Jeremiah was a trouble maker who spoke truth to power and pissed the people off. His style of lament and litany gave birth to the Puritan style sermon known as Jeremiad - calling people out for ways that walk away from the talk of decent and good ways to live - whatever that may mean to different moments in society.
Abolitionists used Jeremiah’s words and style, like Frederick Douglas, Dr. King and later on Barak Obama. Queer activists way back when demanded rights that seemed absurd, and suffragettes preceded them. Climate activists and human right warriors, anti occupation and pro choice, including post WW2 Oppenheimer - and now Barbie — Jeremiah comes in many forms, and Jeremiads - show up in multiple media.
Who’s your Jeremiah today? Who’s has ruffled your feathers, popular or not, and got you to think deeper about the state of things and what may be actually quite wrong with the way society handles things?
I can think of many more examples and as we travel on with Jeremiah, live from his soapbox in Jerusalem, 2,700 years ago — I am curious to read YOUR stories about modern day prophets who like Jeremiah speak up for the inconvenient truth — whether we agree with them or not.
Thank you for joining Jeremiah, and me, below the bible belt. We’ll be here for a few more weeks as we make sense of his legacy - and how we all get to wake up and be better at being human.
Shabbat Shalom.
Who is YOUR modern Jeremiah?