Last Saturday was commissioning day, where we at Wycliffe gather together as a community to pray for our leaving students and worship all together for one last time. This year, our very own chaplain Revd Will Donaldson preached on 2 Corinthians 4:7 about the reality of ministry and the vocation of all those in ministry. After over a decade in ministry, I have to say it was really encouraging and re-envisioning for me and a reminder of why any of us do what we do. So I would like to thank Will for sharing the text with me so I can share it with you.
Commissioning Day Sermon (and first guest post)
June 18, 2025
Treasures in Jars of Clay
by Revd Will Donaldson
Good morning everyone and thank you so much, Michael, for asking me to preach on this wonderful occasion. It’s a real honour and privilege to do so! Some of you know that I was a tutor here for 6 years from 2007: it’s a joy to be back in my retirement on the chaplaincy team, alongside Jane and Bruce.
What will be your abiding memory of Wycliffe Hall?
- It might be lectures, whether at Wycliffe or in the Faculty, when your eyes were opened and your mind stretched to explore the heights and depths of academic theology
- It might be the Focus mornings or the Study Weeks, with their leaning towards practical preparation for ministry, underpinned by parish placements and missions
- It might be worship in chapel, when you experienced the presence of Christ in the singing, the preaching, the liturgy and the celebration of communion.
- It might be your fellowship group, where you got to know a group of fellow students really well and journeyed with them through the training process, and they were there for you when you needed support
- It might be the enjoyment of belonging to the wider community –
- the chats over coffee in the Common room, or the discussions over lunch,
- or the theological boxing matches in Fight Club (where no punches were pulled!),
- or the more refined formal occasions like Matriculation and formal halls,
- or our community notices on Tuesdays with the drum rolls and the gold awards and – not to forget - the Principal’s jokes (all under the pretext of needing to link things up!),
- or maybe your abiding memory will be the Hall Photo last month that ploughed on despite thunder, lightning and torrential rain! How hilarious was that! And you could spot the people whom Jesus would have called ‘oh ye of little faith’ – they had brought their umbrellas!
There’s one other memory that I hope you will take with you into your future ministries: it’s our text for this morning: 2 Cor. 4.7. - ‘But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us’.
Let me explain why I would love you to embed this in your heart as we send you out…
1. We have been entrusted with Treasure
On 4 November 1922 a door was opened into an Egyptian Tomb in the Valley of the Kings which contained one of the most opulent collection of treasures ever discovered. The tomb of Tutankhamun was opened by the Egyptologist Howard Carter, and he was thrilled to find that the grave-robbers had not got there first and so it was largely intact. As Carter entered the tomb with a lit candle he was asked ‘Can you see anything?’ Carter replied "Yes, wonderful things." He was not exaggerating!
- A stunning Golden Death Mask.
- A Solid Gold multi-layered Coffin,
- Several gilded chariots
- A magnificent Throne adorned with scenes of royal life
- A vast collection of personal items, including elaborate jewellery, clothing, and toiletries,
And so the list goes on, all of this show-casing the wealth and power of ancient Egyptian pharaohs and it still remains the most famous find in the Valley of the Kings.
All of it was brought over to the UK in 1972 and was on display in the British Museum - I queued for a day and a half to get in: and it was the most incredible display of treasures I have ever seen.
But even the treasures of Tutankhamun cannot compare with the treasure that we have been entrusted with in Jesus Christ. He is the Pearl of Great Price, he is the Treasure hidden in the field, he is the beautiful saviour, who shed his precious blood for us, he is the King eternal, crowned with glory and honour, he is the image of the invisible God, and in him, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.
Paul is explaining all this to the Corinthians in the previous verses of Chap.4, and now he says: we have this priceless treasure, he’s ours to welcome and enjoy every day, bringing the light and warmth of his presence into our lives; and as Christian ministers we are entrusted with this treasure to share with others, through what we preach, how we serve and the way we live. And since we have this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart (v.1). So try and remember that: we have been entrusted with priceless treasure.
2. We carry this treasure in jars of clay
What artefacts from the ancient world Paul is thinking of here?
Some commentators suggest the small pottery lamps that could be bought in the shops at Corinth, cheap and fragile. (This would connect with the Christian ministers being carriers of light into the dark places in v.6). Others think the analogy is drawn from the Roman triumphal processions when the treasures and spoils of war were carried in unimpressive earthen containers. For e.g., following the Macedonian victory in 167BC, 3,000 Roman soldiers followed the chariots, carrying silver coins in 750 pottery vessels. (And we know that Paul is fond of using similes from the Roman processions from 2 Cor.2.14 and elsewhere). And others just highlight the fragility of ordinary pottery vessels in Near Eastern cultures that were used every day for domestic purposes: storing, carrying, cooking, eating, and drinking. They were only expected to last a few years, at the most.
Whatever Paul exactly had in mind, what is common to all of them if the idea of fragility, vulnerability and apparent weakness. This is the Christian minister: no big shakes; no big standing or reputation; always a weak and fallen human being who get ill, become stressed, experience exhaustion, has relational fall-outs and periods of low self-esteem and self-worth. A jar of clay.
Paul is deliberately contrasting himself (and his fellow ministers) with the trumped-up claims of the Corinthian super apostles, who were consumed by their own self-importance. We are the opposite of that, says Paul: jars of clay, fragile, unimportant and disposable.
In Genesis 1 we were formed from the dust of the ground, and to the ground we shall return one day (earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust). And Jeremiah 18 reminds us that God is the master potter and we are the clay – He is lovingly moulding and shaping us into his people, so that we become formed into his likeness. We carry priceless treasure, but always in jars of clay.
Over 40 years in ministry, God has constantly reminded me of this:
- sometimes it has been when feeling right out of my depth in challenging ministry situations;
- sometimes it has been through my mistakes and pig-headedness;
- sometimes it has been through anxieties and stresses over family matters;
- sometimes it has been strained relationships with colleagues and staff;
- sometimes it has been over disappointments and crushed dreams;
- sometimes it has been financial worries;
- sometimes it has been times of poor health or unexpected accidents (some of you know that I fell off a ladder last summer and completely smashed my hip, needing a full hip replacement…interestingly my new hip joint was a ceramic hip, formed from clay!).
But in each of these times, as we have fallen on our knees and said ‘God where are you? We’re really struggling! We need you so much – we can’t do this without you! And God has said to us: ‘Remember you carry this treasure in jars of clay. My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness’ (2 Cor 12.9).
There was a striking testimony of this last Sunday morning on BBC 1 - it was ‘a Celebration of Pentecost’ from Gas Street in Birmingham, a packed multi-cultural congregation of people, mainly under thirty years of age. And during his talk, the minister, Tim Hughes, shared the story of how it all began, 10 years ago:
"I remember the first day we ever gathered in this building to pray – there were nine of us. Gathered in this derelict building, we needed to raise a huge amount of money – millions of pounds to renovate it. I remember looking at this group of nine, and then looking at the enormity of this building and thinking ‘we’re doomed!’ How’s this going to work? I was so aware of my limitations - Rachel and I had never led a church before. How could God do something beautiful and extraordinary? But in that moment of desperation, we began to pray: ‘Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on us’…and what we have seen is that, as we opened the door, people began to come. As we prayed, people began to give generously. They started to bring their friends and we began to see amazing stories of transformation…many hundreds now whose lives have been changed as they have met with Jesus Christ in this place…God has proved himself faithful, time and time again."
Let’s notice the striking paradox of all this:
Priceless treasure in clay pots!
Eternal glories in frail human beings!
The revelation of Christ to the world through fallen people like you and me
Why has God planned it this way? That now becomes clear in the last part of the verse…
3. Treasure in jars of clay, that God might receive the glory
It’s so that the world can see that ‘all-surpassing power is from God and not from us’. Ahh! Now we see the divine purpose in giving this ministry to weak, frail human beings like us.
Ministry is not about boosting our own little egos, about establishing our reputation, about making a name for ourselves, about building our own little empire, about being known as a great preacher or a dynamic leader or a renowned pastor or a powerful evangelist. Those ambitions are all out of place in Christian ministry for the simple reason that it means we get the glory instead of God.
No, the primary purpose of Christian ministry is the glory of God: that people see our good works and give glory to our Father in heaven. We went back recently to Canterbury where I had been at school, and we visited the magnificent medieval cathedral which is not only the focal point of the Worldwide Anglican Communion, but is also now a Unesco World heritage site, visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists and pilgrims every year. We also went after dark and it was beautifully illuminated by flood lights hidden all around the precincts.
Now, it occurred to me that nobody goes to Canterbury to look at the floodlights: sure, they have a very important role and they do a great job, but they are there to point away from themselves to illuminate the beauty of the Cathedral in all its glory.
And ours is a floodlight ministry: hidden away, hardly noticed, certainly not the focus of attention, but doing a vital role of illuminating the glories of our Saviour, and showing that the power and the glory belongs to him, not to us.
Charles Wesley expressed it so well in his wonderful hymn:
O for a thousand tongues to sing
my great Redeemer's praise,
the glories of my God and King,
the triumphs of his grace!
My gracious Master and my God,
assist me to proclaim,
to spread thro' all the earth abroad
the honours of your name.
We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
Amen
******
Cover photo by Iraj Beheshti on Unsplash
Egyptian treasures: photo by Mary Harrsch on Flickr
Let me start by asking a question: if someone came up to you and asked what's the benefit or blessing of being a Christian, what would you include in your answer? There's the things we might know to say from Sunday School: Jesus loves me, died for me, so I can be forgiven and free. Or something like that. Would it naturally come to your lips to say this: The gift of my faith is that no matter how hard life gets, no matter the sorrow or suffering that comes my way, I am reassured and strengthened by the confidence that God does not ignore the unjust lives or deaths of those who stick close to Him? *** This summer I’m taking some time to look at Daniel 11-12 and Book 4 of the Jewish poetic writings I research, the Sibylline Oracles . This post is an observation and an out-loud thought from some of my reading. Again and again, both in Daniel, the Sibyllines, an array of other Jewish literature, and the gospels (as well as elsewhere in the NT—e.g. Mark 8:38-9:1, 10:29-31, John 11:25, 1 Cor 15:16-19, 2 Corinthians 4), resurrection and the post-mortem life appears as an encouragement and response to the problem of human suffering. Not a rationale or justification. It’s not an answer to the question of ‘why does God allow suffering’ in any overt sense. But an end to the story of God’s peoples that shapes how the present might be lived. When I was very young, I thought resurrection was more-or-less a get of jail free card for the crucifixion. Jesus died on a cross to deal with sin and death. But if he isn't raised it's all pointless: so God has to raise him. Resurrection as an after thought, if you will. But resurrection isn't an epilogue. It's the victory. Without it the whole story is pointless. It's a real, substantial, material hope. *** Life is hard work. Life does not always go our way. Even when it does, that way isn't usually what we really wanted anyway! There's the normal hard stuff of life: work, family, friendships, health and so on. Then there's the hard stuff of following God. We are given so much goodness in the gospel: a relationship with God for starters! But also forgiveness, healing, reconciled relationships, a change and liberation of priorities, freedom and new life. All such wonderful and good things. Yet they are all a foretaste. Reconciliation doesn't always happen. We might have an interior freedom but experience hardship after hardship externally. I've been reading the diaries of Etty Hillesum who expereinced just that. She was a young Jewish woman in the 1940s. She experienced such a bliss and joy because of her faith and spirituality that found contentment even in life in a concentration camp. Yet her life ended at the tender age of 29. So much life left to live, so much potential unrealised. *** Resurrection is a reminder and encouragement that our real hope and the true fulfilment of the gospel isn't in the here and now (it begins now, but as a foretaste of what's to come). We aren't to expect ' everything will go my way ' in this life or that I should experience the perennial blessing of God in my earthly life and relationships. Following God will not be easy. The things He calls us to do may not succeed. The people we love may not love us back. The person we pray for may never come to faith. The change we want to see manifest in the world around us may not happen in this life. But resurrection says this: God has not forgotten. God sees it all. God will set right. Unjust deaths will be dealt with. Unfair hardship will be set straight. This life is not all there is. There is so much more to come, that all of this--even the heart-breaking stuff—will pale in significance in comparison. Yes, that doesn't stop it hurting in the present moment. It doesn't stop grief or stem the tide of darkness today. But it allows us to let go. Surrender. Trust. None of this has to be fixed now. We do what we can. But the outcome of it all is not one realised in this life, but the next. So take courage. There is more to come. ******
Peter Murrell, a Scottish political worker and now ex-husband of Nicola Sturgeon (former SNP party leader), was this week sentenced to 5 years in prison for embezzlement. Over the years he had used party money to buy all manner of things. It began with a Play Station 3 but escalated, to buying silver wine coaster, a Jaguar, and a motor home (the list goes on and on). Now embezzlement is not new. Nor is using political office for personal gain. But what struck me were the comments from the lawyer following the sentencing: “ The accused is now an individual overwhelmed by feelings of embarrassment and shame .” Shame. We don’t know if it’s true or not, but I wonder how you respond to hearing such contrition? Responses can range from the judgemental (“ Good! He deserves it ”) to the overly sympathetic (“ Perhaps he’s learned his lesson ”). But regardless of where we individually fall on the sympathy scale, it was an interesting example of what I’ve been thinking about recently: healthy shame . Mr Murrell has undeniably done something wrong and has betrayed the office given to him. He’s estranged from his wife. He’s headed to prison. He was there to represent the people, but instead, he has preyed on the sheep (Ezek. 34:2 has things to say about this). That uncomfortable feeling of recognising where we have transgressed our limits and have become hoodwinked by our own hubris and entitlement. His inadequacies have been publicly exposed. His dirty laundry is out in public. We may be more accustomed to scandal given the internet age, so we may be desensitised to it, but I bet Peter Murrell is not. When it happens to you, it’s painful. It’s uncomfortable. It’s exposing. I’m no psychologist, so I’d recommend John Bradshaw’s book on Healing the Shame That Binds You , if you want to think more about it. Dan Allender and Tremper Longman have a good Christian reflection on different emotions in Cry of the Soul. But I’ve been noticing where healthy shame appears in Scripture. Shame crops up again and again and again. I’m still in the early stages of thinking about where it appears and why, but one clear example of where it occurs is in scenes of divine judgement, both those in the present and those yet to come. God’s People Exposed (1) Daniel 12:1-4 talks about how Jewish believers in the 2 nd century BCE would be raised. The wise and understanding ones who didn’t comply with the political schemes of Antiochus IV would be raised to shine like stars. The others? Those who had aligned themselves with the emperor and in the process forsaken their covenant loyalty to God? They would be faced with everlasting shame (and contempt). (2) Jeremiah 2 has strong words for God’s people of Israel who have got so wrapped up in themselves they have stopped seeking where God is at work and instead are playing with other idols under the illusion of thinking they’re faithful because they keep the Law. They even say they don’t run after false gods (v.23). They’ve tried to seek out gain from the political powers (v.18) rather than humbly submit themselves to God (v.20). The result? They will be put to shame by Egypt (v.36). In an eerily similar statement to the news from Scotland: “As a thief is shamed when caught, So the house of Israel shall be shamed: They, their kings, their officials, Their priests, and their prophets.” (Jer 2:26) And the same is true in the New Testament. Mark 8:38 says this: "Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels." I suspect these are words for people who don’t listen to Jesus’ words in the preceding lines: the message that to follow Jesus is to take up your cross, deny yourself. Surrender your own wants and desires. Those who, like Peter, wanted to avoid death. Avoid suffering. Avoid hardship. Those who wanted a Messiah that came on a horse not a donkey. One who wore a crown of gold, not one of thorns. ** So what a bout us? How do we avoid that fate? Well, like a bill that if you don’t pay now you’ll be paying a lot more later, we need to start facing our inner shame today. Both the healthy shame and the shame we’ve been given that doesn’t belong to us. We might take some time to pray, be still, listen. See what comes up when we think about our uncomfortable feelings that usually stay in the shadows. The great gift of shame is that it shows us our limits. Where we’ve crossed the line and harmed ourselves, others, and our relationship with God. Where we’ve tried to be more than human (or acted in fear that we’re less than human). But shame also dies on exposure. Though I’d also add that shame dies on exposure in the presence of a loving other. We find a person or a group where we can start doing the crazy thing and actually revealing our shameful selves to others. Peter Murrell is full of shame, his lawyer says. The question is: what will he do with it? Will he use this public humiliation to face himself as he is? Does he have people around him to listen to him and to help him through it? I hope so. Genuinely. I hope that for all of us. That we would have the courage to allow the One who is Light to bring light into the midst of our shame today. To bring us out of hiding. Shame is a horrible feeling: I’m not a fan. But I do know that on the other side is acceptance, serenity, and a joy that really does make it worth it. It is true freedom—and it’s only in that freedom I can become who God has made me to be. Because whatever I’ve done, however humiliating, the deepest truth of all is that I’m made in the image of God. I am loved. ****** Photo by K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash
