Stuck to the Center

A few weeks ago when I arrived at Woods Charter early to begin setup, I was met with the news that the beautiful blue, locally hand-crafted bowl we’d used as our baptismal font since December 2018 had been broken in transit. It’s one of the perils of being a church on the move.

Determined to save it, a dear friend attempted to glue the pieces back together. We were even going to try our hand at Kintsugi — the Japanese art of repairing pottery and embracing imperfection. It looked beautiful; however, due to the cracks, it wouldn't hold water reliably... which is what you need a baptismal font to do. 😩

So this week, I went back to see my friend, Martha, who had made the original bowl, to see if she had anything new that might replace it. When I walked in, there was only one bowl in her entire collection for sale — and it was perfect.

She told me it that it was the largest bowl she’d ever made out of a single throw of clay. I don’t know much about how these beautiful things are made — my pottery experience begins and ends with elementary school pinch pots — so I asked more questions, and y'all, here's what I learned:

Martha talked about the internal and external pressure she has to place on the clay as it’s then pulled — stretched — upward. But she also said that before you can do any of that, you’ve got to center the clay. She said, “You can’t make a pot unless you’re stuck well to the center in the center — and only then can you begin to apply that pressure.” And she went on to describe how, if you don’t center the clay, if it’s not stuck well, the potter is going to have all kinds of problems later. If it’s not centered, the pottery won’t have a strong foundation and could easily crack, become misshapen, or fall apart altogether.

I had no idea!

Throughout the rest of the week, this image of being stuck to the center deeply resonated with me. I think about the times I lose my cool or spiral in my own thoughts. I think about the days my priorities feel misaligned, and I can tell that I’m not my best self. I think about the moments I fail to love my neighbor well or give the benefit of the doubt to others or extend grace to myself.

In these moments, it’s often because I, like clay, haven’t stuck well enough to the center.

Martha put it a better way:

The potter’s wheel is the world. You’ve got to have a place that we’re stuck here before God can use us.

Y'all, this is why we do what we do. This is why we gather each and every Sunday morning for the work of worship. It's why we sing songs and pray prayers and lean into ritual, and listen and respond to scripture. We do it to get stuck to the center — so that when the world spins faster, and the pressure is applied, we’ll remain in place, becoming something beautiful for the good of God’s world.

It makes me think of these words from Jeremiah 18:6:

Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

Let it be so.