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Love the Clay
Fred Rogers tells a story of when his mentor, Dr. Margaret McFarland, invited a sculptor to her preschool classroom with this request: “I simply want you to sit with the children and love the clay in front of them.”[1] The result was revelatory and transformative: as the children observed the sculptor, they started working with the clay in ways they never had before. It was as if the children were participating in the sculptor’s love of the clay, as it overflowed and swept over the whole classroom. This experience informed Rogers’ whole approach to his TV show. He said, “The best teacher in the world is somebody who loves what he or she does and just loves it in front of you.”
I tried to love clay once. The thing about clay is that it doesn’t let you get away with just doing whatever you want. It’s hard! You have to spin the wheel, but not too fast or too slow; add a little water, but not too much; apply pressure, but not too hard or too soft. My hour at the potter’s wheel with the clay ended up feeling less like an act of affection and more like a wrestling match.
Jesus says let your light shine so that others may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. God has set you down among your family, friends, your enemies, in the middle of your neighborhood, your city, your country and calls you simply to love God in front of them. But it’s easier said than done. Left to my own efforts, my attempts at loving God and neighbor often turn out just as poorly as my pottery. You and I are no master sculptors when it comes to loving God. The good news is that we don’t have to be.
In the incarnation, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, took on flesh, came down among His people Israel and all the nations of the world, and loved God before them. Jesus is like a master sculptor. To see Jesus loving the Father is a thing of beauty, like nothing we’ve ever seen before.
In Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, we get a glimpse into the very heart and life of God. It’s the Father loving the Son, the Son loving the Father and the Spirit spilling over so that the whole world is getting caught up in it, not just as spectators, but as participants in this relationship of love, in the very life of God. Jesus is like a master sculptor. And we are like the kids in the classroom. When our eyes are fixed on Jesus, we participate in Jesus’s love of the Father, and we begin to love God and our neighbor in ways we could never have imagined.
[1] https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/fred-rogers?chapter=2&clip=31245&full=true#full-interview. This story begins around the 6:00 minute mark, but the whole 4.5-hour interview is worth the time!
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