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Wherever You Go
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1 November 2009 Pastor Bev was telling the children’s story in two parts. At the beginning of the service, she asked the children to gather around the communion table. On the table were four jars. The first jar was filled with cigarette smoke. The second jar contained alcohol. The third sported chocolate syrup, and the fourth was full of dirt. She put worms into each jar and asked the kids to return to their seats to wait. At the end of the anthem, the children came forward again, and Pastor Bev opened the jars. The results were predictable. The worms in the smoke-filled jar were dead. So were the worms in the jar of alcohol, and those in the jar of chocolate syrup. The worms in the dirt were fine. When Pastor Bev asked the children what lesson they could learn from the story, Natalie’s hand shot up. Her answer? “Smoke, drink, and eat lots of chocolate, and you won’t get worms!” More than one lesson was learned that day. There is more than one lesson that can be learned from our story of Ruth and Naomi as well. Suffice it to say, it’s not your traditional text for stewardship Sunday, with its focus on adversity and dedication. But that doesn’t make it inappropriate. Let’s look at the story. With her husband, Naomi leaves Israel during a time of famine, to settle in Moab. Their emigration is more an act of desperation than of courage...Hebrew scriptures pointedly warn Israel to have no dealings with the Moabites–a reminder that family feuds and ethnic discrimination have a long, often acrimonious history. Moab was Lot’s son, a tribe that came from the family of Abraham. So Naomi and her husband settle in Moab and have two sons, who each marry. Then the husband dies, and ten years later, both sons die. Naomi, who already has had to leave her home and family due to famine, is now in a foreign country without any means of support. She is destitute and widowed; even her sons are gone. She has no security, no recourse–no 401K, no pension, no social services with questions about the legitimacy of her residency, not even Emergency Assistance–just the additional burden of two younger widows. Naomi has no option but to return to her parent’s home, so bitter at the hard lot of her life, that she tells people to call her Mara, or Bitter, rather than Naomi, which means ‘pleasant.’ The first daughter-in-law does the practical thing. At Naomi’s urging and with her blessing, Orpah returns to her own family. But Ruth does not. In a stunning declaration that has become a favorite at weddings–John’s and mine included–Ruth declares her commitment to Naomi. Community, housing, family, gods, even death: all of this is included in Ruth’s affirmation. Why? Two things strike me. First, there must have been something in the quality of Naomi’s being that inspired Ruth’s devotion; there is a relationship with real affection. Ruth’s commitment is hardly the stuff of mother-in-law jokes. Second, there is no condition attached. Ruth doesn’t say she’ll go with Naomi till she resettles, or that she’ll go with Naomi till she gets a better offer. Her commitment is total, and by implication, includes all of the resources she has at her disposal. If I may suggest a rough analogy, it’s a bit like the story of the pig and the chicken discussing what to have for breakfast. The chicken suggested ham and eggs, but the pig nixed the suggestion on the grounds that for the chicken, it was a contribution. For the pig it was total commitment. Ruth’s total commitment, her devotion to the relationship doesn’t end when things get bad; it goes deeper. She uses the resources she has available to her: her own wits, physical strength to glean from the fields so that she and Naomi will have food on the table. In time, she offers herself to Naomi’s kin, Boaz, in the Levarite right of redemption. And in time, Ruth becomes mother of Obed, who is the father of Jesse, who is the father of David, Israel’s iconic king. Naomi is remembered not as bitter, but as blessed. Naomi is remembered as the one whose own faith and kindness inspired Ruth’s commitment. Naomi and Ruth were no strangers to hardship and uncertainty. We could conclude, like Natalie with Pastor Bev’s worms, that even aliens like Ruth can have babies. Or perhaps more a biblically astute lesson that God can pick some strange people–even enemies–to be the means of redemption. Both are true. But that is not why Naomi and Ruth’s story is remembered. They are remembered precisely because of their loving commitment in the face of that hardship and uncertainty. Today on stewardship Sunday, we are reminded by these two women that when all that we have and all that we are, are given in love, God can do extraordinary things. It is the lesson of Ruth; it is the lesson of the cross, the lesson of the saints. And it’s not a bad lesson for stewardship Sunday. ### [1] Wherever You Go, Reflection by Kate Huey, Sermon Seeds, www.ucc.org, Sunday, November 1, 2009, Focus Scripture: Ruth 1.1-18. |