1. Overture : Jeremiah

2. Who was Jeremiah Great prophet of Ancient Israel Link with Moses Ministry 626 – c.586 BC

3. Jeremiah’s life Didn’t want to be prophet Blasphemous challenge (rape) Experienced intense unhappiness Jeremiah means ‘YHWH will cast away’ Lived to great age (90?)

4. What was the context? Israel split in two Southern Kingdom Arrogance of leadership (Temple) Threat from Babylon & Egypt

6. Good king Josiah Reigned c 640-609BC Faithful reformer Deuteronomy ‘discovered’ 621 BC 2 Kings 22.8 Jeremiah author?? Deuteronomic history Killed in battle at Megiddo (Armageddon)

7. Jeremiah’s message The Wrath of God is coming Because Israel is idolatrous Because Israel is unjust New Covenant

8. The Exile The “great calamity” Defining disaster of Ancient Israel 597/587 BC Leadership taken to Babylon Jerusalem destroyed

9. “On the tenth day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He set fire to the temple of the LORD, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down.” Jeremiah 52:12-13

10. Lamentations Pleads for mercy “intercede no more for this people”

11. False prophets Hananiah Imprisonment (588 BC)

12. Reaction "You will go to them; but for their part, they will not listen to you"

13. So why Overture? A great calamity is coming upon us Because we are idolatrous Because we are unjust

14. We too face calamity Unavoidable But will not be believed Many will hear… What is the path for the faithful?

15. God’s wrath Explain what is meant by ‘idolatry’ Explore notion of judgement Explain what is meant by apocalypse

16. Foreseeing calamity Environmental aspects Social aspects (poverty) Foreign policy aspects Religious message is distorted

17. Promise of restoration New Covenant But no clear vision of the future Pursuit of genuine humanity In the light of the one who is truly human Go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy not sacrifice”

18. Jeremiah as our guide for today YHWH not absent from process Meaning to be found Hope is always present Jeremiah shall be our guide through the calamity

19. Let us Be Human Prophecy, Peak Oil and the Path for the Faithful