{"id":5773,"date":"2025-03-30T07:02:25","date_gmt":"2025-03-30T12:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/?p=5773"},"modified":"2025-03-30T07:02:25","modified_gmt":"2025-03-30T12:02:25","slug":"our-body-vessels-of-clay-benjamin-mathews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/2025\/03\/30\/our-body-vessels-of-clay-benjamin-mathews\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Body: Vessels of Clay (Benjamin Mathews)"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>Jeremiah 18:1-6\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Through the words spoken to the prophet Jeremiah we\u00a0 are given an analogy which compares us as believers\u00a0 to Clay.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this passage, we learn that Jeremiah receives God\u2019s\u00a0 message by observing the work of a local potter. This\u00a0 passage also points to God\u2019s provisional hand, working\u00a0 for Israel. Jeremiah lived during a turbulent period\u00a0 which was during the final years of the Kingdom of\u00a0 Judah, from the death of King Josiah. During this time,\u00a0 idolatry and disobedience became commonplace. Yet\u00a0 throughout this chapter, we are greeted with messages\u00a0 of hope for the children of Israel.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The word of the Lord came down upon Jeremiah: \u201cLike\u00a0 clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand,\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Israel.\u201d Even if we become disfigured by forces around\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">us, like the potter and the clay, we too can be formed\u00a0 into something shaped as seemingly best. Let your\u00a0 thoughts and actions be shaped by the Holy spirit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>CLOSING PRAYER\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to\u00a0 always come back to you, no matter how much we\u00a0 stray. Like the Israelites, we too find comfort in the\u00a0 things of the world and of the cultures around us. Help\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">us, O God, to be shaped into perfect vessels although\u00a0 we are imperfect people. Help us to carry this wisdom\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">with us to strengthen our faith and the faith of those\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">around us. In your name we pray\u2026Amen. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jeremiah 18:1-6\u00a0 Through the words spoken to the prophet Jeremiah we\u00a0 are given an analogy which compares us as believers\u00a0 to Clay.\u00a0 In this passage, we learn that Jeremiah receives&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5774,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lent-reflections"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Potter-and-Clay.jpg?fit=284%2C203&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5773"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5775,"href":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5773\/revisions\/5775"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/detroitmarthoma.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}