At Asbury University, worship recently took an unexpected form: clay-covered hands, quiet reflection and the steady voice of a professor guiding students through the image of God as a potter.
During the campus “Made in His Image” gathering, art professor Margaret Park-Smith led students through a live pottery demonstration, using the creative process to explore a central biblical theme — that every person is intentionally formed by God.
The evening combined teaching, hands-on creation and worship, offering students a tangible way to reflect on identity, purpose and spiritual formation.
Park-Smith opened with Isaiah’s declaration: “We are the clay, and you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.”
Drawing from both Scripture and her experience as an artist, she emphasized that pottery does not begin with raw material alone, but with intention.
“A potter doesn’t just start with a lump of clay,” she explained. “They start with a desire to create. There is a purpose from the very beginning. The finished vessel is already envisioned.”
In the same way, she said, God creates each person with a design in mind — placing gifts, tendencies and capacities within them according to that purpose.
As she worked at the wheel, Park-Smith walked students through each stage of the pottery process and its spiritual parallels.
The first step, centering the clay, requires alignment rather than force.
“The potter remains steady,” she said. “It’s the stillness, combined with the movement of the wheel, that brings the clay into balance.”
For students, the image pointed toward spiritual stillness — learning to cooperate with God’s work rather than resisting it.
Once centered, the clay is opened and drawn upward. According to Park-Smith, an experienced potter already knows how far a particular piece of clay can be stretched.
That stage became a metaphor for seasons of pressure or difficulty.
“The potter knows the full potential of the clay,” she said. “And God knows our capacity — how far we can grow, how much we can be stretched.”
Rather than signaling failure, challenging seasons may be part of the process that reveals strength and possibility.
After the clay reaches its full height, the shaping begins. Park-Smith demonstrated how a potter’s hands work both inside and outside the vessel, refining the form and smoothing inconsistencies.
“The goal is for the outside to reflect what’s happening inside,” she explained.
Even the finishing details — the rim, where the inner space meets the outer world, and the base that supports the structure — reflect the care and intentionality of the maker.
Park-Smith emphasized that every finished piece ultimately points back to the potter.
Some vessels are unique, others similar, but each carries the imprint of the artist’s skill and vision.
“Each piece has the voice of its maker,” she said. “And the same is true for us — we all bear the mark of the one who formed us.”
The message encouraged students to see their differences not as comparisons, but as varied expressions of the same creative source.
After the demonstration, students were invited to become potters themselves.
Tables of air-dry clay and sculpting tools were distributed throughout the room as live worship music played. Some students sang quietly while shaping small bowls or figures; others worked in silence, using the activity as a space for prayer and reflection.
Organizers encouraged participants to consider where they might be in the forming process — where they feel stretched, refined or unfinished.
By the end of the evening, students left with small clay creations and a larger takeaway: formation is ongoing, intentional and guided.
In a campus environment often focused on plans and outcomes, the night offered a different perspective — that identity is not something students must construct alone, but something being shaped with care.
Like clay on a wheel, Park-Smith’s message suggested, the process may involve pressure, patience and change.
But the hands shaping it already know what the finished vessel is meant to become.
