Jeremiah: The Patterns That Carry Us Across with Dr. Walter Fluker

Everything Belongs: Living the Teachings of Richard Rohr Forward

Center for Action and Contemplation

Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.8 • 723 Ratings

🗓️ 18 July 2025

⏱️ 80 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

How do we live with hope when the path forward demands surrender? In this episode, we explore Chapter 5 of Richard Rohr’s book, The Tears of Things: Prophetic Wisdom for an Age of Outrage, titled “Jeremiah: The Patterns That Carry Us Across.” Through conversation with Richard, we reflect on the prophetic vocation as a lifelong invitation to move from anger and lament into love—and how Jeremiah models that transformation. After our dialogue with Richard, we’re joined by the beloved Reverend Dr. Walter Earl Fluker, Howard Thurman scholar and prophetic voice of ethical leadership. Together, we delve into what it means to be “dismembered to be remembered,” as Dr. Fluker shares his lifelong journey to find home, the role of the trickster God in transformation, and why there can be no liberation without struggle. This episode walks the listener through the wisdom pattern of order, disorder, and reorder as it shows up in Jeremiah’s life—and our own. From ancient covenant to inner apocalypse, from personal grief to collective trauma, this episode is a deep meditation on how tears and laughter both reveal the path to freedom. This episode invites you to consider: What if the tears you cry in sorrow are the same tears that prepare you for joy? What if the very act of being broken is the beginning of becoming whole? Resources: Listen to Dr. Fluker's episode of The Cosmic We here. Grab a copy of The Tears of Things ⁠here⁠. To learn more about The Tears of Things and additional offerings, including the trailer, a FREE Reader's Guide, and more, visit ⁠thetearsofthings.com

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to a podcast by the Center for Action and Contemplation. To learn more, visit cac.org.
0:07.6	Once again, welcome back to the Everything Belongs podcast with Father Richard Rohr. Each season, we've explored one of Richard's books. This season, we are taking a deep dive chapter by chapter into the book, The Tears of Things.
0:22.4	Of course, you don't have to read along with us to listen to each fantastic episode and
0:27.9	interview and get something nourishing out of it.
0:31.6	But hey, we'd love it if you did.
0:34.0	Each episode, we travel over to Richard's house to discuss a chapter with him, and then we're
0:39.7	joined by a special guest who helps us live the teachings forward, by taking a deep dive and
0:47.6	asking new questions that apply to our lives to think about Richard's teachings in new ways.
0:54.8	So today we'll be talking about Chapter 5, Jeremiah, the patterns that carry us across.
1:01.2	Jeremiah, who's often known as the reluctant prophet, which is maybe something that a lot of us can relate to,
1:08.4	Jeremiah models an intimate relationship with God and the transformation
1:12.5	of the prophet from anger to lamentation into praise. Paul Swanson and I will be joined by the wisdom
1:22.3	of one of my favorite conversation partners of all time, the Reverend Dr. Walter Fluker. Dr. Fluker is a Howard
1:30.5	Thurman scholar and a precious and respected friend of our dearly beloved late Dr. Barbara Holmes.
1:37.3	And I have to tell you, Dr. B's spirit was so present with us in this conversation. In this discussion of Jeremiah, we explore the work of
1:47.6	God as a trickster in our lives and the intimate invitation that God offers us when the prophetic is near.
1:56.3	Finally, we talk about the necessity of finding joy in our sadness and sadness in our joy.
2:05.1	So many of us live inside stories that are too small, and it's a lot like walking through life
2:10.1	with shoes that are just a little bit too tight. In this episode, I'd like you to think about how
2:15.7	anger, sadness, and joy are all different
2:20.7	ways that you can be broken out of those far too small stories and step into the expansive
2:27.7	story of love that wants to be constantly unfolding in your life.
	...

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