We Are the Clay March 24, 2025

We Are the Clay

I recently enrolled in a pottery class. I thought it would be fun and easy. I have found it to be fun. However, it is not easy!

Clay is a wonderful medium, but it needs to be properly prepared before it can be molded into a vessel or piece of artwork.

I receive a block of clay that I first must shape into a ball. It is stiff and cold, but the persistent pressure and warmth of my hands eventually enable the clay to get more malleable and formed into a ball. That is just the beginning.

I first learn to make pinch pots by pressing my thumbs into the ball of clay as I press the sides outward to create a wider and wider well in the clay. Eventually it resembles a small bowl.

If the clay dries out and cracks, and I need to keep wetting it and filling in the cracks to maintain its smoothness. Once the vessel is complete to my liking, it is set aside to dry. When completely dried out, it is fired in the kiln and is ready for glazing. After glazing, the pot is fired again and finally finished.

Success is never guaranteed. The bowl could crack in the kiln at any point if there are already minute cracks in the clay, or it can completely break apart when fired if it contains any hidden air pockets.

All of this experience gives me a better appreciation of the verse found in Isaiah 64: You, O God, are the potter, and we are the clay, the work of your hands. God patiently works through our coldness and hardness to fashion us as the work of God’s hands. God can soften our hearts and heal the “cracks” of sorrow and pain that pierces them.

Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians about the life of Christ that dwells in us: [W]e hold this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us.

Lent is a grace-filled opportunity to reflect on the treasure we hold, that we are created IMAGO DEI, in the image and likeness of God, and that God’s life and Spirit dwell within us. What are some of the cracks and hard places in my own life that need healing? How can I honor the treasure those around me hold that may be invisible because of their apparent weaknesses or hardness?

Sister Elaine Berkopec