Our community has been grieving and pondering deaths that came too soon:  the accidental death of Braxton Stuntz, the unexpected passing of our beloved Bill Rolland, and the sudden death of Carmel dentist Tony Ricciardi.

A stranger said to me last week, commenting on Braxton’s death, “But, of course, you Christians believe that God planned Braxton’s death – that everything is part of God’s plan.”

Is that what we believe?    That we must be resigned to “God’s Plan,” grit our teeth and endure?

This Sunday we continue our Sermon Series on Jeremiah.   In this week’s story Jeremiah  goes down to watch a potter work.  The potter begins to shape a pot, and then decides to throw it away.

Some people of faith believe that we are passive clay, powerless in the hands of our Potter.  But this story yields deeper truths.  Jeremiah insists that the clay has its own power.  It has freedom to work with God to become a vessel of beauty.