Episode 314 Seek the Peace of the City (Jeremiah 29:1-14)

For this first week of advent, BibleWorm reads Jeremiah 29:1-14, a text of in-between times, historically set between the first exile from Jerusalem and the full devastation of the second exile. We imagine the grief and confusion of the people in exile, and try to take to heart Jeremiah’s call to them -- live your life. Even here, even now, right where you are. How do we accept the wildly imperfect present and use the fullness of our heart and our limited power in this moment, without getting so comfortable in the present that we forget the greater, underlying hope for the future? How can we exist in both worlds? This question resonates through traumatic moments that are societal and personal, past and present, and Jeremiah holds us in that tension.