Jars of Clay

(Thoughts shared at the time of spreading the ashes of my mother.)

Sing: How Great Thou Art


In the Bible, Paul compares our bodies to jars of clay. He writes:

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 2 Corinthians 4:7 (ESV)


Our bodies are just temporary containers. They contain our spirit, and if we are believers, the Spirit of God.

Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16 (ESV))

(For this next part I have a clay pot with some cremains in it. As I talk, I chip away at the pot until the ashes start to spill. At the end, I throw the remaining portion in the water yelling, "you're free").

Throughout our lives, our clay jars get scratched and nicked and weak. Yet our spirit can get stronger and larger. After a while our jar may not be strong enough or good enough to contain the spirit inside, and it bursts. And as it bursts it sets free, the spirit inside.


And our Spirit still lives-waiting the day when a new body will be given it--one that is good enough and strong enough to last forever.


Paul write about this in 1 Corinthians 15:42-57 (ESV) ⁴² So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable.
⁴³ It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.
⁴⁴ It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
⁴⁵ Thus it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
⁴⁶ But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual.
⁴⁷ The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.
⁴⁸ As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.
⁴⁹ Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
⁵⁰ I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
⁵¹ Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
⁵² in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
⁵³ For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
⁵⁴ When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."
⁵⁵ "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?"
⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.


Sing: Amazing Grace


66 years ago this month, Dad bought this property. He wanted this land so that people could enjoy the beauty of God's creation. Yet the beauty of this place is nothing compared to the beauty of heaven. Even creation itself awaits the day when it, too, shall be set free.


Romans 8:18-23 (ESV) ¹⁸ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
¹⁹ For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
²⁰ For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope
²¹ that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
²² For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
²³ And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.



Though this box contains the remains of Mom's jar of clay, it does not contain Mom. She has been set free, no longer bound to this body of flesh.


So let us celebrate Mom's newfound freedom, even as we look forward to the day when creation itself will celebrate freedom.


Let us take these remains and as we scatter them upon the earth that God made, let us cry out: "freedom" or "Mom, you're free." And when you are done, break the earthy pot in anticiapton of that day when we, too, well be free.

Disguised in Beauty

Today I made what may be my last visit to Russell's Pond. This is the pond that was on the property that my Dad bought back in 1946. Several years ago, he gave it over to a local Conservation Trust to protect it.


Russell Pond 1973

But the pond is not the same as when I grew up. Then it was mostly open, with some grassy marsh on one end and scattered pond lilies floating, showing off their yellow booms each year. Indeed, if we and the neighbors did not build up the dam, the pond would have long since succumbed to eutrofication and would now be a red maple swamp like so many other hundreds of acres in the area, including one known as "Long Swamp" after which a nearby street is named.

But now, the pond is slowly filling in. First came the cattails--a native plant. But then came the purple loosestrife and exotic pond lilies--invaders that are not native to the area and which have a reputation for quickly changing the natural cycle of wetlands.



The surprising thing is that these exotic invaders can be quite pretty. In fact, the pond lilies that have come in are planted as ornamentals.

Quite beautiful.

Quite deadly to native ecosystems.

If caught early, these exotic plants can be controlled fairly easily. But once established, they are almost impossible to get rid of.

There is another kind of exotic invader that we also have to watch out for. One that is even more dangerous and more insidious: The Angel of Light.

Paul writes about this character in 2 Corinthians 11:14 (ESV)

And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

Paul is writing in this chapter about false apostles--those who claim to be Christian but who come with a message that will actually undo the work that Jesus has started. The message of these false apostles will have a ring of truth to it--in fact they will use the Bible to support their claims. But they will twist and distort the scripture to accomplish their task of turning people away from true faith in Jesus. In this chapter, Paul is writing about those who would say that there is some kind of work we need to do, other than believe in Jesus, in order to obtain salvation. The implication of this is that what Jesus accomplished for us by His death and resurrection is not enough. It becomes a form of idolatry because it puts us on a par with Jesus in being able to secure our salvation.

The most difficult thing about all of this is that any one of us can easily become one of these "angels of light." Whenever we take scripture and twist it to meet our own ends and then try to get others to accept this as the true gospel, then we are guilty of the same thing. In fact, when we do this the gospel--which means "good news"---becomes no good news at all because we are adding requirements to salvation that are not necessary.


God, help me to walk in the simple truth of your good news--your gospel--as you revealed to us through the prophets, through Jesus and through the Spirit-filled apostles. May I not distort your gospel by adding things to it that you did not intend. May I not distort your gospel by living a life that is contrary to it. Help me to live my life so that my life and my words point others to the amazing grace of the Gospel message: that Jesus came to bring us salvation from the penalty for our sin by His death on the cross and to bring us new life by His resurrection.