The Potter and the Clay

Once upon a time, there was a small box that sat in the middle of your living room.

It came in black and white.

And it was only on for a few hours every day.

And you'd have, almost like the Bible sat beside it for some, called the Radio Times.

And you would wait for your favourite programme to come on,

albeit Andy Pandy or Muffin the Mule.

But in between, you would get an interesting interlude.

And it would look something like this.

There's a thing called the Potter's Wheel.

And I don't know whether you remember them.

There were several ones where you would get this interlude of black and white,

of somebody moulding the clay.

And it was lovely because there was an anticipation,

because you knew that something was coming while this thing was being moulded away.

My goodness, we're all showing our age this morning.

For anybody here, young people, look it up on YouTube.

I was thinking there has to be a biblical imperative.

Let's just have a think.

Because while we're waiting for this thing,

we're waiting for something that is really exciting in this thing of Advent.

And while we're waiting, what are the things that are most important to you?

And I'm challenged because I'm going to ask you a question.

If you had to leave your house quickly,

what are the three things that you would grab before you go?

Now, just a bit of advice here.

If you are a married couple here,

the first one is to say,

you my sweet,

not the dog,

and not your insurance policy.

Okay.

So I'm just going to ask you,

three things that you would take

if you had to grab them

to go quickly.

I will give you a minute

just to talk or think amongst yourselves

as to what those three things might be.

The thing is,

the imperative is,

is that this reading this morning,

the first of Advent,

makes me think,

what is important to us?

What is the most important thing

as we move into this time,

this time of anticipation?

Also, a bit of an interlude

to actually think and focus

on what is God's imperative.

What is important to us?

But most importantly,

what is important

in our relationship with God?

Because this Advent,

in time of reflection,

expectation, excitement,

my goodness,

if you had been in fact this morning,

the children were wound

like a spring already.

I don't know who was more excited,

them or me.

And as we look forward to experiencing

this thing that the church,

as we as a church,

are getting ready for,

as we look forward to celebrating

this life-changing moment

of Emmanuel,

God with us,

it made me think,

so what is important to God?

because we can all think

of what is important to us,

but what is important to God

as we move towards this Advent season?

What is so important

that he was prepared to send

and sacrifice his son

to save us?

My goodness,

to think that we

are the first thing

that he would think about saving.

Never mind everything else,

never mind what else,

we were the ones

that he was thinking about.

And what was that

made him so important,

so much that he would become flesh,

that he would become a child,

and you don't get any more vulnerable

than a child,

to come into this world

in order to engage

with our humanity,

in order to save

that which was precious,

which is us,

which is you and me,

which is the ones

he actually came to save.

That focuses me

in this interlude

because we can't ignore it.

And you may say

in the light of the news,

are we worth saving?

You know,

I looked at that last night

and I looked,

my goodness.

But yet he still doesn't give up.

That he chooses you and me

in a rebellious world

to come.

And here is Isaiah

pouring out

what is still as fresh today

as it was then

for a people

who had turned away from God.

And God says,

actually I'm going to come

and do something about that for you.

And here it is,

there are places

found in this reading

and confession,

you know,

that we are like filthy rags.

My goodness,

it doesn't get any clearer

than that

in a context

of what Isaiah was speaking to.

And yet,

he still comes

to save us.

Israel's desire for God

to tear open the heavens

and come down,

to tear open

and suddenly have this huge awakening.

And here it is in Jesus.

Here is the answer to prayer.

Here is the answer

to Isaiah's desire.

Here is the answer

to God's desire,

the coming of Jesus.

The coming of Jesus

in a manger.

The coming of Jesus

to judge the world.

The coming of Jesus

so that we can have

kingdom values.

The coming of Jesus

so that we can have

hope

and a life.

And God says,

it's okay,

let's do it.

It's okay,

Isaiah,

let's do it then.

And that's when it happens.

And if your prayer

like mine is,

let's make a difference

to the community,

then be encouraged

in this Advent

because God says

in this reading

and to Isaiah

and to us,

okay then,

let's do it.

Let's do this thing

together

because God's work

of salvation

hasn't stopped

and we are still part

of the salvation story.

So what's our part?

What is most important

to us

when God says,

let's do it?

Perhaps

your heart

this Advent

is to inspire

and ignite

the community

in which you work

and live.

Every day

might seem mundane

but for something

to come,

light the candle

to ignite something

that's afresh

in you

and in us

and in our community.

What does that take

for us to do?

And I'm so inspired

by people

who have done

that in life

like John Wesley.

John Wesley

who decided

that to spark

a nation

he would actually

get out of the church

and would go

and preach

outside of mines

and in works

of people's

workplaces.

He saw

transformation

of life

because he was

called out

of what he was doing

and people

got the spark

and they saw

revival.

And it says

come down

ignite the world

in revival

rend the heavens

break out

and make a difference

and people did.

He preached

so much

that the workers

who had previously

gone with their wages

and just drunk them

at the end of the day

suddenly went home

and saw a new way

of doing life

and because of that

family life

was transformed

family life

was changed.

The culture

of this country

shifted

and I don't know

about you

that's what I think

I want to see a shift

I think we all

want to see a shift

a shift

in what is new

of what God

can do

in us

and through us

and I know

this is a strange

concept

but the important

things to me

aren't the material

things

it was people

like Wesley

and others

that were inspired

by this shift

that we can see

that we can be part of

and you might be saying

that how can we do that

for part of my 60th

birthday present

Mandy bought me

a ticket

to go and see

Love Actually live

I don't know

whether you've seen it

it's amazing

if you get the chance

to go

they have a full orchestra

at the Colston Hall

and you watch the film

but the orchestra

play the music

you don't know

what to watch

the film

or the orchestra

but the whole essence

of looking at that film

afresh

was

love

actually

is still alive

and real

and I think

sometimes

the world

needs to know

this issue

about that

love

is

all around

it's just

that we need

to connect

with it

this weekend

there will be

an amazing opportunity

to show love

you've had a dedicated

team

that have already

been doing

a lot of planning

and this place

will be full

of Christmas trees

and people

will come

people will talk

people will celebrate

if you were here

last Sunday

you would have

witnessed the baptism

that was here

why?

because somebody

was invited

and came

to a Christmas tree

festival

they came

they sat

at the back

and because of that

for them

there was a

reigniting

and awakening

in their lives

and Steve Hargreaves

and his children

were baptised

together

what a glorious

celebration

that was

the thing is

there is this

reignition

of hope

within our community

that starts

with us

and we think

it's difficult

but it's not

it's about

love actually

and all we need

to do

is be alongside

people

and show them

God's love

to speak with them

to share with them

to smile at them

to encourage them

to tell them

the good news

that they actually

really want to hear

because desperately

they know

there's something

missing

and my goodness

does this country

know that there's

something missing

if I hear Brexit

again on the radio

I think

no

the tower's

not tall enough

but it's

you know

it's just

my goodness

we need

some hope

and some

encouragement

and in that

1950s intermission

in the interlude

perhaps something

we need again

in our lives

is to realise

that there's

this anticipation

and expectation

of something

coming

at the end

of the day

the message

of Advent

is

what was

God's

priority

what was

God's

priority

and what

will our

be priority

in this interlude

I pray

on this

first day

of Advent

that we would

go away

from here

thinking

and praying

what our

priority is

and our

priority

is to carry

on salvation's

work

to see

people

come to

know him

I will tell

you again

I can't

carry

people

into the

kingdom of

God

it's not

our job

but what

we can do

is we can

introduce

people

to Jesus

and that's

what we're

called to do