Kids Today Jeremiah 1: 4-10

One of the things that I remember hearing (and sheepishly admitting to saying) is something to the effect, “These kids today…”. Every generation has heard this. The generation before sees what their children are doing or not doing, what they are going through or not going through and thinks to themselves that their children have no idea what “life” is really about. Today we hear about how “millennials” are lazy, or un-engaged, or don’t have the drive or work ethic that previous generations had. These kids today…

In Jeremiah 1: 4-10, I think we might hear God saying the same things to Jeremiah, who thinks he is too young to be the mouthpiece for God. Yet, God responds, “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you… Now I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

When I hear this, I think of Greta Thunberg and Malala Yousafzani, two young women whose powerful voice for love and justice have shown us that our young people are not as disengaged as we might think. Considering Jeremiah 4, I wonder if God has put God’s words in their mouths to be prophets for a new time. If God is still speaking, is it possible that God is peaking through our young people? In this season of Advent, when we celebrate the God-child, maybe we should remember that God speaks through the young people among us and listen to what they have to say.