What does it mean to create with God? In this episode, artist Tania Michelle Wineglass shares how clay, home, and storytelling become vessels of divine conversation and challenge. Through scripture and prayer, we are invited to see God’s shaping hand in art, in justice, and in our own lives.

Isaiah 58:9-11

Use this guide for prayer and contemplation. Read slowly, pausing as needed for silence and reflection.

Opening

Settle into a comfortable position. Let your shoulders drop. Unclench your jaw. Unfurrow your brow.

Breathe in slowly. Breathe out slowly.

Stay here a moment.

Holy One, meet us here. Quiet what needs quieting. Awaken what needs awakening.

Reflection on Contemplative Prayer

In contemplative prayer, we come as we are—carrying our stories, our questions, our longings. We do not rush to explain. We simply make room for God.

As you pray today, you are invited to hold two truths together: God’s deep love, and God’s call to remove oppression.

Clay comes from the earth. In its softness and its shaping, many have sensed the touch of the Creator—God within us and beyond us, guiding what is being made.

As you gaze on the artwork, let it become a place of conversation—where God may comfort you, challenge you, and tell a story that must not be forgotten.

Scripture

Isaiah 58:9–11 (The Inclusive Bible)

Cry and the Divine One will answer; call, and God will say, ‘I am here’— provided you remove from your midst all oppression, finger pointing and malicious talk. If you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light will rise in the darkness and your shadows will become like noon. The Divine One will always guide you, giving relief in desert places. God will give strength to your bones and you will be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters never run dry.

Spirit of the Living God, breathe through these words. As we listen, let your “I am here” reach the places in us that feel like desert, and stir in us the courage to remove what harms your beloved.

Artwork for Prayerful Reflection

After Dinner Conversation — Tania Michelle Wineglass

As you look, notice the dinner table with its place settings. Notice the houses of different colors, and the red line running down the middle like tape—redlining made visible. You do not have to say much to begin. Bring your lived experience to this table, and let God meet you in what you notice.

Reflection Questions

As you gaze at the table, what details draw your attention first—colors, shapes, distance, or placement?

What do you notice about the red line down the center, and what does it stir in you—memory, grief, anger, resolve, prayer?

If you imagine yourself sitting at this table, where do you find yourself drawn to sit, and what feels true about that place?

Who else is at the table with you in your imagination, and what do you want them to hear or understand?

What kind of conversation begins to form around the table as you look at what you see?

How does your faith shape what you speak, what you refuse to ignore, and how you listen in that conversation?

When you hear, “Cry … and God will say, ‘I am here,’” what part of your life most needs that assurance today?

What might it look like, in your life and community, to “remove from your midst all oppression,” in ways both concrete and compassionate?

Imagine God is with you at the table: what do you sense God saying to those gathered?

What words feel directed to you personally—comfort, correction, invitation, or call?

As this time of prayer comes to a close, what next faithful step is being placed in your hands?

Closing

Divine One, guide us. Where we are weary, give relief in desert places. Where we have caused harm—or benefited from harm—teach us to tell the truth, to listen deeply, and to act with love that does not look away. Make us like a watered garden, for the sake of those who are hungry and afflicted. Amen.