Romans 9:19-31

Reflection: The Rev. Emily Mellott Rector, Trinity Episcopal Church, Moorestown, NJ Who are you? Paul pushes us to keep digging into the question of identity, of who we are in relationship to God. We are not who we think we are: as righteous humans, as agents of change, as autonomous creatures. We are, instead, who God thinks we are. And even when that looks like destruction from our point of view, God sees us as part of the plan of redemption. When has your self-image or your community’s image been challenged? What might God’s image of you be right now? -------------------------------------------------- Reflection: The Rev. Deborah Meister Rector, St. Luke's Episcopal Church, South Glastonbury, CT Does the clay say to the potter, "Why have you made me like this?" YES! All the time! We say it when we are frustrated by our deficiencies, or when the gifts we have turn out not to be the gifts we want. We say it when we condemn one another, saying "this person" or "that group" is deficient, wrong, evil, worthy only of condemnation. And this insight should guard us against the too-common error of reading anti-Semitism into this passage. For that, too, would be the creation judging the creator's work. Rather, Paul is pointing us toward mystery, toward the real limitations of what we, as creatures, can know and should seek to know. Each of our neighbors is an act of God we can only begin to fathom; accepting this plants the seed of humility that spurs us in all our uncertainties to turn to Christ, seek to emulate his love, and be saved.