This week's Narrative Lectionary text offers a deep cut of a story, where Jehudi cuts the scrool with a penknife and throws the pieces into the fire. Only that's the not the end of the story. God tells Jeremiah to dictate the words so they can be written again.

The work of an artist is not to do it once, but to do it again, and again, and again. Put in the reps. Practice and keep practicing. You cut the scroll? Write it again. After all, hard times require furious dancing.

Hard times might feel a little closer than we would like, especially for black and brown people, queer folx, women. And it is in the midst of these hard times that we hear Jeremiah's words, reminding us that the days are coming when God will make a new covenant, because even -- especially in the midst of trouble and turmoil -- God is doing something new. And the best part, God is inviting us to help bring this newness to life.

We need the artists, the poets, the dancers, the writers. Put in the reps. Do it again. Because hard times most definitely require furious dancing.

Listen in as Rev. Adriene Thorne and Rev. Jim Keat talk more about this on the latest episode of The Word Made Fresh, offering a glimpse at what you might hear from the pulpit on Sunday at The Riverside Church.