The Prophet's Call -- Jeremiah 1 (6th Sunday After Pentecost)
- Scott Clark
- 2 days ago
- 10 min read
Photo credit: Neil Rosenstech, used with permission via Unsplash
This weekend marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence – when colonists denounced the tyranny of their colonizer and declared themselves a free and independent people. This weekend there has been all manner of celebration. I was there back when we celebrated the Bicentennial, back in 1976 – and this year feels different – and that's not just because I was 8 back then, and now I am 58.
For many of us this week, we have longed to be able to celebrate, but we have wondered how we could do that... with integrity. With Americans of every persuasion, we long to celebrate the values of this nation that we hold dear – declared in that Declaration and promised in the Constitution – all people created equal, with the inalienable right to live and to thrive; a commitment to the equal protection of the law –no one is above the law; government by the people through free and fair elections and the unimpeded right to vote; and robust rights for all people – to speak, and to worship, and to assemble, and to have a free press. Those are noble and worthy promises.
And at the same time, as we long to celebrate, we know – and we speak plainly about this – something is bad wrong with our nation right now. We are stuck in a war waged by the president that has been rejected by both houses of Congresses, and that a growing majority of the American people do not want. We see a growing concentration of power in the executive, with weakening checks and balances – a power imbalance far from the constitutional structure our Founders imagined; and there is a meanness abroad in this land.
How can we celebrate with integrity? How can we do that, particularly as people who follow Jesus – the one who came to declare good news to the poor, the lifting up of those held low, and freedom for all who are oppressed? How can we do that in this nation, in this day?
This morning, we are going to look for a place to stand where the prophetic word begins. The prophetic word in Scripture – one of Scripture’s major themes and modalities – addresses (perhaps more than any other) the life we live together in community and as nations. Over the broad swath of Scripture, through generations of trouble and tumult, again and again, God sends the prophetic word – to the nations and to bewildered and hurting people – as a word of both correction and hope.
Whenever we turn to the prophets, we remember that the Prophetic Word does two things: (1) First, it announces what God is bringing to an end – all the oppressive systems that do harm, and our participation in those systems, big and small. // Whatever harms God’s good creation – the Prophetic Word announces that it must come to an end. (2) And then, second, the Prophetic Word announces the new thing that God is bringing to life – justice, peace, love, life -- a world where every human – every being can live and thrive. [1]
That’s what the Prophetic Word does – it announces (1) what must come to an end, and (2) what is coming to life.
But before the Prophetic Word can do that, it begins with a calling. Before the Prophetic Word can be spoken, you have to have a prophet. You have to have someone (or someones) called and willing to speak up and to embody God’s life-giving word.
And so it is with Jeremiah.[2] The Book of Jeremiah begins with a word of calling. Jeremiah is a young man – and the Word of God comes to him and says: “Before you were born, Jeremiah, I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” And Jeremiah understandably pushes back. Who wouldn’t? “A prophet to the nations? To kings and kingdoms?... I’m too young. I don’t know how to speak, much less how to prophesy.”[3]
Prophets do that – in the beginning: The call comes to speak up to the powers – and they say – “Who me?” Who wouldn’t? It is a daunting call.
But God insists: Don’t say you’re too young. Don’t say you can’t speak. I will tell you what to speak. I will be with you. You are bringing my word to the powers. It’s not about what you can or can’t. I am God, and I have a word that the powers and the people need to hear.
The Prophetic Word begins with a calling and a purpose. God makes that clear: Jeremiah, I am appointing you as a prophet to nations and kingdoms “to uproot and tear down, to destroy and to overthrow, and then... to plant and to build.” The prophet’s purpose is those two things –(1) announce what must come to an end (uproot, tear down, overthrow), and (2) announce the new thing that God is bringing to life (plant and build).[4]
The Prophetic Word begins with a calling, and a purpose, and necessarily then, a confrontation. That is the heart of the task. God calls Jeremiah to go and bring this Prophetic Word – this hard word – to the powers. To go before kings. To stand before them. And confront them. To go into the pubic square – in the midst of complicit crowds, and speak what may be an unpopular, but necessary word.
The Prophetic Word begins with a critique. The prophetic word stands in the conviction that God is God, and we are not. God is God, and God is sovereign over everything, and everyone, and every nation. God has created the world, and loves every bit of the world, and intends that all creation shall live and thrive. And so God expects nations, and kingdoms, and states, and communities, and all people to honor and work for the thriving of all creation. And when the nations don’t – the prophetic word – the prophet comes with a word of critique. The prophet stands apart from the powers and speaks to the powers a word telling them that they will have to change.[5]
And so God says to Jeremiah: I have called you to be a prophet to the nations. Don’t be terrified by them. Today, I have made you a fortified city, and iron pillar, a bronze wall to stand apart from and against the whole land – against kings, and priests, and the people. They will resist, but they will not overcome.
Now note, importantly, that this word of critique is a word spoken out of love – out of God’s abiding, unshakeoffable love. God sees the hurt, and hears the cries of the vulnerable, and God says this must end. God sends the critique of the prophetic word in love – as a warning writ large: The path you are on leads to destruction. Stop. Change. Here is the way to life – for you and for all people, and all nations.
In the beginning, the prophet is set apart for the purpose of critiquing and correcting the nations. And as Jeremiah’s life unfolds, he will do this at great personal expense.[6] He will stand in the midst of the nation – beg them to change their ways – stop mistreating the poor, stop mistreating the stranger in the midst of them. And when they don’t, Jeremiah will watch as the kingdom falls in on itself, and he will be left there standing in the rubble as the powers and the people are carried off into exile, captives in Babylon.
As I mentioned earlier, I spent the past week at General Assembly – our denomination’s biennial gathering .Commissioners from our presbytery, and from all over the country came together, and discerned together on important issues facing the church and the world. Among other significant issues, our denomination joined other denominations – the Lutherans, Episcopalians, and the United Church of Christ – with a clear and unequivocal rejection of White Christian Nationalism.[7]
Christian nationalism is “a political ideology that seeks to merge Christian identity with US civic life and national ideology.”[8] Nationalism is something we’ve seen throughout history. It’s a political ideology that emphasizes the importance of “homeland” or a shared ethnic identity – as a source of power over other nations and over anyone deemed “other.”[9]And we know how dangerous it can be. Just think World War II.
Christian nationalism is when that rhetoric of the ideology sets that one nation above all others, claiming special approval and sanctification by God.[10] It’s the opposite of the prophetic call – where the prophet is set apart from the nations to speak a word of critique. Christian nationalism merges God and nation. Christian nationalism speaks a word of endorsement – whatever the nation does is blessed by God – with little to no critique as to whether what the nation and its leaders do looks anything like the way of Jesus.
Now note that what we are talking about here is different from what some call “patriotism” – different from love and support for the democratic values of this nation.[11] Christian nationalism is about power – power-over – power that misuses the name of God to entrench itself at the expense of human dignity and thriving.
Christian nationalism in the United States is particularly pernicious because it enlists the power of racism and White Supremacy – suggesting that those of northern European ancestry are the true Americans – and those who are of any other race or ethnic origin are less than.[12] We know that from our history in the death-dealing rhetoric of “manifest destiny” and slavery – both perpetuated in the name of God. Today, we see it in the rhetoric used to dehumanize our immigrant neighbors – vile words from the mouth of our president that have let loose all manner of cruelty. We see it in the violent rhetoric of the one who calls himself the Secretary of War.
Now, to be clear the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s denunciation is not so much that this White Christian Nationalism is un-American. It is that White Christian Nationalism is not Christian.[13] White Christian Nationalism has nothing to do with the Jesus revealed in Scripture. In fact, it is contrary to Christ’s teachings and the moral imperatives of the Hebrew Scriptures. It uses God’s name in vain. It is idolatry – or as our denomination explained this past week: In this ideology, “the nation replaces God as the measure of what is good,” and as the ultimate object of our loyalty. (Now, as I was writing that, the president and others were suggesting that his image be carved on Mt Rushmore – literally, a graven image.)
So with the clarity of last week’s denunciation, and bewildered in these troubled times, as those who live in this nation, and love this nation, but who seek first and foremost to follow the way of Jesus... how do we celebrate... with integrity?
Well, let’s stand where the prophetic word begins. We begin celebrating that God is God, and we are not. The God who created all that is in love, and called it good... still loves us... still loves the whole world, and always will. In the mess we have made of the world, no human or national power is ultimate. In love, God again and again speaks the prophetic word into the world through marginalized voices that are harmed and hurting. In the prophetic word, God continues to insist that we abandon power-over and ways that harm, and to embrace ways of living that lead to more life... to living and thriving for everyone.
We celebrate that God loves everyone, or as our denomination put it last week: “God loves all creation equally and desires justice for all.”
Let me be clear. That means this:
God does not love this nation any more than God loves any other nation... nor any less. God does not love the people of this nation more than God loves the people of any other nation... nor any less. God loves all people, every bit of creation... and insists that we live lives that do the same. (Now, if that makes your stomach knot up, pause for a second... and just try saying it out loud, something like, “God loves the US more than God loves Italy.” Or, “God loves the people of this country more than God loves the people of Angola.” And you should hear just how wrong that is.)
We can celebrate that a commitment to public critique of the powers is hard-wired into this nation. Now I want to be careful here – I’m shifting from a religious statement to what is more a civic one. But the document that we celebrate this week is a profound critique of nations and of tyrants. Our nation began – 250 years ago – with a critique of power. “When in the course of human events...” The Declaration of Independence catalogs the evils and harms of tyranny – and says to the king – to the powers – to the nation they knew – This cannot stand.
Along those same times, we can celebrate and give thanks that – at least for now – we live in a nation that professes and protects our right to critique – to speak up, to assemble, to protest, to vote. Even as we denounce rightly the menacing cloud of White Christian Nationalism that has come to power in this nation, we can inhabit the democratic systems that enable us to bring about change – and to work for good – to work for what matters most –
proclaiming good news for the poor,
healing for every hurt,
release for the captive,
freedom for all who are oppressed,
and the forgiveness of every debt.
We can celebrate the good news of Jesus Christ – alive in every nation – for the healing of every harm – as we seek to live out that Good News, together, in this nation we call home.
© 2026 Scott Clark
[1] See Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1978).
[2] For background on this text and the Book of Jeremiah, see R.E. Clements, Jeremiah (Louisville, KY); John Knox Press, 1988, 2012); Madipoane Masenya, “The Book of Jeremiah” in The Africana Bible: Reading Israel’s Scriptures from Africa and the African Diaspora(Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2010); Patrick D. Miller, “The Book of Jeremiah,” New Interpreters’ Bible Commentary, vol. vi (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2001); Elizabeth C. Larocca-Pitts, Commentary in Connections, Year C, vol. 3 (Louisville, KY; Westminster John Knox Press, 2018); Robert A. Ratcliff, Commentary in Connections, Year C, vol. 3 (Louisville, KY; Westminster John Knox Press, 2018).
[3] See Larocca-Pitts, p.252.
[4] See Brueggemann, supra.
[5] See Masanya, pp. 148-49; Miller, p.582; Clements, p.17.
[6] See Clements, pp. 2-6, 16-17.
[7] The General Assembly adopted the policy statement “Standing Against White Christian Nationalism,” see https://myga.pc-biz.org/search/3001498 , and recommended that language repudiating White Christian Nationalism be added to the Book of Order “Fundamentals” section. See https://myga.pc-biz.org/search/3001414 For reporting on the GA actions, see https://pres-outlook.org/2026/07/pcusa-labels-white-christian-nationalism-theological-error/
[8] These quotes are taken from the General Assembly’s policy statement, “Standing Against White Christian Nationalism.”
[9] See id.
[10] See id.
[11] See id.
[12] See id.
[13] See id.
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