In a beautiful passage from Jeremiah, God tells the prophet to go to watch a potter at work. From this, Jeremiah receives an message from God to humanity: “I am the potter. You are the clay.” What does this mean for our lives? How do we live, trusting that God will hold us in God’s hands? How can we be the clay?

Today we will worship together at a pavilion at Highland Park. Following worship we will have a picnic lunch—food will be provided! The service will not be streamed live, but will be recorded and posted later in the day.

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time 

Being the Clay

Psalm 139:1-6; 13-18; Jeremiah 18:1-11

Union Presbyterian Church  

September 7, 2025  

Sharing the Light of Christ, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow  

Liturgist: Carlton Sackett Preacher: Rev. Pat Raube   

Welcome   

Announcements Carlton Sackett  

Prelude Chris Bartlette, Jim Mica

“All Creatures of Our God and King,” Deanna Witkowski

* Call to Worship from Psalm 139

O God, where can I go from your spirit?
    Or where can I flee from your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
    if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.

If I take the wings of the morning
    and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,

even there your hand shall lead me,
    and your right hand shall hold me fast.

Let us praise the God who seeks us and finds us.

Let us praise the One who is with us always.

* Hymn # 5 W & R

“Halle, Halle, Hallelujah,” Hal H. Hopson

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.    

Halle, halle, hallelujah.
Halle, halle, hallelujah.
Halle, halle, hallelujah.
Hallelujah, hallelujah. (2x)

Praise God in this holy place,
Every nation, every race.
Come, make joyful music to the Lord.
Sound the trumpet, sound it clear.
Sound it for the world to hear.
Come, make joyful music to the Lord.

Halle, halle, hallelujah.
Halle, halle, hallelujah.
Halle, halle, hallelujah.
Hallelujah, hallelujah. (2x)

Everything that breathes now praise;
Sing your songs, let voices raise.
Come, make joyful music to the Lord.
Play the cymbals, play the lute;
Play the timbrel, play the flute.
Come, make joyful music to the Lord.

Halle, halle, hallelujah.
Halle, halle, hallelujah.
Halle, halle, hallelujah.
Hallelujah, hallelujah. (2x)

* Call to New Life    

Sometimes we’re not sure exactly how to live out our faith… do we approach it as pillars of God’s truth or as those whose hearts are soft and open? Let us open our hearts to God, who can show us the way.

* Prayer for Wholeness and Peace   

God, maker of all that is, we seek that perfect way to be yours in this world. If we are too malleable, we allow ourselves to be turned into something we do not want to be. If we are too rigid, we will be brittle and breakable, and this world will snap us in two. It is you who made us; show us the way.

~ Silent Prayer ~

And we pray,

Wonderful creator, let us be as clay in your hands. Let us be who you created us to be. Let us be strong enough to love you with all our heart and soul and mind and strength, and to love one another as you have loved us. Let us be pliable enough to open our hearts to your presence in our lives. Let us be, O God, as you would have us be: yours. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

* Assurance of God’s Love

You have searched us, O God, and you know our hearts.

Your steadfast love is from everlasting to everlasting.

Wonderful are your works, O God, that we know very well.

We praise you, God our Creator,

for making and re-making us in your image.

By your love and mercy, we are restored, at peace, and whole.

Thanks be to God!

* Sharing of the Peace  

Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;

righteousness and peace will kiss each other.

May the peace of God be with you.

And also with you.

Let us share Christ’s peace.

Scripture Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 (NRSVUE)  (Responsive) 

O Lord, you have searched me and known me.

You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
    you discern my thoughts from far away.

You search out my path and my lying down
    and are acquainted with all my ways.

Even before a word is on my tongue,
    O Lord, you know it completely.

You hem me in, behind and before,
    and lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
    it is so high that I cannot attain it.

For it was you who formed my inward parts;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
    Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.

    My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
    intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written
    all the days that were formed for me,
    when none of them as yet existed.

How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
    How vast is the sum of them!

I try to count them—they are more than the sand;
    I come to the end—I am still with you.

Time for Young Disciples Rev. Pat Raube  

Music: “Spirit of the Living God,” Daniel Iverson

Used by Permission.  CCLI License #CSPL068847 

Spirit of the living God,

Fall a-fresh on me;

Spirit of the living God,

Fall a-fresh on me.

Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me.

Spirit of the living God,

Fall a-fresh on me.

Scripture Jeremiah 18:1-11 (NRSVUE)  

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him. Then the word of the Lord came to me: 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. At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it. And at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, but if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will change my mind about the good that I had intended to do to it. Now, therefore, say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus says the Lord: Look, I am a potter shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, all of you, from your evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.

Response Holy Wisdom, Holy Word:  

Thanks be to God!  

Sermon “Being the Clay”

*Affirmation of Faith by the Rev. Mary Luti, sicutlocutusest.com

We believe in God,

maker and re-maker of everything that is,

in whom there is always more,

and more to come;

and by whose wonder, work, and will,

even the dead find life.

We believe in God.

We believe in Jesus Christ,

maker and re-maker of tables and tales,

in whom the welcome is wide,

the feasting free;

and by whose weeping, words, and wounds,

even the lost are found.

We believe in Jesus Christ.

We believe in the Holy Spirit,

maker and re-maker of imagination,

whose eyes see over the horizon,

beyond the end;

and by whose urgency and fire,

even the truth gets told.

We believe in the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, we also believe

that everything that lives can be reborn,

all hidden things can come to light,

all broken things can be remade,

the empty larder can be filled,

and promises gone stale and hard

can taste like bread again.

And we believe the old, old Story can be told again

to thrill sad hearts like rediscovered love;

that even lost and frightened lambs like us

can be retrieved, restored to courage,

and declare the Truth

that makes the tyrants tumble

and the captives free.

* Hymn # 343 W & R

“The Potter’s Hand,” Darlene Zschech

Used by Permission.  CCLI License #CSPL068847 

(Sing twice:)

Take me, mold me, use me, fill me;

I give my life to the Potter’s hand.

Call me, guide me, lead me, walk beside me;

I give my life to the Potter’s hand.

Prayers of the People  

The Lord’s Prayer   

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.  

Prayer Response  # 352 W & R (verse 2)    

“Spirit Song,” John Wimber   

© 1979 Mercy/ Vineyard Publishing 
Used by Permission.  CCLI License #CSPL068847

O come and sing this song with gladness   

As your hearts are filled with joy.  

Lift your hands in sweet surrender to his name.  

O give him all your tears and sadness;   

Give him all your years of pain,   

And you’ll enter into life in Jesus’ name. 

Call for Offering      

* Doxology # 145 W & R (verse 1)  

“Glory Be to God, Creator,” Richard K. Carlson 

Used by Permission.  CCLI License #CSPL068847  

Glory Be to God, Creator,  
Glory be to God the Son,  
Glory be to God the Spirit,  
Known as three, yet God the One. 

* Dedication of Offering  

Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper

The Invitation

O taste and see that the Lord is good!

Happy are all who find refuge in God!

The Lord be with you

And also with you

Lift up your hearts

We lift them up to the Lord

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise

The Great Thanksgiving

Holy, holy, holy Lord—

we praise you for your love:

bringing order out of chaos,

breathing life into dust,

leading captives into freedom,

calling wandering children home,

giving bread to the hungry,

giving drink to the thirsty,

raising the dead to life.

Sanctus

“Holy, Holy, Holy Lord,” Marty Haugen

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.     

Holy, holy, holy Lord, 

God of power, God of might, 

Heaven and earth are filled with Your glory. 

Hosanna in the highest. 

Blessed is He who comes  

In the name of the Lord. 

Hosanna in the highest, 

Hosanna in the highest. 

Thank you, Lord—

We thank you for Jesus:

Word made flesh,

light of the world,

living water,

shepherd and gate,

way and truth,

bread of heaven,

cup of salvation,

resurrection and life.

The Words of Institution

We thank you for Jesus, on the night of his arrest:

he took bread,

gave thanks to you,

he broke it,

he shared it, saying,

Take and eat.

This is my body,

given for you.

We thank you for Jesus, after the supper:

he took the cup, saying,

this is the new covenant,

sealed in my blood,

shed for you,

for the forgiveness of sins.

Do this, he said, and remember me.

Take this bread and cup, O Lord—a feast of grace.

Take our hearts and lives—an offering of praise.

And so, we proclaim the mystery of our faith:

Christ has died.

Christ is risen.

Christ will come again.

Spirit, come—

come and live in us:

in this bread,

in this cup,

in your people,

one in the body,

one in the blood,

one with Christ,

one in ministry,

in this place,

in every place,

in this world,

in the world to come.

Blessing and glory,

wisdom and thanksgiving,

honor and power,

forever and ever! Amen.

Communion of the People 

You are invited to come forward to receive communion.

Each plate of bread has gluten free wafers in the center.

Look, here is your Lord coming to you in bread and the fruit of the vine.

These are the gifts of God for the people of God.

Music During Communion:

"Change My Heart, O God,” Eddie Espinoza

Used by Permission.  CCLI License #CSPL068847  

Prayer of Thanksgiving After Communion

Gracious God, we thank you for feeding us with the body and blood of your son, our brother, Jesus. May we, who share his body, live his risen life; we, who drink his cup, bring life to others; we, whom the Spirit lights, give light to the world. Keep us firm in the hope you have set before us, so that we and all your children shall be free, and the whole earth live to praise your name, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

* Hymn  # 551 W & R

“As a Fire is Meant for Burning,” Ruth Duck

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.     

As a fire is meant for burning

With a bright and warming flame,

So the church is meant for mission,

Giving glory to God’s name.

Not to preach our creeds or customs,

But to build a bridge of care,

We join hands across the nations,

Finding neighbors everywhere.

We are learners; we are teachers;

We are pilgrims on the way.

We are seekers; we are givers;

We are vessels made of clay.

By our gentle, loving actions,

We would show that Christ is light.

In a humble, listening spirit,

We would live to God’s delight.

As a green bud in the springtime

Is a sign of life renewed,

So may we be signs of oneness

‘Mid earth’s peoples, many-hued.

As a rainbow lights the heavens

When a storm is past and gone,

May our lives reflect the radiance

Of God’s new and glorious dawn.

Benediction  

Postlude Chris Bartlette 

“He Has Made Me Glad / This Is the Day,” Mark Hayes

Used by Permission.  CCLI License #CSPL068847 

Where an * is indicated, please rise in body and/or in spirit.      

“W & R” ~ the red Worship and Rejoice hymnal.     

“PH” ~ the blue Presbyterian Hymnal  

Communion Prayers taken from the Book of Common Worship, John Knox Press, Louisville, KY: 2018.

Worship With Us

Being the Clay