God welcomes the alien and the outsider, Ruth 1:1-22, Jan 12 2025 Meetinghouse Church
Rev. Dr. Kathy Monson Lutes
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
Sometimes, don’t you wonder, how you muster the effort to get out of bed every morning? Sometimes, the weight of the world feels so heavy. Sometimes, maybe after loss, the loss of a loved one, the loss of a friend, the loss of a job, you wonder how you might go on. Sometimes, you look around and it seems like everyone else has something you don’t. Sometimes, you wonder why even bother.
We enter the book of Ruth through this door of loss. Naomi and her husband, and their two sons, left their home in Bethlehem and went to live in the foreign country of Moab. They left because there was nothing left in Jerusalem for them. There was a terrific famine, and they, along with everyone else, were starving. So, they went to Moab searching for food and most likely a better life. Naomi's sons married Moabite women, Ruth and Orpah. Naomi’s husband dies and in the midst of all that Ruth’s husband dies, and Orpah’s husband dies. None of these women gets much ink to name their grief. We are left to wonder what that must have been like. Naomi left husbandless in a foreign land, Ruth and Orpah left husbandless after ten years, in their prime, with no children. In Hebrew stories, a woman, like Elizabeth whom we recently visited in the nativity story, who is barren, whose “womb has closed” as they would say, is shamed. Until she is gifted with the pregnancy that brings forth John.
We witness or experience this liminality in one way or another, throughout our lives. We witness or experience this sense of loss, or change, grief, in huge ways, or in small ways. We watch while people seek a new place to plant their families because their own countries are no longer safe to live in - they come hungry and tired, not knowing the language but trying so hard to make a new life. Not unlike Ruth. We witness or experience the tragic loss of a loved one, a husband, a wife, a child, and we are left to navigate the new territory in a whole new way, bereft, trying to make sense and meaning in this new life. Not unlike Ruth. We witness or experience the pain of changing relationships, the death of a partner, a child, a friend, not unlike Ruth. And sometimes, the loss of a relationship, a friendship, a relative, not to death but to difference, it feels a lot like a death. Not unlike Ruth.
Naomi decides to return to her people in the land of Judah, but insists that her daughters in law stay with their people in Moab and maybe find a husband. Orpah stays with her people and her gods, but Ruth makes a different choice.
Ruth leaves the land and gods that she knows to go to a foreign place, an alien land, because - of this relationship. Going to Judah with Naomi will make Ruth an alien and an outcast. She will be a Moabite in Judah, that makes her an alien, and she is a woman with no husband, no father, no sons, no brothers - that makes her an outcast. Her mother in law as well. No husbands, no fathers, no sons - alien, outcast, and powerless. Naomi went away full and comes back empty and bitter. No power, no food, in a land alone, not knowing anyone or anything. You may have felt like you have been in that place before. I know I have.
And yet…. This is the amazing part of the beginning of this story of Ruth. In the midst of Naomi’s grief, and her own grief and loss, Ruth, who had every reason to hate this family fiercely, chose the exact opposite. Ruth preferred the warmth of devotion over the chill of alienation. Ruth sees something different - in Naomi, and says I want to follow your God. We hear these words that are so familiar to us, “where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”
Ruth shows us promise making and promise keeping - covenant, a word that is used often around here. Ruth shows us hesed, a Hebrew word that is the quality - fierce and determined love - that it takes to stay in a relationship. The foreigner, Ruth, has the fierce and determined love - after all they’ve been through - to stay with her mother in law and worship her mother in law’s God.
So, what is this story doing in the bible, God doesn’t really show up in this story. A little sneak preview, spoiler alert, when we read ahead, it’s a short story so that’s easy to do, we will see restoration, and new hope, and new life. But we don’t see God doing anything.
But isn’t that the way we often live our ordinary mundane lives? We rarely witness God’s huge displays or mightiness or power, thank God. That’s not how this life goes. But we do witness the small things, the kindness and the gratitude. I heard a story just the other night around a table in the Hearth Room about heeding God’s whisper to call a friend, and how important that call turned out to be.
I think what’s important in this little story is that it is a glimpse of how God’s people experience God’s welcoming love through our relationships, human love, through our community of faith, in our families, in our communities, in times of grief, in times of tragedy, in times of turmoil, in times of joy and celebration. Even at times when we don’t feel worthy of God’s love. This little story shows us that God welcomes everyone, because God shows forth hesed, fierce and determined love. Love shows up here, God shows up here in the community that supports and prays for one another, especially in hard times.
And then we can share God’s love with one another, and we are equipped to go out into the world and show those whose paths we cross what God’s fierce and determined love looks like. So, how do we live in such a way that embodies God’s welcoming love, how do we show up in our relationships with love? I’ve got a little list for you.
First, we actually show up in our relationships. This seems rather obvious, but we have so much trouble really showing up, we are so easily distracted by our screens, by all those things we think we need to do, distracted by our expectations in relationships, distracted by what we wish for rather than what is in front of us. We actually are still in the middle of celebrating the season of incarnation, God with us, Emmanuel. God bursts into our lives as a baby to show us how to stoop low and be fully in the moment. There is a transformative nature in showing up when we want to retreat, of listening deeply to each other’s pain even when we fear there are no words. We can and must see each other. Life is precarious, but you are alive. So show up, body and spirit. Show up for the celebrations, and show up for the funerals. Err on the side of presence. Love each other in the hardest moments as well as the best moments.
Second, we work at sacred connection. Don’t let go of each other! It takes courage to step toward relationships when our strongest instincts tell us to guard ourselves. Love each other, embrace each other, even on the hard days, because with God’s help, we can do hard things.
Third, we welcome all. There are no strangers, no aliens, every person is worthy of love and is beloved of God. Look into the eyes of the other and notice God’s beloved in those eyes, even when you struggle to see.
Fourth, we come alive. We stay awake even when the news is not good, we stay awake through the pain of life, knowing that to ignore what is real, is to not live at all. We listen deeply to the God who welcomes us just as we are, we listen for God’s call to live fully and completely.
Fifth, we grieve and we carry on, we go on living. The reality is that none of us get out of this life alive. Embracing this reality gives us more clarity around what matters most, when we recognise how profoundly vulnerable we are. There is always pain before there is death and resurrection. Jesus has shown us that. Use the time you have to live with both humility and urgency. Do not be afraid to live, and you will not be afraid to die.
Sixth, we hold the healers. It's only when we’re willing to engage our whole selves, to embrace our own fears and struggles and admit that we, too, stand on unsteady ground, that we can meet another person in the heart of their pain. And when we don’t embrace our own fears and struggles, our hearts are hardened, and we become incapable of loving ourselves or welcoming others into God’s love.
Seventh, we hold space, the work is not to fix, but to love.
Eighth, we wonder - curiosity is essential. I’m reminded of the Ted Lasso episode, I'm sure you’ve all seen it, when Ted is challenged to a game of darts by Rupert, the former owner of the football team. As Ted throws his darts on the money, and Rupert clearly is surprised by Ted’s dart throwing ability, Ted says, “you know, Rupert, guys have underestimated me my entire life. And for years, I never understood why. It used to really bother me. But then one day, I was driving my little boy to school and I saw this quote by Walt Whitman, and it was painted on the wall there. It said, "Be curious, not judgmental." I like that.” Be like Ted, be curious, wonder about God’s love for all, and don’t just judge.
Ninth, we write a new story in the hope of resurrection. You see, what is really real, is that when we put our trust in Jesus, we never hope in vain. This is hard, but we can do hard things. This is about listening deeply to one another, this is about not walking away, this is about learning something new about the people you love and care for, and the people with whom you disagree vehemently.
Tenth, this is your work, to love like Ruth. To love with a fierce and determined love. To write a new story, a story that acknowledges pain and even death, and points toward resurrection and new life.
Let it be so.
Creator God, lover of all, grant us your wisdom and courage to love fiercely as we rise up into the new life that you promise. Amen
With thanks to Rabbi Sharon Brous, author of the amen effect, Ancient Wisdom to Mend Our Broken Hearts and World
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