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there is a scripture verse that has followed me for most of my life. It came into my life when I was a teenager, a youth minister gave each young person in our church a little bible as

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she was leaving our church. And as she did , she marked a particular verse that she felt each one of us most needed to hear. My friends in the youth group got john 3 16 and romans

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8 28 and first Corinthians 13 13 and Acts 2 42. You know, the good verses, the well known ones, the ones that everybody can quote and remember, not me, nope. For nerdy

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introverted in his head. 17 year old Jack. She marked hebrews 11 1. Now, faith is the assurance of things, hoped for the conviction of things not seen. I guess she knew or the

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Holy Spirit told her that I needed to be reminded that faith wasn't something I could always be sure of or prove or intellectually reason my way into. I guess 17 year old Jack needed to know that sometimes

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I was going to hope for things that would seem to never come about or that I would have to hold on to things that I wouldn't see in the President or for quite some time I was sort of

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irritated back then that hebrews 11 1 was going to be my special verse and that it would follow me through my adult life. And yet somehow, when I started thinking about this semester's preaching assignment to preach

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about God's today, God's past and future revealed to us in the here and now. I could only think about hebrews 11 1 because it occurred to me as I thought about preaching this morning, exactly one

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week after midterm elections. Oh, joy for me that there is a lot of hoping for things that I might never see. And somewhere in that longing for the future to show up today, there's not

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much to hold on to accept of faith. I can't reason myself into of course, I wasn't tasked with talking about the way we hold onto God's promises of tomorrow. That seemed continually and eternally delayed.

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I was tasked with preaching about the way we Prell epically experience those eternal promises in the midst of a today. That feels often very un promising And that's where the words of 2nd Corinthians four come in.

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It seems to me that these words expand what it means to live in a world where faith is not as john Calvin stated in the institute's book three, Affirm and certain knowledge of God's benevolence towards us,

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found upon the truth of the freely given promise in christ. Come on you all know this both revealed to our minds and sealed upon our hearts through the Holy Spirit. As a matter of fact. Second

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Corinthians seems to speak exactly to the reality that we are living in a today, which feels the opposite of firm and certain, especially when it comes to any sure knowledge of God's benevolence towards any part of

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the human race. It is into this kind of today That the words of 2nd Corinthians speak to us , listen again. We have this treasure in clay jars so that it may be made clear that this

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extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us, so we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away. Our inner Nature is being renewed day by day for this slight

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momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure because we look not at what can be seen, but what cannot be seen for what can be seen as temporary, but what cannot

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be seen as eternal. It's easy to lose heart right now, look around wildfires are burning in California , destroying lives and property and creation. People are gunned down in a synagogue in Pittsburgh, in a

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nightclub in 1000 oaks, thousands of men, women and Children feel so desperate that they have left their homes and are walking across several countries searching for a safe place to stop and simply live their lives.

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And however you voted last Tuesday, my guess is that you went to bed with a sense of hopelessness because your candidate didn't win for your party lost control of a branch of government, or your party didn't

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win as big as you had hoped, or your sense of who should be moving into Governorsmansions across the country next year was challenged by the reality of who was elected to govern those states. It's so easy

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to lose heart our world. Well, it feels a lot like this Communion picture to me right now , this beautiful sculpted piece was created and set apart to be a holy and sacred vessel. Someone took

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base elements of clay and water and created something beautiful and purposeful and good. And for a while this Communion picture served that sacred purpose, holding the grace and mercy of God poured out for the people of

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God. But then one day, a couple of weeks ago, our world got busy and things got rushed and whatever else was going on seemed more important than holding onto the assurance of things hoped for and

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the conviction of things not seen. And in that moment this picture was knocked from its place and it fell to the floor, shattering into half a dozen pieces. Yes. And in that moment when this

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ordinary clay jar set apart for an extraordinary purpose broke , it seemed like God's promises themselves have been shattered beyond repair. What was once so perfect and beautiful and useful was now not so this communion picture was

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put away, the broken pieces were swept up and preserved in case the picture could be restored to its perfect condition and be used once again for that holy purpose for which it was created. Mhm. Sometimes

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it feels that way for us. It's so easy to lose heart to fall into despair and hopelessness because we we are these clay jars, we chip and crack and break, and sometimes shatter into 100 pieces

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because the world is hard and we are not perfect , and we don't know how to care gently for each other. In our clumsiness, in our lack of caring or attention, we let people slip through

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our hands and fall to the ground where, like clay jars, another piece of them breaks. Or in our anger, we throw people to the ground because they aren't perfect enough, or don't seem to

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fit the image of what we want, or just because they are there and we're mad and we don't know what else to do and their lives shatter into so many shards of pottery and in our despair and

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our anger and our hopelessness, we sweep aside those who are broken, those who are imperfect, as if they can no longer serve the holy purpose for which they were created. But we have this treasure

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in clay jars so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. And so last week, on the eve of our Election Day, here in the

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US, the caravan of refugees was arriving in Mexico city. Thousands poured into the jesus Martinez Stadium where they were fed and clothed and washed and given medical attention and allowed a safe place to rest. Hundreds

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more poured into the basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe to give thanks for protection and guidance along the journey thus far and these pilgrims, these wanderers, these beloved Children of God, They're receiving aid and assistance

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that they perhaps would not have received had it not been for the international attention focused on them and their journey by the Xenophobia of the privileged. We have this treasure in clay jars so that it may be

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made clear, but this extraordinary power comes from God and does not come from us. Women have never held more than 84 of the 435 seats in the National House of Representatives and with votes still being counted

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, 100 women have been officially declared winners. Sherrice David's and Deb Haaland will become the first native american women elected to congress. Rashida to Eve and Ilhan Omar will become the first muslim women in congress.

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More openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people were elected last Tuesday night than in any previous election . At least 153 of them. Biblical number, if I've ever heard one and no matter how you

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feel about these statistics, they represent a broadening of diversity and a different vision of who is invited to the table. We have this treasure in clay jars . So do they be maybe made clear that this

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extraordinary power comes from God does not come from us . I was reminded that the process of firing pottery makes it stronger. The first firing in the kill makes the clay brittle. But once it is glazed

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and refined, it becomes much stronger. Still. Obviously it can be broken. But perhaps we need to be reminded as well that like clay jars, we to become stronger as we undergo the difficult process

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of being thrust into the fire of a heated world and then glazed and re fired again. We are afflicted by the tragedies of our world, but we are not crushed by them because christ is our stronghold

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and our rock. We are perplexed by the ways in which we hurt and hate and fear. But we are not driven to despair by our human condition because christ lived and suffered as one of us and

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holds even the human condition in the very heart of who God is, were persecuted by those who don't understand us or feel threatened by us. But we are not forsaken because christ does not forsake us.

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We are struck down by the terror and violence perpetrated by neighbor against neighbor in the name of racial purity or economic gain or national preservation or religious zeal. But we are not destroyed because christ lifts us up

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and holds us fast. And we have this treasure in clay jars so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. To be clear, this treasure

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is not something you or I can create or discover or purchase. It is God's grace and God's mercy that is poured into these clay jars. It is the assurance of things hoped for. That is our

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treasure. It is the conviction of things not seen , that is our treasure. It is a firm and certain knowledge of God's benevolence towards us. Found upon the truth of the freely given promise in christ

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, both revealed to our minds and sealed upon our hearts through the Holy Spirit that is our treasure. It is christ's body broken and bread broken, that makes us whole. Mhm. It is christ's blood

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poured out the covenant of life which fills us and pours forth to the world. One thing more. We can be very clear about. Even a broken clay jar can receive the Wine of Mercy and Grace

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and hold it and pour it out for a thirsty and broken world. Even these clay jars, the ones who were created for a beautiful and holy purpose , we we who are broken and flawed and imperfect

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even, we can receive the mercy and grace of christ poured into our hearts, and we can carry that mercy and Grace and pour it out for others who are thirsty and broken and in need of being

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filled. And that is good news for today and