It was so great to be together again! Thank you for your incredible comments and insights. As a reminder class announcements plus a short message from the reading can be found on Instagram at Seek the Covenant Path.
Reading for next week:
Jeremiah 30-33; 36; Lamentations 1:3
A FAMILIAR VOICE
"And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the dust, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust."
Isaiah 29:4
“This is the Bible being a voice out of the ground speaking to us. I feel like this year this verse has been fulfilled more than ever before in those terms. I feel like that the Bible and our Israelite ancestors that we're reading about are speaking to us out of the ground with a familiar spirit out of the dust. They're coming to life again as it were for us, and we're learning the lessons that they would have us learn from their lives.”
Dr. Kerry Muhlestein, Follow Him Podcast Episode 38, Part II
THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH
“The book of Jeremiah is unique in many regards, but especially because the Greek tradition differs from the Hebrew tradition in this book more than any other. A major difference in the Greek tradition (the Septuagint) locates the ‘oracles against the nations’ not at the end of the book, but rather immediately following an appropriate reference to ‘this book’ in 25:13. This and other differences between the Hebrew and the Greek has convinced many scholars that the Greek tradition preserves earlier and better traditions concerning the oracles, the language of the text, and the character of Jeremiah. Both of these textual traditions are attested among the Hebrew biblical texts found at Qumran (the Dead Sea Scrolls), indicating that the book of Jeremiah had a fluid editorial history.”
The New Oxford Annotate Bible, New Revised Standard Version, pg. 1058
PURPOSE OF THE COVENANT
“The purpose of the covenant is not so that you will get blessings; it’s not so you will prosper. The purpose of the covenant is so that you will have a relationship with God and with each other.”
Avram Shannon, The Scriptures are Real Podcast, Episode 145
THE POTTER
“This is a parable that challenges our notions of inevitability. It challenges our notions of the set future; that things will only be a certain way. Only the past is inevitable.”
Dr. Kristian Heel, Abide Podcast, BYU Maxwell Institute
RITUALS
“[W]e need to beware . . . of shallow talk about ‘empty rituals.’ To be sure, rituals can indeed become empty, performed habitually and thoughtlessly, without regard to their meaning and the ethic that is supposed to be associated with them. The prophets of Israel were unstinting in their condemnation of just that sort of pro forma religion. But it is also important to remember that, like other habitual behaviors, rituals are hardy—like habits, difficult to break—and thus likely to survive the spiritual dry periods when faith and feelings are just not there.
The ritual without the theological truth to which it bears witness, the act without the affect, can come alive—the empty ritual can be filled up—when the dry period passes. Indeed, the very existence of the ritual can help the spiritual dryness pass from the scene. Conversely, when the ritual is no longer observed, the likelihood declines that the message with which it is associated will survive, and the likelihood that old practice will come to be associated with new meanings declines still further.”
Jon D. Levenson, The Love of God, pp. 32-33
“Rituals are a practice of the faith that provide the structure for our spiritual lives. Rituals are not beholden to our thinking but shape our thinking and, when necessary, step into the gap when our minds are tired and our feelings empty.
Sooner or later we all need that kind of help.”
Pete Enns, Ph.D.
Jeremiah Movie
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