God who formed us from the clay is presented here as a potter, shaping and reshaping clay—a metaphor for divine sovereignty and humanity’s responsiveness. This passage calls for a renewed relationship with the Earth, urging repentance from destructive ways. Just as God warns Israel of judgment for moral failure, our environmental crises reflect the consequences of exploiting creation. Yet, hope remains: if we turn from ecological harm, God can reshape our future. Peace with creation begins with humility, acknowledging our failures, our role in environmental degradation, and embracing a new relationship with Creation. Like clay, we must be reformed into agents of healing for the Earth.

Jeremiah was instructed to visit a potter, and it would be there that God intended to teach him more. He probably knew instinctively that whatever God had in store for him would likely be very challenging. After all, Jeremiah is experienced at carrying out God’s bidding and would be fully aware that there are difficult twists and turns he will have to navigate. But, like God, Jeremiah is stubborn too! His attention to God’s instructional detail will rub people up the wrong way and may even offend them! Despite being mocked and ridiculed by previous recipients of God’s messages it doesn’t stop Jeremiah from being obedient, no matter what the personal cost. 

Jeremiah observed the potter bungling a piece of clay. He noted that the potter quietly accepted his error and promptly begins to remodel that same piece of clay to a better standard. Jeremiah may have pondered what the potter’s work has to do with him. It’s justifiable that he may have discerned that the lump on the potter’s wheel is like God putting him on the wheel too! This poignant precursor was yet to unravel God’s plan that would be of much greater significance than Jeremiah’s spinning imagination!  

Crafting requires creativity, patience, concentration, and at times a revised plan. The wood chisels of Māori carvers in Aotearoa NZ are known to inadvertently drift from their designated paths when hit with a mallet. Carvers may choose to simply ‘pause & rest’ to assess the carving. This practice can lead to a reimagined and unexpected masterpiece. The newly accepted direction of artistry is prophetic. The not-so-perfect piece will often reveal a beauty unequalled by any other carving.   

As for God’s revealing plan, it starts with “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does? Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand”. Okay, Jeremiah can accept the concepts of God, potter, bungle, and fix!! Then God’s plan gets much darker. Plans to uproot, tear down, and destroy if evil prevails in Israel is a harsh blow to accept, even for Jeremiah!  

Then, in a ‘damned-if-you-do-and-damned-if-you-don’t’ twist, God proposes to ditch that plan once the bungled Israel accepts God’s remodelling of them! The quandary for Jeremiah is in the translation. How is he to tell of God’s analogy to transition from bungled to better in a way that listeners will understand him, or more importantly understand God? 

It turns out, that we are the marred clay and God is granting us another chance to be remodelled. How so? Have we bungled the work of our own hands in such a way that it is no longer what God potted in the first place?

As one part of God’s perfect creation we, over time and with self-centredness, have let our chisels, our wheels, and our clay, become grossly bungled and marred. When we accept this more deeply, we realise that God’s clay was perfect in the first place! It was gifted to us just as God intended! It is what we have negligently done to the clay that is unacceptable in God’s plans. Little wonder our natural perfect world has become volatile against us. 

Let’s break that down a little: 

• If we don’t tend to the clay responsibly and temperatures rise, it will get too hot and dry causing cracks. 
• If we add too much water to cool it down, we create a mud bath. 
• If we overwork it too much, it will become too thin and fragile. 
• If it is neglected and not worked enough, it will become rocklike without movement, growth, or formation. 
• If we don’t make good of this perfect clay and perfect world, God will intervene but with conditions. 

Jeremiah is the messenger of these sombre realities. How will he mould his rhetoric to tell us of our marred-ness? With God’s help! How do we accept our bungled attempts at better-ness? With God’s help! If we are humble enough to accept Jeremiah’s message of truth we can translate it to that adage, “if at first you don’t succeed, try again”. Yes, with God’s help! God will adjust, realign, reshape, restore, and remodel the human potted work on the wheel of life so that we too can be a better clay model within creation. We have an inherent duty to care for God’s gifts. If we bungle it, we must ‘pause & rest’ enough to know that the ongoing perfection of the clay is up to us! Let’s not wait for God to fix it! Open our senses and know that our crafting needs tweaking. Let go and let God!  

Even with all that in mind, we are told what we already know. God’s plan with all its twists & turns, cracks, muddiness, and fragility is good news for creation. The threat of life as we know it being uprooted, torn down, and destroyed, must surely summon our defences so that we can do much better. Averting God’s implementation of consequences must be our plan!       

Consequential law is deeply embedded in Māori lore. The cyclic pause & rest by imposing seasonal closures, and temporary prohibition, is a traditional indigenous practice. Rahui, as it is known, is the staunch protest to cease all practices that are detrimental and negatively affect our ecosystems. Not surprisingly, Māori are aggressively confronted by industries, economists, cattle farmers, agriculturaists, fisheries, and the like. They feel offended, aggrieved, and hotly defensive to take whatever they want for financial gain. Māori insist that without absenting from over-harvesting and negligent care of our resources we seriously harm our ecosystems and in turn, ourelves! Our disobedience to nature’s cry for care has led to the revealing of the world being uprooted, depleted, and destroyed today.  

God has a plan, and Jeremiah has advised the troublesome folk about it. Clearly our wayward ways means that God’s clay craft of us is still in dire need of remodelling. And in that act from evil to righteousness, surely “goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives”!! We are granted permission to halt God’s plan by simply doing the right thing! Not just for us but for all of creation. 

“We are the clay, and you are the potter, we are all the work of your  hand”. Jeremiah 64:8

Rev Jacynthia Murphy – Anglican Church in Aotearoa, Polynesia and New Zealand

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NOTES ON THE OTHER READINGS

Psalm 139:1–5, 12–18 

This psalm affirms God’s intimate knowledge of and presence within all creation. The psalmist celebrates being “fearfully and wonderfully made,” revealing the sacredness of human life as part of God’s intricate design. This deep divine involvement extends to all life and ecosystems. Recognizing that every creature is known and cherished by God invites us to honour and protect the Earth. Peace with creation arises when we see the natural world not as a resource to exploit, but as a beloved work of God, deserving reverence, care, and sustainable coexistence.

Philemon 1–21, 

This passage, centred on reconciliation between individuals – from slave to brother– , offers a profound model for peace with creation. Paul urges Philemon to receive Onesimus not as a slave but as a beloved brother—highlighting restored relationships marked by dignity and mutual respect. From a care for creation lens, this call to reconciliation extends beyond human relations to our bond with the Earth. Just as Paul reimagines social structures, we are called to reimagine our relationship with creation—not as masters, dominating and controlling nature, as  a resource,  but  now seeing nature as kin. Peace with creation involves restoring harmony, embracing justice, and recognizing Earth as a partner in God’s redemptive work. This is Franciscan theology – St Francis spoke of Mother Earth, and Sister Water – challenging us  to see Nature as our kin.

Luke 14:25–33 

True discipleship challenges followers to count the cost of discipleship, demanding total commitment and the relinquishing of attachments. This radical call invites us to reconsider our consumerist lifestyles and their impact on the Earth. Just as discipleship requires sacrifice, peace with creation calls for intentional choices—reducing waste, living simply, and prioritizing sustainability over convenience. Jesus urges thoughtful planning and wholehearted dedication; likewise, ecological restoration requires long-term vision and deep resolve. True discipleship today includes caring for our common home, embodying peace with creation through disciplined, compassionate, and countercultural environmental action.