i><\/b><b><i>\u00a0we are all the work of your hand.\u00a0<\/i><\/b><b><i>Isaiah 64:8<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>How do we view God? More than that, how do we view God in relation to ourselves? The Bible describes this relation in varying ways, including today\u2019s text that declares God as the potter and his people as the clay. This description is also present in other texts in the Bible. Isaiah 64 is a prayer of appeal to God to exercise mercy in the presence of the sins of the people. Isaiah begins with,\u00a0<i>\u201cO that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence\u2026 so that the nations might tremble at your presence!\u00a0<\/i><i>\u2026From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who works for those who wait for him.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p>It is in this context that we have today\u2019s Watchword declaring God as Father and potter, and us as clay and the work of God\u2019s hand. In spite of everything, God is our Father. God might be disappointed with our behaviour; God might have allowed us to engage in self-destructive behaviour; God might have allowed us to do our own thing, but God\u2019s purpose has never been our destruction. God\u2019s hope is the hope of a Father, who always hopes against hope that the child will see the error of his\/her ways and return home. The Parable of the Prodigal Son in St. Luke 15 is a prime example of this.<\/p>\n<p>God is also our potter &#8211; the one who fashions us. We are clay and the work of his hand. Just as fathers and mothers love their children, artists also feel a deep affection for their art. When an artist fashions a piece of art, something of the artist is bound up in that art. Part of that has to do with the deep involvement of the artist in the creative process. Part of it is pride of workmanship. Part of it is that the work of art reflects the artist&#8217;s understanding of how the piece should look or sound or feel. The artist and the art are inextricably bound together. God has invested much time in us; indeed God has invested himself. He is bounded to us as our potter who desires that we be an excellently admirable art piece of his work.<\/p>\n<p>This prayer uses that connection of art and artist in an attempt to persuade God to forgive Israel, to save Israel. Having called God a Father, Isaiah reminds God of the creativity that God has expended in fashioning the nation Israel\u2014God\u2019s people\u2014God\u2019s artwork. Israel might have sinned, and be as disgusting as a soiled filthy rag, but God should not abandon Israel, because artist and art are inextricably bound together. It is always God\u2019s intention to fashion us into the best that we can be; however, we should remember that\u00a0a potter can mold a vessel only as the clay yields to his hands. We have such great potential, but this can only be optimized when we submit to God, our potter, and remain in his molding hands.<\/p>\n<p>I close with today\u2019s New Testament text from Ephesians 2:10, \u201c<b><i>For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works.\u201d\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><em>Jermaine Gibson<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[embed]https:\/\/youtu.be\/CeqleMyu1JU[\/embed] Our Father and Potter 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 How do we view God? More than\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"template":"","watchword_topic":[11],"class_list":["post-81","watchword","type-watchword","status-publish","hentry","watchword_topic-prayer"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Monday Reflection (August 5, 2019) - Our Father and Potter - Covenant Moravian<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/index.php\/watchword-reflections\/monday-reflection-august-5-2019-our-father-and-potter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Monday Reflection (August 5, 2019) - Our Father and Potter - Covenant Moravian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Our Father and Potter 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 How do we view God? More than\u2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/index.php\/watchword-reflections\/monday-reflection-august-5-2019-our-father-and-potter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Covenant Moravian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/covenant.moravian.96\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/covenantmoravian.com\\\/index.php\\\/watchword-reflections\\\/monday-reflection-august-5-2019-our-father-and-potter\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/covenantmoravian.com\\\/index.php\\\/watchword-reflections\\\/monday-reflection-august-5-2019-our-father-and-potter\\\/\",\"name\":\"Monday Reflection (August 5, 2019) - Our Father and Potter - Covenant Moravian\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/covenantmoravian.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-08-05T16:40:23+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/covenantmoravian.com\\\/index.php\\\/watchword-reflections\\\/monday-reflection-august-5-2019-our-father-and-potter\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/covenantmoravian.com\\\/index.php\\\/watchword-reflections\\\/monday-reflection-august-5-2019-our-father-and-potter\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/covenantmoravian.com\\\/index.php\\\/watchword-reflections\\\/monday-reflection-august-5-2019-our-father-and-potter\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/covenantmoravian.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Watchword Reflections\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/covenantmoravian.com\\\/index.php\\\/watchword-reflections\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Monday Reflection (August 5, 2019) &#8211; Our Father and Potter\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/covenantmoravian.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/covenantmoravian.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"covenantmoravian.com\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/covenantmoravian.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/covenantmoravian.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/covenantmoravian.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Covenant Moravian\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/covenantmoravian.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/covenantmoravian.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/covenantmoravian.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/covenantmoravian.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/logo.png\",\"width\":1317,\"height\":1194,\"caption\":\"Covenant Moravian\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/covenantmoravian.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/covenant.moravian.96\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Monday Reflection (August 5, 2019) - Our Father and Potter - Covenant Moravian","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/index.php\/watchword-reflections\/monday-reflection-august-5-2019-our-father-and-potter\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Monday Reflection (August 5, 2019) - Our Father and Potter - Covenant Moravian","og_description":"Our Father and Potter 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 How do we view God? More than\u2026","og_url":"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/index.php\/watchword-reflections\/monday-reflection-august-5-2019-our-father-and-potter\/","og_site_name":"Covenant Moravian","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/covenant.moravian.96","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/index.php\/watchword-reflections\/monday-reflection-august-5-2019-our-father-and-potter\/","url":"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/index.php\/watchword-reflections\/monday-reflection-august-5-2019-our-father-and-potter\/","name":"Monday Reflection (August 5, 2019) - Our Father and Potter - Covenant Moravian","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-08-05T16:40:23+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/index.php\/watchword-reflections\/monday-reflection-august-5-2019-our-father-and-potter\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/index.php\/watchword-reflections\/monday-reflection-august-5-2019-our-father-and-potter\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/index.php\/watchword-reflections\/monday-reflection-august-5-2019-our-father-and-potter\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Watchword Reflections","item":"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/index.php\/watchword-reflections\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Monday Reflection (August 5, 2019) &#8211; Our Father and Potter"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/","name":"covenantmoravian.com","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/#organization","name":"Covenant Moravian","url":"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/logo.png","width":1317,"height":1194,"caption":"Covenant Moravian"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/covenant.moravian.96"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/watchword\/81","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/watchword"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/watchword"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/watchword\/81\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"watchword_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/watchword_topic?post=81"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}