Leafing through my 'holy colouring book' I found this page, which immediately made me think of a particular friend, who is fond of this text, and of something I became aware of years ago that has shaped my understanding of the text ever since.

Clay pots, so I discovered, were the equivalent in the first century of single use paper cups and other 'take away' containers.  Indeed, I relatively recently disocvered that in parts of India this is still the case, and whole communities earn their living making simple clay pots/cups etc.

So, then, the treasure we have, the 'surpassig power', whatever that means, is contained in paper cups... the most disposable and least valuable containers available.

So we, paper cup like though we are, small, easily crushed or broken, sometimes discarded by society with no more than a second glance, are the vessels, the chosen containers for the 'treasure' that it is the gospel.

It's also a reminder that those I walk past with barely a second glance, treating them with the same casual indifference as a chip-paper or a drink bottle, are considered by God as of immeasurable worth - worthy indeed to contain and the same treasure.

Can't find a way to connect this text and these ideas to green issues - but re-use and recycling must surely by consistent with valuing even the paper cups and plastic bags designed for single use; and maybe, at a stretch to recongnising that those people discarded as worthless are also capable of redemption and resurrection (metaphorical and literal).

So that's my sermon/homily/reflection created by colouring.

I wonder what, if anything, the image or the text or my rambling says to you? 

And I wonder if you can colour, mould, stitch or dance your own sermon?