Order, Words, & Voices
10.15.23, Even Hopelessness , Ruth 1:1-17
Order
Pre Worship Music
Call to Worship – Song Billy & Team
Lord I Lift Your Name on High
Take My Life (Holiness)
Call to Worship – Spoken Word Linda/Segun
Worship Response/Lord’s Prayer Rick
Reading Ruth 1:1-17 Renee
Songs Billy & Team
Hide me in the cleft of the rock
Your Love is Deep
Message Even Hopelessness Rick
Music Billy and Team
Your Love is Deep
Community/Peace Rick
Benediction/Closing Peace Rick
Post Worship Music
Music (slides) – Billy and Team
Lord I Lift Your Name On High
Verse
Lord I lift Your name on high
Lord I love to sing Your praises
I’m so glad You’re in my life
I’m so glad You came to save us
Chorus
You came from heaven to earth
To show the way
From the earth to the cross
My debt to pay
From the cross to the grave
From the grave to the sky
Lord I lift Your name on high
(Repeat)
Take My Life
Verse 1
Holiness holiness
Is what I long for
Holiness is what I need
Holiness holiness
Is what You want from me
Verse 2
Faithfulness faithfulness
Is what I long for
Faithfulness is what I need
Faithfulness faithfulness
Is what You want from me
Chorus
So take my heart and form it
Take my mind transform it
Take my will conform it
To Yours to Yours oh Lord
Verse 3
Righteousness righteousness
Is what I long for
Righteousness is what I need
Righteousness righteousness
Is what You want from me
(Probable repeat of chorus or other elements of song)
Call to Worship – Spoken Words (Slides) – Linda/Segun
We gather this morning for a moment, a moment of worship, a moment of praise. We gather with countless others in our community, our nation, and around our world who share this common path towards Becoming the Righteousness of God. We gather in places where there is suffering in ways few can begin to imagine.
We gather with those who have experienced victories and those who are hiding their suffering while standing in front of us with a smile on their face. We gather with those whose comfort is guarded with a vigilance that is ultimately impossible to maintain.
We gather for a moment of rest in our struggles, a moment of shared refreshment before God. We share a called, and yet chosen path, a path of grace and a path of works. May we continue to move forward on our path of becoming as we worship the God who is love.
Call to Worship – Responsive Reading (Slides) – Rick
Leader: The Lord looks down and sees all of humanity
Response: From his throne God sees all the inhabitants of the earth
Leader: God fashions the hearts of all and observes the deeds of humans
Response: The Lord calls on all to trust and to serve
Leader: A king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength
Response: The war horse is a vain hope for victory,great might it cannot save
Leader: The eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love
Response: God is present to deliver souls from death and to deliver in famine
Leader: Our soul waits for the Lord; God is our help and shield
Response: Our heart is glad in him as we trust in his holy name
Leader: God may your steadfast love be upon us
Response: Lord, may our hope be found in you
(Psalm 33:13-22)
Lord’s Prayer (Slides) – Rick
Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, On Earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses, while we forgive those who trespass against us. And, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
Reading Renee
There was a famine in the land of Judah. A man of Bethlehem in Judah went to reside in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons.
The name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife was Naomi; and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They entered the land of Moab and remained there.
Then Elimelech died; and Naomi was left with her two sons who took Moabite women as wives; the names of the wives were Orpah and Ruth. And they lived there for about ten years.
Then both sons also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.
Naomi arose with her daughters-in-law to return to Judah because she had heard that the Lord had given his people food. The three women departed Moab and set out for the land of Judah.
But Naomi stopped and said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return to your mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me.”
“May the Lord grant that you may find a place of rest, each one in the house of her husband.” Then she kissed them, and they raised their voices and wept.
However, they said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.”
But Naomi said, “Return, my daughters. Why should you go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? Return, my daughters!”
“Go, for I am too old to have a husband. Even if I were to marry and also give birth to sons, would you therefore wait until they were grown? Would you refrain from marrying?”
“No, my daughters; for it is much more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the Lord has come out against me.”
“And they raised their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.”
Then Naomi said, “Your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods; return after with her.”
But Ruth said, “Do not plead with me to leave you or to turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you sleep, I will sleep. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.”
“Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord do so to me, and worse, if anything but death separates me from you.”
Ruth 1:1-17
Music (Slides) Billy and Team
Hide Me In The Cleft Of The Rock
Verse
Hide me in the cleft of the Rock
Clothe me in the love of the Son
Lord surround me surround me
I release the joy of my heart
Flowing from the River of life
Lord surround me with Your love
Chorus
You are my refuge
A present help in my trouble
A river of gladness
My help as the morning comes
You are my refuge
Though the world falls around me
No I will not fear
Lord for I have Your love
(Repeat vs. and chorus)
Your Love Is Deep
Verse
Your love is deep Your love is high
Your love is long Your love is wide
Your love is deep Your love is high
Your love is long Your love is wide
Chorus
Your love is deeper than my view of grace
Higher than this worldly place
Longer than this road I travel
Wider than the gap You filled
Deeper than my view of grace
Higher than this worldly place
Longer than this road I travel
Wider than the gap You filled
Bridge
So who shall separate us
Who shall separate us from Your love
Nothing can separate us
Nothing can separate us from Your love
Ending
Your love is deep
(Expect a repeat of chorus somewhere)
Message (No Slides) Rick
Opening Illustration – Worker and rake at NHS/perspectives
I have studied and preached from the story of Ruth countless times. I have struggled with the cultural elements of the story as well as the gender devaluation with each study. It was not until this time that I saw it through a different perspective – different perspectives can reveal a story within a story that has often gone unnoticed multiple times before. This time, with this added perspective, I have seen that, while the completed story has the element of redemption and hope, these first 17 verses contain a story of life, love, choice, and the confrontation of a people which ultimately continues through our times. Maybe it is directed at us, our time and our culture, more than any other time in history.
We are going to just hang out in these 17 verses this morning. I think that is where the meat is that is specifically needed by us and in our times. 17 verses that come from two largely hopeless women – one a Isrealites and one a Moabite.
This is a gritty and difficult story to process. It is a story of the shared hopelessness of these two women, Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth. A story of devotion to each other in their mutual hopelessness that leads both women on a path that holds no promises and no guarantees and no assurances of a future where hope may be found.
A story of one woman’s choice to follow the God of another not because of a personal experience with the true God, but, instead, because of the impact of the other, even though the other is as hopeless and desperate and really has nothing but misery to show for her devotion to God.
Honestly, I think that possibly our forefathers erred by not making this story of Ruth into two separate books – for in these 17 verses we see how a true and uncluttered dependence on God can change the world. In these 17 verses we see two women who live in a world of hopelessness, a world where people, in their desperation have no choice but to leave their homes just to find food and safety while oftentimes taking a path that leads them through even greater darkness than the darkness they left behind. It is a hopelessness where loved ones die, where politics/religion/egos/money/and power lead to bombs, destruction, death, unforgettable images on our screens, and fear in the hearts of our children. A reminder to all of us that we are never far from the infliction of despair or misery, that there will always be suffering somewhere, and, ironically, that ultimately God, and even hope, is always present even though we may not ever see any proof.
The story begins with disaster, a famine so severe that a “a certain man … and his wife and two sons” leave their home in Bethlehem, cross a river and a national border, and seek refuge in a foreign country. A family acting out of their very real desperation seeking to find hope that is no longer present at home.
Elimelech, Naomi, and Sons, Mahlon and Chilion, of the city of Bethlehem were another part of a long line of biblical, historical, and households in our time that found or find themselves facing food insecurity and other evidences of hopelessness that propel them into survival existences. They envisioned not way to survive as they witnessed their land turning barren. There were zero options in the midst of famine.
Just like we see happening all over the globe even now, families facing starvation or other brutalities walk miles, take risks, and cross into unfamiliar lands, attempting to survive the dangerous present and daring to hope there might be a future, any future and anywhere. Abraham, Sarah and their household fled twice in desperate attempts to survive. Jacob’s family and countless others faced the same predicaments.
Elimelech and Naomi make a very rational decision to leave their home. What seems to be less rational however is where they went, the country of Moab, a country, at least in Biblical times, was a totally shocking decision. Moab held an earned reputation of being shameful, inhospitable, and dangerous. So bad was the history of the Isrealites and the Moabites that God had placed a ten generation moratorium on any interactions between the two peoples.
Relocation to Moab provided relief from famine, but it did not protect against other disasters. Elimelech dies. The sons marry Moabite women, but ten years later, the sons also die. Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband – an surmountable tragedy. Such tragedy for refugee women, or any women in those times, turned their lives upside down by emotional, social, and economic loss, not to mention their new existence of survival aloneness and isolation.
Following these tragedies, Naomi received news that the famine was over in her homeland and made the decision to return to Bethlehem. This is where the story becomes interesting and unusual – as Naomi prepares to leave Moab, she just assumes the two daughters-in-law are going with her, and, even more interesting, the two daughters-in-law assume the same. Their husbands were dead so there was no legality tying them to Naomi and, since neither was an Isrealite, there was no cultural or religious expectation that they go with her. Nor is there any real consideration of the fact that both young women are now unmarried, childless, and, in Bethlehem, will basically be unmarriable or at best considered unsuitable for any acceptable man. Instead, they both pack their bags as Naomi packs her bags and all three head in the same direction. The connection between these three, and the unprecedented devotion that holds them together, is inexplicable from an outsider perspective, especially when we consider their religious, cultural, history and ancestral differences.
Along the road to Judah, Naomi does begin to consider this situation. She recognizes the devotion of her daughters-in-law but also the huge sacrifice they were making. It may have also occurred to her that the status of these two women may become a burden to Naomi as well. Naomi stops on the road and directs her daughters-in-law to go back to their mother’s house. Naomi is genuine in her concern for these two women, and probably is correct in considering the concerns for herself – she cannot provide and more sons for marriage, the thought is ridiculous.
‘One of the women, Orpah, tearfully accepts Naomi’s command but Ruth is resistant to Naomi’s command to the point of refusal. Both daughters-in-law face uncertain futures. Both are sacrificially acting out of devotion to Naomi.
Powerfully and sacrificially, Ruth makes a stunning pledge to link her life to Naomi, to Naomi’s homeland, her people, and her God. As a foreigner, even more as a Moabite, therefore she will be considered a pagan in Judah, and as a widow without property she will basically be a non-person, Naomi fears that Ruth will not find acceptance or support from the Israelites. Naomi questions if the economic and social structure of her homeland will provide for them.’
(Elna K. Solvang, Professor of Religion, Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota)
Ruth’s foreignness is an oppressive cloud over the story; in fact, the text takes great pains to emphasize Ruth’s ethnicity, repeatedly referring to her as ‘Ruth the Moabite’ rather than simply Ruth. The author directed this reality of prejudice towards the original Jewish readers as a less than subtle nudge to change their perspective, to see this journey through Ruth’s eyes. It is a nudge that is still directed at all audiences even today.
2 lessons, 1 thread
Lesson One – Ruth was a life witness of her God, of trust and hope in her God. She did not talk about it, in fact there is very little talk of God by Naomi. I would take this even further by speculating that Naomi was possibly somewhat cranky – which would be justified by the reality in her life. However, her’s was a faith that could not be ignored. A faith that was noticed by Ruth and Orpah. It was not a preachy faith, no religious sounding talk, no spirtual leaning t-shirts, bumper stickers, or even holy boasting posters on the walls. She was just a real person whose faith permeated her life. I doubt she was always cheerful and contagious, if ever, but if you had the opportunity to watch her persevere through the best and worst of times, when you experienced her acceptance and affirmation even when she had ever reason to reject and judge you, even in the worst of times that seemed to never end, then you could not help but believe in her God.
Lesson Two – The author’s, possibly Samuel, emphasis on the foreign label piled on Ruth is not just a message to an ancient judgemental church it is a slap on the side of the head to the church of today. The church must be a presence to all peoples, regardless of labels, at all, and especially in ther times of desperation, struggle, and misery. We must be a presence of God in the midst of all those time for all people at all times. We should not have to post that we are inclusive of LGBRTQ, or peoples of color or other culture, all churches should be expected to be the hands and embrace of Jesus no matter who those are entering the doors. We do not have to understand others, we cannot wait until we are comfortable with others, we must not wait until religious leaders come to this epiphany, we must be ready to accept the Ruths now. Naomi, along with the writer of Ruth, were concerned about their own peoples’ response to Ruth, an outsider. The church should be known by our unconditional, non judgemental, and non-condemning love, affirmation, and acceptance of all people.
What is the thread, it is found in the Old and New testament – Love the Lord your God with all that you have and love others as much as you love yourself.
The still highly regarded Danish theologian and philosopher of the 1800s, Søren Kierkegaard, sought to bring truth to the individual, to make faith in God personal. His prayer in times such as those faced by Ruth and Naomi, and by the church today when affirmation and acceptance of others is uncomfortable was “O God teach me to breathe deeply in Faith”.
This is our calling, this is our prayer, may we breath deeply in faith.
Music (Slides) Billy and Team
Your Love Is Deep
Verse
Your love is deep Your love is high
Your love is long Your love is wide
Your love is deep Your love is high
Your love is long Your love is wide
Chorus
Your love is deeper than my view of grace
Higher than this worldly place
Longer than this road I travel
Wider than the gap You filled
Deeper than my view of grace
Higher than this worldly place
Longer than this road I travel
Wider than the gap You filled
Bridge
So who shall separate us
Who shall separate us from Your love
Nothing can separate us
Nothing can separate us from Your love
Ending
Your love is deep
(Expect a repeat of chorus somewhere)
Community (Slides) Rick
- Next Sunday, An Unpleasant Harmony 2 Samuel 5:1-5; 6:1-5; Psalm 150
- Next Book Discussion Luncheon (next Sunday), ‘Making Sense of the Bible’, luncheon will take place on October 22, following worship. Please RSVP.
Benediction (Slides) Rick
As we leave this place we continue on this journey fully dependent on the life and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are on this path because of God’s extravagant grace and by our own choice. We are connected to the soil and the pursuit of becoming the righteousness of the Holy God. This is a pursuit that gives us no choice but to face the struggles and wrestle them through. Through which we are blessed.
We move forward even when we cannot see, we dive into the flowing provision even when the waters appear difficult, we hope even when our despair threatens to consume us, we love because that is the sole path and purpose of becoming. We wrestle through even when our body, and every muscle within us, is exhausted.
And, when our faith seems worthless, when hopelessness rules our reality, and when hatred seems to consume our world, we still choose to move forward in trust, to hope in the empty grave, and to love because that is our path, that is our call.
Closing Peace Rick
Leader: May the Peace and Hope of the Lord go with you.
Response: And also with you.
Leader: Go in the Peace and Hope of the Lord.
Order, Words, & Voices 