August 14 - Ruth & Naomi
Sermon by Carolyn Smith
What are you celebrating this week? What is making you hopeful this week? Where is
one thing you might do, safe and with faithfulness and courage, to make more of
that real this week?
Many of us enjoy this story, and I know for some women in this congregation, this story
of Ruth and Naomi is sacred - about faithfulness, friendship against all odds, and
not just helpless, but women choosing their path forward with dignity, strength
and courage. Choosing a way in the face of challenge. As I look back with respect
and admiration at the women who paved a way forward for me and my
generation. I can feel the strength they feel in this story even if my road has been
very different. How strong? How strong was Naomi, widowed and stranded
away from her traditional home? Or Ruth taken as a wife by a foreigner, and now
widowed as well. She decides to go the way Naomi goes - We love the sense of
warm companionship and faithfulness, and the welcome in our favourite little
town of Bethlehem - and the poetic commitment: your people will be my people,
your God will be my God. We almost wish we could leave off the end part of
Naomi’s lament and despair... It’s easier when we aren’t reminded of how tough
things can be. Or is it?
Sense her grief, the exhaustion and despair. As widows and as foreigners, they they are
marginalized people unaccepted, women unprotected, they will be preyed on. We
know that Naomi and Ruth are wonderful, they should be safe, they have so much
more to offer. We read Naomi’s lament that she has no other sons for the girls to
marry as a pity! Or other men in the family to take them as wife - too bad... So to
be clear, their only hope is for a man to wed them. And worse... the word here
“Take”... take a breath my friends.. the phrase to take a wife is the same verb used
in Hebrew for rape. Indeed, the choice of partner and family, the patterns of
protection and usefulness for women was not reliably safe - widows were ‘taken’
by the dead man’s brothers or cousins... as a guilt trip, or conquest to keep land or
wealth where it belonged. And as awful as that sounds, they’d face complete
poverty and starvation without the men. These women knew their lot. And so, in
a moment of clarity, Naomi recognized one fleeting hope - to return to long-
forgotten family in a place where the famine wasn't so bad; and Ruth recognized
that Naomi’s way with any luck at all, might hold hope for her as well.
We admired their strength before.... We are humbled now.
Now I’m the kind of movie-watcher or book reader who skips to the end. You can’t spoil
a movie for me - I want to know if things turn out ok before I spend my time on
“ENTERTAINMENT” that makes me cry. Because I get enough of tags making me
cry sitting with real people in real pain, or seeing our community and our kids
struggle and the planet struggle, and reading the news as bullies and tyrants get
away with terrible stuff. So I’ll tell you now, things work out pretty well in the end
for Ruth & Naomi. This story tells of their faithfulness and strength but it didn’t
come without fierce daring courage from these two unlikely heroes.
And if only, that fear of marginalization and poverty was in the distant 500 year BC past.
If only when one hero solved a problem, we could move on and tackle the next.
And whenever it happens we rightfully and joyfully celebrate and songs of praise
ring out, each win is heaven on earth for someone, some people in some
moment. It’s progress But the work is not done. The arc of the universe is long
but it bends towards justice, and each of us showed up today here in the pews, or
online with your computer screen, or reading this when you get the chance,
looking for something that was worth your time and your heart. And whether it’s
a finger and a prayer, or you are one of those who is hauling on that arc of the
universe, we are called to bend it together toward justice.
Remember? We know the ending... but they didn’t. Ruth was totally gambling when she
chose to go the way that Naomi was going. Which was what way? I often
mention the way of Jesus, but at 500 bc his great great grate grandfather wasn’t
even a gleam yet. So what way - where did they go? .... Bethlehem... do you
know what the word means? City of Bread... The whole story has been about
people seeking food and safety - leaving Bethlehem in a time of famine and all
that Naomi has to show for it is Ruth. And now because a new harvest was
coming in the city of Bread, they return. I know you first want to say “Harvest”
-that must mean Jesus being born but we are still a long time from that. How
Long, o Lord, how long? Naomi has no clue and just a glimmer of hope, but she
has Ruth.. Another clue... chapter 2 - remember what happens.... I mentioned
daring courage... well Ruth finds a good husband Boaz....... And quoting some of
the painfully boring genealogies in teh bible... Boaz the father of Obed, whose
mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David.
What is the other name we give to Bethelehem? The City of David ..... Now my friends,
that’s a long game.... A legendary game.... And it is a bumpy road.... Naomi found
Ruth - and for them, they could celebrate!!
Our story is a story of coming to know God - the whole way through this OT - there are
brutal things... there are colossal tragedies and tyrants... but people kept showing
up for something. Even in their mistakes and their clumsiness, like King David
included, they found something meaningful in compassion and second chances.
They kept teaming up and marching on, and well - we have the long view.... Things
have come so very far.... Joy and Discoveries and science and innovation -
accomplishments and education, and justice and equality -... that arc is bending
and we’e celebrating with good reasons!! Humans with a Way of Jesus for many
many of us... and other faith traditions as well have come along way, so far, we’ve
sometimes forgotten how far, and at what great cost.
Many of us have had the privilege to forget, AND despite that you found your way here
looking for meaning in this community and this story, I think because we count on
the hope and goodness about this way.... Like even if we can’t see the ending,
we’ve heard there’s a harvest coming. Like Ruth sizing up her options and clinging
to Naomi.
Women’s equality - is just one issue - what else do we pray for? ____ And I expect there
is a wide range in our diversity and experiences... - the planet. ___ Indigenous
rights. Black Lives Matter. Europe/War/Climate, How long o Lord, how long?
What else.... Afghanistan 1 year later....
This longing... imagine what could be different!!
What about personal concerns, because you are beloved? And what you really deep
down pray for? I’m not talking about measuring who has it worse - whatever holds
us back is our struggle, and it helps us understand our equality of human
experience.
Now take a moment to feel a sense of a time when you were the odd one out - maybe
passed over for a job, or as a kid one time... or something about aging or
loneliness is ... that sense that you have so much to offer if only you could get the
chance.... This longing that things could be better.... For moment, consider Ruth &
Naomi and think “OH, maybe this is a little of what they experienced.”
Allow that to sit with you, to open eyes to see how God sees, to open hearts and hands
towards taking a hold of that arc again and bending it again - and we can't see
the ending this time... but bending it again, faithfully, courageously toward Justice
in a way that is love and compassion for this world.
To end, I will give you a blessing by the wonderful Jan Richardson. Think of the hopes
and the dreams we have named today. Think of Ruth and Naomi, this world
around us... And if you will , maybe close your eyes, feel yourself settled, here
amongst friends and companions on the way...
Blessing the Way
With every step
you take,
this blessing rises up
to meet you.
It has been waiting
long ages for you.
Look close
and you can see
the layers of it,
how it has been fashioned
by those who walked
this road before you,
how it has been created
of nothing but
their determination
and their dreaming,
how it has taken
its form
from an ancient hope
that drew them forward
and made a way for them
when no way could be
seen.
Look closer
and you will see
this blessing
is not finished,
that you are part
of the path
it is preparing,
that you are how
this blessing means
to be a voice
within the wilderness
and a welcome
for the way.
—Jan Richardson