Is life a comedy or a tragedy? Are we the hero or the victim? Or maybe the villain? Is the world descending into chaos and dystopia or are we on a path of ever-increasing prosperity and progress? The stories we tell orient us to our place in the world and our role in the story.
The Bible tells the story of a loving God and a messy people. There is a beginning and an end. Major themes of creation, redemption, and sanctification trace the arc of this grand narrative. And Jesus Christ is the center of it all – the great hero of the story who comes incognito to rescue and redeem his broken creation.
Invocation
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Invitation
“You have made us for Yourself. And our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” (Augustine)
Creator of all things, hear my voice, for you have made it. You who live in heaven, hear my prayer from earth. I am one person in one little town in one corner of your vast creation. Of all the people on the planet, hear me also. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Confession
O God, in the beginning you made us good, even “very good.” I admit the many things in my life that are far from your good intent. I try to change, and then find myself in the same place once again. Lord, you know me. Have mercy. Make me right. Forgive my wickedness. Bring me back to good, as you intended from the beginning. Amen.
Word: Ruth 1:16
“But Ruth said, ‘Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go, I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.’”
Meditation: Love as Extraordinary Courage by Megan Roegner
A long time ago, I asked some of my best friends which Biblical woman they identified with the most. One friend said Rebekah because she was cool and wore a nose ring. Another one said Deborah because she’s a leader and a warrior. I said Ruth. But, unlike my friends, who are cool and who are leaders, I chose Ruth not because I am like her, but because I want to be. There is no other woman in the Bible who more clearly shows me my own flaws and points me to a better way. Ruth teaches me how to love.
When I got married, Jeremy and I included the reading from Ruth 1:16 in our ceremony. But these words from Ruth aren’t about marital devotion, specifically. In context, they are words from one woman to another: from a daughter in law to a mother in law. And I think this is why I appreciate them so much. In our society, we are often conditioned to believe that the pinnacle of love is marriage, and that through a romantic union, we will become our best, most true selves. But in Ruth, we see that transformational love exists in many forms and can happen in many different kinds of relationships. The key to love is not so much who but how. To love is to put the needs of someone else before your own. Love is commitment. Love is vulnerability. Love is sacrificial. Love is courage.
Ruth speaks these famous words when she’s on the road, the beginning of a journey. Behind her is the world she has always known, and ahead of her… Ahead of her there is a patriarchal society with no male protection. Ahead of her, there is a life as a cultural outsider. Ahead of her, there is poverty. Ahead of her, there is no certainty that things will get better.
But ahead of her and with her there is love. Perhaps her love for Naomi is born out of respect for her dead husband. Perhaps it arises out of curiosity about the power of this God whom Naomi believes has afflicted her. Perhaps it is born out of admiration for Naomi herself, a woman who lost everything but found strength to endure.
There on the dusty road to Bethlehem, Ruth gives up everything she has, her very self, in an extraordinary act of courageous love. Her story is about the amazing things that can happen if we are brave enough to love truly selflessly. In a move so paradoxical that it must be true, Ruth’s willingness to love sacrificially and live entirely for another unlocks the key to her true identity as a woman of God and a foremother of Jesus.
Lord Jesus, help us to love selflessly like Ruth, like you. Give us courage. And thank you for the people you send to love us. Amen.
Benediction
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (Rom. 11:33,36))