God's Pottery: The Sea of Names and the Pierced Inheritance

by Anne Hamilton

Guilt says, 'I made a mistake.' Shame says, 'I am a mistake.' Shame affects both our identity and destiny in Christ. So it's no coincidence that, in Hebrew, guilt and shame are related to the very thing that defines our true our own name. Name covenants and threshold covenants are meant to usher us into the hidden place in Christ where He is our shield and inheritance. Instead shame, disappointment and fear drive us into complicity with the enemy of our souls. When the door into our calling opens but we experience constriction and wasting, not full and abundant life, then it's time to uncover just what has gone wrong.

180 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2016

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

For twenty years, I was the coordinator of an annual camp for children based around The Chronicles of Narnia. That experience shaped a lot of my thinking about how readers enjoy fantasy.

Like CS Lewis, my fantasy story Many-Coloured Realm began with a picture in my mind's eye: a boy without arms floating in a field of stars and faced with an impossible choice.

My non-fiction series beginning with God's Poetry can be traced back to the observation that Lewis comes from the Welsh word for lion. The discovery of name covenants led to the discovery of threshold covenants, as well as many other long-forgotten aspects of our Judeo-Christian heritage.

I love exploring words, mathematics and names. All of these combine in my books, whether they are fiction or non-fiction, or whether they're for adults or children, whether they're academic in tone or primarily devotional. I hope my readers always come away from my books with a renewed delight for the world around us and a child-like wonder for its awesome aspects.

Reviews

[Dale Harcombe]

This is a book to read, to pause over and reflect on. Some aspects will require a change in your way of thinking. It may even require you to let go of some pre-conceived ideas about what the Bible says and look at it in the light of insights from other sources and traditions. For example Jewish commentary throws a whole new outlook on the role of women in a few situations in the Old Testament. It’s not adding to the biblical account but clarifying things that have been overlooked by some translators. The Golden Calf incident and the wilderness wandering are a couple of examples.
I also loved some of the stories the author shares about her time as a teacher, especially the one about how she and the girl’s mother together handled the disruptive girl in the author’s maths class. One quote that struck me was ‘Everything, absolutely everything, in the entire universe points to the line of latitude that passes through Bethlehem.’ If you read the book you will see how and why that quote has great relevance. I also loved the picture of Mary Magdalene as ’keeper of the memory when it came to the most significant event of all the ages: the resurrection of the Messiah. ’ The reality is I could have listed many more quotes that appealed. I was provided with an ARC from the author and publisher in return for an honest review. What happened was, as I read, I ended up with a lot of passages highlighted or highlighted that spoke to me that I wanted to think about more or take some action on. Even the appendices and their prayers are helpful. Too often we take refuge in other things rather than God. I thought the false refuge checklist was particularly useful and challenging. I certainly could see I have done, and sometimes still continue, to revert to some of these false refuges at times.
I have read I think all of Anne Hamilton’s nonfiction books, so some of the ideas and stories in this book I have encountered before. That is not a negative though as, like a lot of us I suspect, I need to hear or read things more than once for them to really sink in and take root.
In my review I feel I can’t do justice to this book which requires thoughtful reading and ultimately action. It is filled, as all Anne’s book are, with extensive research and fascinating insights. Recommended reading for those who are happy to have their thinking expanded and make changes in their lives.
I can't wait for the version with its stunning blue, green and gold cover to appear.

[Elaine Fraser]

I've now read all of Anne's books in this series and have found them all to be absolutely fascinating.
The idea that words we so casually throw around can have so much significance is quite confronting, yet quite empowering.

I wrote about twenty pages of notes while reading God's Pottery and am still pondering the big ideas contained in it.

For example, "Yet Lucifer wants to project shame on to us, toxic shame that binds us in cords of hidden pride. He never wants to take shame away. Because, if we lost our shame through the power of Jesus' blood, we'd get back our identities, our destinies, and our names."

Anne writes like a theologian, but she lives, like the rest of us, in a world where shame and restriction prevent us from living lives filled with creativity, wonder, grace, and love. God has created each one of us to live an abundant life. But, "All over the world, creativity is stifled in mind-numbing jobs; very few people get to enjoy using the creative power their own name calls them to use, Christians are called to mend the broken world through their work."

As previous reviewers have alluded to, Anne writes about grace in a gritty, real way that satisfies the tension we feel between forgiveness and justice at times.

"But forgiving does not mean forgoing justice. It does not mean forfeiting restitution. It does not mean repentance is optional. It does not mean we should accept abuse.

"Because the purpose of grace is for reconciliation: between God and ourselves; between ourselves and others."

Anne's ability to weave Hebrew poetry, contemporary inspirational writings, mathematics, science, the Bible and her unique understanding of the world makes this book very difficult to define and describe.

I know I'm not doing a great job. You probably have to read it yourself. If you are looking for something mystical, theological and inspirational you will enjoy reading God's Poetry.

Life is a battle. Life is a struggle. God's Poetry suggests we have access to the God of Heaven who supplies the armour we need to ward off attacks. He also gives us the strength we need to stand at the thresholds and gives us "permission to ask for his overcoming power" as we step into the life He calls to.

I hope this stumbling, awkward review encourages you to seek this book out and to add it to your TBR pile and may you:

"Just lift your face for the kiss of God and, through that kiss, receive His armour. Then put your hand in His and take the first step towards your true calling."

[Mazzy Adams]

Another important book full of wisdom and encouragement to every Christian believer who wants to understand and step into the destiny that God is calling them to. But don't start with this book! Read the earlier tomes first - God's Poetry, God's Panoply, God's Pageantry - to get the most out of God's Pottery and be encouraged as you begin to understand both the power and the specific personal nature of Christ's work to enable His followers to step into abundant life. Whole series highly recommended, especially if you are keen to discover the amazing depths of God's words and intentions.

[Any Length]

I have been lucky and blessed to have been given this book by the Anne Hamilton.
Having reviewed the previous three books “God’s Poetry”, “God’s Pageantry” and “God’s Panoply”, the final book in the series “God’s Pottery” brings us full circle and gives a solution to why, despite all our efforts, we have as yet to reach our full destiny.

As mentioned about the previous books it is advisable to read them in order and to take time to let each segment stir our thoughts and allow the information to re-new or re-work our beliefs about how things should be and what the bible really tells us. What I am writing in this review is my own understanding of the book after one reading, and it may not be exactly what the author has said. I believe that each reader will receive what we are meant to receive. Please bear with me in this regard.

There was a lot for me in this book and I can only touch on a few items. It begins with
the reminder that our destiny and our life was breathed into us by God, and goes on to explain again the various covenants we can enter into.
Explaining various spirits that can fool us into or have made covenants with our ancestors. Covenants that are still existing over our names.

The spirit of forgetting is mentioned as well and “shame” and it’s name sakes “guilt” and “I will name”. Our shame that causes us to try to rationalize our behaviour, our addictions, our false refuges, addictions or addictive behaviour, our death covenants. We learn about the pride we carry that is at the bottom of shame and how we need to let God remove this shame and the pride from us.

Very interesting for me was also the question Anne Hamilton brings to us about kalah and kallah. Both words sound the same, Jesus did not write them down a he was dying on the cross. Which one did Jesus of Nazareth say as His last words? Was it “it is finished” as is so often translated or was it “the bride”, meaning us? That He presented the bride to His Father. Or was it both. Did He in his dying seconds use the one word that could mean both and in effect mean to say “The work is finished I present You, the Father with the bride.”?

We are being challenged as to how many times God will forgive us and how often we claim to already be forgiven through the death of Jesus of Nazareth. And how our shame twists our name and our destiny.

As short aside the author deals with “created us in His image”, touching on whether God is male of female?
Seeing we are created in His image and He created both females and males – He must be both.
And an excursion into the story of clay pots singing. If we are in tune with God and our covenant with Him we, too sing. But we have entered into covenants with other spirits and our clay has been broken and sounds wrong. Our destiny has been interfered with. We need to return to God and let Him restore the broken clay of our being. This involves inventory and repentance.

A very pertinent point Anne makes is that aiming for a virtuous life can become a false God in and of itself. Where honesty or virtue or honour becomes more important than God. This is a big warning. And is something we so easily see in other people, or other cultures or other religions yet fail to see in ourselves. A good point to ponder.

We are then introduced to “the satan”, a nameless spirit who is into name dealing
because he has no name of his own. Through shame he aims to deal in our names stealing our destiny and making us find refuge in the wrong things and false behaviours. Repenting all such deals, covenants is the basis of this book and leads us to returning to /re-establishing the one true covenant with God.

Forgiveness is a big focus and probably the main gift I received out of reading this book. There is always a gem for each person in Anne’s books. This one is mine.
The statement that
“Forgiveness is impossible unless God accomplishes it in us, so we need to ask for His empowerment.”
has the power to bring many readers of this book to a point of healing and forgiveness. We have been given permission not to have to try to forgive the things we have been struggling to forgive for years. We can now hand our desire to forgive over to God and ask for His help. For Him to do the forgiving in us. What a relief for those of us tired of the internal fight to forgive things that have hurt us for decades.

We learn more about covenants over the next several pages, the importance of this knowledge cannot be stressed enough.

We are led to the concept of Grace. Again help for all those struggling with forgiveness.
“Grace never says, ‘It doesn’t matter’. Grace never excuses. Never abuses. Never tolerates. Never rationalizes. Never minimizes. Never exonerates. Never accepts a plea bargain or a self-serving technicality in defense.”
and to demand forgiveness by claiming God has forgiven them adds insult to inury.
Well put by Anne:
“ ‘God has forgiven him outright; why can’t you?’ the church often asks, thereby throwing in a guilt trip and exacerbating the abuse.”
Well said, Anne. Finally, someone is willing to put the truth out there.
We cannot force forgiveness. And we cannot force grace. It comes from God and not being able to forgive in a hurry doesn’t make us bad Christians, but makes us human
and often deeply hurt humans at that who do not need more shame heaped upon them, but given help and support.
And:
“But forgiving does not mean forgoing justice. It does not mean forfeiting restitution. It does not mean repentance is optional. It does not mean we should accept abuse.”
Again, well said and important to all who have suffered at the hand of others.
I highly recommend the reading of pages 99 ff over and over to help the suffering person.
On pages 117 ff we return to “God’s Pottery” in the literal sense. We find that some of us are so broken that only God can do anything with the shards that are left over. We need the Master Potters grace.
“When we choose to allow God to accomplish forgiveness through us, we advance our own restoration.”
“When we choose repentance, we advance our own restoration.”
“When we choose to renounce the way we have dishonoured others, we advance our own restoration.”

We need to get back to our own restoration ad part of that is not to buy into slander, shame. Names are important and they represent our destiny and identities. Again, “the satan” is after our names and we need to get back to God to have Him renounce our covenants with "the satan" and his helpers.

Anne moves on to give us precise instructions to get to the point where old covenants are broken and new ones established with God. This includes being encouraged to have healing ministry or being in a prayer group to have witnesses present.
Anne gives us fourteen steps to renounce these old covenants, to repent and to ask for memory to be restored. Along with several sample prayers that she encourages us to personalize and use as a guide only.

[Ray Hawkins]

I read ‘The Sea of Names and the Pierced Inheritance’ shortly after ‘God’s Pageantry.’ This was probably unwise. I think reading them close together dulled the impact of ‘The Sea of Names …’ However, in saying that I did gain some fascinating insights into what can be so easily overlooked or taken for granted.
The role of women as understood by Rabbi’s in the tabernacle construction, on page 49f I thought was wonderful. This was further enhanced by the women’s refusal to have their jewellery used in the construction of the idol at Mt. Sinai. The fallout from the men’s failure in moral leadership is sad reading. Also, Anne’s quoting of sources inferring that it was the men of the first generation out of Egypt that failed to possess the Promised Land. Nothing indicates that this curse fell upon the women. Interesting.
Throughout the book are certain features which blessed me. Highlighting a positive effect the threat of shame can have, p.18, was well handled. Another point well made was how we have adopted the classic Greek mindset and rejected the Biblical Hebrew. Her comments and illustrations from p. 52 and their implications to gender roles in the Church are worth considering.
The essence of the book is to do with the meaning and history of our individual name. Have we aspired to God’s intention which underscores it or points us to something higher? Is there something in the family tree which has prevented the person from entering into the fullness of life God offers? Anne addresses these under a series of cursed covenants. I have no doubt about their existence and stranglehold over people. I may differ about deliverance from them and entrance into the New Covenant of God’s grace. Still, Christ calls us to be liberated from the chains of the past and it is worth a look at family history to see if some ‘chains’ need cutting.
One section really spoke to me. It was about the Passover on p.74f. I gained a new insight into this well‒known passage of Exodus 12.
Some repetition from her earlier works are evident but do not distract. They are necessary for those who are reading ‘Sea of Names and the Pierced Inheritance’ without other background information. I’d probably give it 3 stars.
Ray Hawkins March 11th 2016.
I received this book for reviewing purposes.

[Ruth Bonetti]

Another challenging book by Anne Hamilton needed time to absorb, so the published version will doubtless excel my advanced reading copy.
So many themes to digest;
There's some uplift to read that the Israeli women who refused to surrender their gold ornaments to be melted down into a golden calf received their reward, while their doubting men lost the chance to enter the Promised Land. Yay, you discerning women!
But it all goes far deeper to our marrow. And our names.
'Death by name is far from impossible.'
The following page challenges those who have been wounded by a nickname. 'If we hold resentment towards those who cursed our identity or if we refuse to forgive them, then we allow them to dictate who we are. We also allow them to kill our true identity and replace it with a false one...We allow the slanderous nickname to find a resting place is our souls.'
Been there, done that. Spare me the T-shirt.
The reason why one cannot skim read Anne Hamilton's books is because she challenges us to act on her insights. All the better if we keep one finger in the Endnotes and another in the Bible to check references. But also, if we want real change in our lives, destinies and futures, we have to act on her advice. Pray the prayers. But resist formulas. And be aware that for some of them the time may not be right. Even, we need 'permission' to go there.
It's all very complex. Sigh. Hard.
But then she throws a lifeline. We hear that we should put on the whole armour of God, and dutifully parrot Ephesians. Thinking, OK, I tried. What now?
But Anne Hamilton simplifies any formulaic efforts with a prayer: 'Dear God in heaven, please kiss me now. Thank You, Father! Thank You, Jesus! Thank You, Holy Spirit!'
That's do-able.
There are 'aha!' moments; concerns about the indoctrination of our children have a name; the Janissary spirit at work.
She expands on earlier books' references to Python, stakes, wasting and constriction.
The pages about Delphi and the Corinthians are especially illuminating. I write as one who visited Delphi as a tourist, blissfully oblivious to the underlying meanings. Yet in some ways, they have impacted, though how could I know this at the time?
So, how to move forward over our thresholds?
'When we choose to allow God to accomplish forgiveness through us, we advance our own restoration. Notice, I didn't say "When we choose to forgive." All we can do is ask God to open the doors in us to allow His forgiveness to others.'
And similarly for repentance and for dishonouring others.
That's a relief. It isn't all about us.
Thank God. Please God. Restore our names and our destinies.
So there's a few reasons why my reading, digesting and review took rather long.
Life – and faith – is a journey.
I encourage others to walk the path set out in this insightful, learned book.

[Louisa Black]

Here's the thing. I took a while longer to read this than the others. I ASSUMED, because I am familiar with the author and her work, I would automatically ease into this book. I was wrong.
This, I would say, felt different. I had to read it twice through not because I'm stupid but the subject is best consumed in small parts.
I really had to take the time to digest what was being shared and go away read the Bible to understand a little more about what the author was sharing.
At times, I felt that the author shifted away from a point that was originally being discussed only to find that we had to go around the subject in order to build up the picture so when you came to the conclusion you understood clearer what was being said.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book . It was not as easy to read as the others but I do like to be challenged as a reader and not treated stupid, here the author never attempts to do so.

[Debbie Roome]

I found this a very deep book and ended up reading it through twice. Anne has a wealth of wisdom and knowledge to impart and I found the details about the name and threshold covenants fascinating. It certainly changed the way I look at many aspects of my life and I may well read it for a third time. The fourteen steps outlined in chapter 7 are something all of us should work through to emerge into the fullness God has for us. Well worth a read.

[Adele Jones]

Another insightful work from Anne Hamilton. I took my time reading God's Pottery, pondering and absorbing the details so carefully presented in each section. Even so, when I finished the book I felt could re-read from the beginning and glean even more.

[Judy Rogers]

If you want to discover more about yourself, more about your name - this is the book for you.