“For Such A Time As This” - PCOB Announcement And Devotion For 3/21/2020
To the Good Folk of the Palmyra Church of the Brethren,
Tomorrow morning, around 8am, you will receive an email with a link to this Sunday's worship service. The service was prerecorded today, and continues our Lenten journey "Guided by Women," with a sermon prepared by Donna Forbes Steiner, and presented by Bethany Hoffer. In many places, the service speaks to our current situation with the coronavirus. We hope it will be a blessing to all.
As part of the "Greeting" in tomorrow's service, I explain that although we missed Nancy Heisey Hess' sermon last Sunday on Ruth and Naomi, she would be sending it to us in written form for us to send out to you. In the moments before preparing today's email, her piece arrived. She has modified it into a devotion. So, I am sending it as today's devotion, so that you can read it, if you have a chance, before tomorrow morning's video.
I am thankful to Nancy for providing today's devotion. Nancy grew up in our congregation, is an ordained minister in the Church of the Brethren, and attends the Mountville COB where she serves as the Leadership Team Chair. She, and her husband Steve, have two teenage sons, Eric and Alec. Nancy is officially a stay-at-home mom. She volunteers regularly at the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society, is a member of the ANE District's Way Forward Committee, and recently completed a term as a Juniata College Church Trustee. If you want to respond to Nancy regarding her devotion, just reply to this email and I will forward your reply to her.
Guided by Women: Ruth & Naomi-A Resurrection Story
Scripture
Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; Where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die— there will I be buried. May the Lord do thus and so to me, and more as well, if even death parts me from you!” When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.
Ruth 1:16-18, NRSV, also see Ruth 1:1-18; 3:1-5, 4:13-17
Thoughts
In 1880, the Social Security Administration started keeping records of the names of children. By 1893, “Ruth” was ranked #3 in popularity for female names, jumping in popularity after President Grover and First Lady Frances Cleveland named their daughter Ruth. In 1920 alone, 26,096 people in the US were named Ruth. Since 1880, over 817,500 US girls have been named Ruth. Baby Ruth Cleveland aside, extensive research is not needed to guess at the prevalence of the name Ruth. The Biblical book of Ruth is a resurrection story that reminds us of the importance of steadfast love and loyalty, the power of redemption, the undergirding of God’s faithful presence, and the amazing heroines found in the most unlikely people.
Our scripture readings (listed above) highlight some of the redemptive work in which God invited Ruth and Boaz to participate in the short story of Ruth. Some 3,000 years ago, famine drove Naomi and her husband Elimelech and two sons from their home town of Bethlehem. Ironically, in Hebrew, “Bethlehem” means “house of bread”. Baffling to the story’s audience is their chosen place of refuge: Moab. Moab, in present day Jordan, just east of the Dead Sea, was detested by the Israelites. Gene Roop explains, “Israelite tradition carries a memory about the Moabites as conceived through incest (Gen. 19) and banished forever from God’s sight because of their indifference to Israel’s needs (Deut. 23:3).” And yet, Elimelech and Naomi find life-saving refuge in Moab, and their sons find lovely wives from among the Moabite people.
Life eventually turns to death in their Moabite sanctuary as Elimelech and Naomi’s sons die leaving Naomi and her daughters-in-law childless and alone. Without husbands to protect them or heirs to care for them in the future, the women find themselves destitute and hopeless in a culture that provided no respectable means for women to make a living for themselves. There were no unique communities nearby such as the ones found in the 18th Century Ephrata Cloister or with the Lititz Moravians. Such counter-cultural communities welcomed single or widowed women. The Cloister and the Moravians provided a place for women, young and old, to thrive and contribute to a community that valued them and where mutual aid was practiced. Not so in Moab and Judah. Grieving and bitter, Naomi is determined to return home to Bethlehem alone to face the end of her days as best she can. Perhaps a widow will fair better in her hometown where folks might heed God’s demand to allow the widow and resident alien the opportunity to glean the fields — or perhaps she just wants to go home to die.
Enter the “character” “hesed”. Hesed is the practice of loving-kindness or loyalty that goes beyond what is deserved or expected. Naomi’s Moabite daughter-in-law, Ruth, embodied hesed. Ruth refused to allow Naomi to travel home alone or to live out her vulnerable days without assistance. Even though Ruth owed Naomi nothing by way of cultural expectation, Ruth declared to Naomi,
“Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; Where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die— there will I be buried. May the Lord do thus and so to me, and more as well, if even death parts me from you!” When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her. (Ruth 1:16-18, NRSV)
Ruth’s love and loyalty to Naomi, and later, the kindness of Boaz to Ruth, serve as the tools God uses to move both Ruth’s and Naomi’s narrative from death to resurrection. Their story is a redemption story, a story of reversal from death to life, from famine to bounty, from barrenness to descendants whose role call includes King David and Jesus. If this God of Naomi’s is willing and able to use Ruth, a young, powerless, alien, widow from a despised neighboring land as a force in God’s redemptive work, what might God do with those around us whom our culture treats as the “other”? How might God be calling us to partner with God and open our eyes and see, really see, the value of the “invisible other” in our midst?
In these uncertain days filled with fear, a mentality of scarcity, heart-wrenching decisions, and unexpected loss, I wonder where God is asking us to be a part of the resurrection story. When others are grabbing, how can we give? When we feel fearful, how do we face our fear and continue to walk in courageous faith? Those who were super-vulnerable before this COVID-19 crisis are all the more endangered now. What is ours to do?
In the Talmud, an ancient collection of Jewish teachings, the stork is referred to as “the loving one” because storks give so much love to their mates and their young. A student once asked his teacher, “Then why do the scriptures name the stork among the unclean birds?”
The teacher answered: “Because, although the stork is very loving, the stork gives love only to his own.”
In this season of Lent, there is much to model as we look to the scriptures and the One who authors the ultimate redemption story. Let us not grow weary of showing loving-kindness to all of God’s children. Amen.
Prayer
Dear God of surprises, we marvel at the people you choose to show us your deep love for and welcome of all people. As we live with the story of Ruth this day, help us to repent of our biases against those whom seem “different”. Show us the way to love as you love, a love that leads to a Cross. Amen.
Tomorrow morning, around 8am, you will receive an email with a link to this Sunday's worship service. The service was prerecorded today, and continues our Lenten journey "Guided by Women," with a sermon prepared by Donna Forbes Steiner, and presented by Bethany Hoffer. In many places, the service speaks to our current situation with the coronavirus. We hope it will be a blessing to all.
As part of the "Greeting" in tomorrow's service, I explain that although we missed Nancy Heisey Hess' sermon last Sunday on Ruth and Naomi, she would be sending it to us in written form for us to send out to you. In the moments before preparing today's email, her piece arrived. She has modified it into a devotion. So, I am sending it as today's devotion, so that you can read it, if you have a chance, before tomorrow morning's video.
I am thankful to Nancy for providing today's devotion. Nancy grew up in our congregation, is an ordained minister in the Church of the Brethren, and attends the Mountville COB where she serves as the Leadership Team Chair. She, and her husband Steve, have two teenage sons, Eric and Alec. Nancy is officially a stay-at-home mom. She volunteers regularly at the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society, is a member of the ANE District's Way Forward Committee, and recently completed a term as a Juniata College Church Trustee. If you want to respond to Nancy regarding her devotion, just reply to this email and I will forward your reply to her.
Guided by Women: Ruth & Naomi-A Resurrection Story
Scripture
Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; Where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die— there will I be buried. May the Lord do thus and so to me, and more as well, if even death parts me from you!” When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.
Ruth 1:16-18, NRSV, also see Ruth 1:1-18; 3:1-5, 4:13-17
Thoughts
In 1880, the Social Security Administration started keeping records of the names of children. By 1893, “Ruth” was ranked #3 in popularity for female names, jumping in popularity after President Grover and First Lady Frances Cleveland named their daughter Ruth. In 1920 alone, 26,096 people in the US were named Ruth. Since 1880, over 817,500 US girls have been named Ruth. Baby Ruth Cleveland aside, extensive research is not needed to guess at the prevalence of the name Ruth. The Biblical book of Ruth is a resurrection story that reminds us of the importance of steadfast love and loyalty, the power of redemption, the undergirding of God’s faithful presence, and the amazing heroines found in the most unlikely people.
Our scripture readings (listed above) highlight some of the redemptive work in which God invited Ruth and Boaz to participate in the short story of Ruth. Some 3,000 years ago, famine drove Naomi and her husband Elimelech and two sons from their home town of Bethlehem. Ironically, in Hebrew, “Bethlehem” means “house of bread”. Baffling to the story’s audience is their chosen place of refuge: Moab. Moab, in present day Jordan, just east of the Dead Sea, was detested by the Israelites. Gene Roop explains, “Israelite tradition carries a memory about the Moabites as conceived through incest (Gen. 19) and banished forever from God’s sight because of their indifference to Israel’s needs (Deut. 23:3).” And yet, Elimelech and Naomi find life-saving refuge in Moab, and their sons find lovely wives from among the Moabite people.
Life eventually turns to death in their Moabite sanctuary as Elimelech and Naomi’s sons die leaving Naomi and her daughters-in-law childless and alone. Without husbands to protect them or heirs to care for them in the future, the women find themselves destitute and hopeless in a culture that provided no respectable means for women to make a living for themselves. There were no unique communities nearby such as the ones found in the 18th Century Ephrata Cloister or with the Lititz Moravians. Such counter-cultural communities welcomed single or widowed women. The Cloister and the Moravians provided a place for women, young and old, to thrive and contribute to a community that valued them and where mutual aid was practiced. Not so in Moab and Judah. Grieving and bitter, Naomi is determined to return home to Bethlehem alone to face the end of her days as best she can. Perhaps a widow will fair better in her hometown where folks might heed God’s demand to allow the widow and resident alien the opportunity to glean the fields — or perhaps she just wants to go home to die.
Enter the “character” “hesed”. Hesed is the practice of loving-kindness or loyalty that goes beyond what is deserved or expected. Naomi’s Moabite daughter-in-law, Ruth, embodied hesed. Ruth refused to allow Naomi to travel home alone or to live out her vulnerable days without assistance. Even though Ruth owed Naomi nothing by way of cultural expectation, Ruth declared to Naomi,
“Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; Where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die— there will I be buried. May the Lord do thus and so to me, and more as well, if even death parts me from you!” When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her. (Ruth 1:16-18, NRSV)
Ruth’s love and loyalty to Naomi, and later, the kindness of Boaz to Ruth, serve as the tools God uses to move both Ruth’s and Naomi’s narrative from death to resurrection. Their story is a redemption story, a story of reversal from death to life, from famine to bounty, from barrenness to descendants whose role call includes King David and Jesus. If this God of Naomi’s is willing and able to use Ruth, a young, powerless, alien, widow from a despised neighboring land as a force in God’s redemptive work, what might God do with those around us whom our culture treats as the “other”? How might God be calling us to partner with God and open our eyes and see, really see, the value of the “invisible other” in our midst?
In these uncertain days filled with fear, a mentality of scarcity, heart-wrenching decisions, and unexpected loss, I wonder where God is asking us to be a part of the resurrection story. When others are grabbing, how can we give? When we feel fearful, how do we face our fear and continue to walk in courageous faith? Those who were super-vulnerable before this COVID-19 crisis are all the more endangered now. What is ours to do?
In the Talmud, an ancient collection of Jewish teachings, the stork is referred to as “the loving one” because storks give so much love to their mates and their young. A student once asked his teacher, “Then why do the scriptures name the stork among the unclean birds?”
The teacher answered: “Because, although the stork is very loving, the stork gives love only to his own.”
In this season of Lent, there is much to model as we look to the scriptures and the One who authors the ultimate redemption story. Let us not grow weary of showing loving-kindness to all of God’s children. Amen.
Prayer
Dear God of surprises, we marvel at the people you choose to show us your deep love for and welcome of all people. As we live with the story of Ruth this day, help us to repent of our biases against those whom seem “different”. Show us the way to love as you love, a love that leads to a Cross. Amen.
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