A Brown Ceramic Teapot...

So... I have been on staff at our church for 18 years.  18 years!  And even after all this time, odd things happen on Sunday mornings that surprise me.  No matter how much prep goes into the planning, no matter how simple the service might seem to be, there is always room for some kind of emergency.  A small storm of panic is common;  that moment when the eyes of the staff meet and one of us flies into action...

That happened during communion a couple of weeks ago.

We were traveling along through the Sunday morning service quite well.  The music, the scripture readings, the message, the prayers - all was chock full of worship and brimming with meaning.

Communion was in progress; the bread broken, the cup lifted, the people were filing forward.  There was a rather large crowd...

One of the gals holding the cup cast a furtive glance around for more liquid, which in our case, is grape juice.  The day's communion style was called intinction, which means a chunk of bread is broken off and the receiver dips that in the cup and eats it.

All is in vain if there is no juice in the cup for dipping!

Emergency!  The cup was about empty...



So I dashed to the kitchen which is in the basement to get more juice to replenish the cup!  Well, the juice is in this giant Sam's-sized jug.  It's huge and more than a little awkward, full of spill potential.

So, when I spied this tea pot sitting in the corner, I seized it and filled it with juice and ran back upstairs.  I neatly poured more juice in the cup and more people stepped up...  and dipped...


It was not until I sat down that I realized an ordinary brown ceramic teapot was probably not the correct container for the job.  It looked rather silly up there next to the shiny brass cross and flower bouquets.  It was rather out of place.  It didn't look like a sacred container to hold the juice which stood for the sacred blood of Jesus shed for all of us...

I was desperate...  and trying to be speedy...  and it was available...

It did the job!

I kinda got the giggles...



Shortly after that, as I was reading the Message version of the Bible, I came across this very verse in II Timothy:  (I am telling the truth.  It's right there!)




In a well-furnished kitchen there are not only crystal goblets and silver platters, but waste cans and compost buckets (and ordinary brown ceramic teapots, I might add) - some containers used to serve fine meals, others to take out the garbage.  Become the kind of container God can use to present any and every kind of  gift to his guests for their blessing.



And isn't that the truth!  We all need to be a 'container' that God can use to bless all those around us.  We can be used whether we are a fine crystal goblet or a waste can or even an ordinary brown ceramic teapot.  We carry the saving Truth within us.  We carry Jesus.  





So arise, ordinary brown ceramic teapots!  We are precious in God's sight.  We can be used by God.

We should be ourselves - the way God made us.  He wants us to be a blessing to all around us using the personality and gifts He gave each and every one of us. 

Now perhaps we need to be cleaned up a bit, but that's the topic of another blog...

Become the kind of container God can use to present any and every kind of gift to his guests for their blessing.