”This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was sha- ping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.Then the word of the Lord came to me. He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.” Jeremiah 18:1-6

I sat and watched the program ”Veckans brott” (Crime
of the week) on national television one evening about
a year ago. Criminologist Leif GW Persson talked about how difficult it was for relapsed criminals to change course. When asked if there was no chance he replied something like: ”Well, what usually works is things like salvation or that they get hold of a sensible lady and stuff like that.” Both of those things have to do with fellow- ship. Salvation is about a restored relationship with God Himself and at the same time being integrated into a community with flaws, but at the same time, God’s grace sanctified people. Namely the Church. When Jeremiah got the call to go down to the potter’s house, it was because God wanted to say something to him about

the people who Jeremiah was a part of. He knew that many were serious relapsed offenders when it came to the commandments of God, and perhaps he had begun to lose hope that God could really use such people. But there and then he was reminded that the Lord can trans- form even the hardest hearts. The church is supposed

to be a community where such insight has taken root, and where the realization of this hope is lived out, to the restoration of one another. Jeremiah got this revealed to him. Leif GW seems to have glimpsed it. How about you and me? /Lars Svensson

Prayer

– We pray for your work in our lives Lord – ”God, shape me after your good will and let me grow in the relation- ship to you. Help me to love my siblings in faith and my neighbors.”

– We pray for the ministries “Trappa Upp”, “DreamCen- ter” and “LP” in our city.
– We pray for Smyrna Gårdsten.