We’re reading Jeremiah at Morning Prayer. Today’s first reading was the first lesson two days ago. It’s from a section of Jeremiah where the prophet declares the unfaithfulness of the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the “Lord of hosts, the God of Israel.”[1] In today’s passage, Jeremiah stresses that a person’s moral disposition is the foundation of his or her faithfulness to the Lord. The unfaithfulness of the northern kingdom, Israel, has already led to its conquest and the exile of its people—the lost tribes of Israel. Judah and Jerusalem will be next. They are not and will not heed the voice of their God. Jeremiah speaks in this passage of the sinfulness of humankind, not just of the actions of individuals: “But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.”[2]
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