Daily Worship

A prayer of reshaping

Albert Bogle September 07, 2025 2 0
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Jeremiah 18: 1-12 (NIVUK)

1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.”3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

5 Then the word of the Lord came to me. 6 He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clayin the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. 7 If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, 8 and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned.9 And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, 10 and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.

11 “Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’12 But they will reply, ‘It’s no use. We will continue with our own plans; we will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts.’”

Almighty God
Maker of Heaven and earth
Rooted in earth
Reigning in heaven
Moulder of clay
Creating pots and trees and honey bees
Knead my lumpy heart of cle-ag (an old English world for clay)
Into the shape of a peace honey tree 

 

Father of all goodness
You’ve been called the gardener
The guardian of our world
Work with us in your potting shed
Shaping me
Shaping us 
Moulding us into living dynamic pots of clay
Turning us on the wheel of life
Planting
Prayers
Of hope 
In our hearts of clay
To take root
Let your prayers 
Grow up within us
Like small mighty acorns
Spreading expectation on the earth
Planting future oaks of peace.

 

Prince of Peace
Son of the Gardener
Graft us into your peace rhythm
Channel your life-giving spirit into our leaves
Let mercy fall from our branches
Bringing healing to the nations
Turning earthbound souls
Into heavenly choirs
Shaping me
Shaping us
Planting 
Prayers 
Of Joy
Into our hearts 
To take root
Let your planted prayers 
Bear passion fruits of peace in our lives

 

Holy Spirit of Truth
Master of the potter’s wheel
Shape doves of peace
From your nail pierced hands
And let them fly across our war-torn world
Turning guns of war 
Into water-guns of love 
To irrigate our dry and thirsty souls
And let your doves of mercy fly
To turn your potter’s wheel 
To break 
And mould 
And mend our world

 

Come doves of peace 
Descend upon our restless hearts
And rest upon the branches of our lives
May prayers of grace, and hope and love
Be planted in the soul-soil of our DNA.

 

Amen.