Wisdom for Changing Times Preached at Wollaston Congregational Church On November 7th, 2021 Scripture: Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17 This is our final sermon of the series on the Wisdom Literature of the Bible, and we conclude with a second reflection on the book of Ruth. The Wisdom Literature we have encountered over these past weeks has generally focused on stories. These have been stories of everyday people, often people at the margins of society. God has not been a major character, but instead has been assumed to be present in these human lives. The book of Ruth is a story of loss and change, ends and beginnings. Two widows, Naomi and Ruth journey from Moab, a place where all is lost and their life is over. They emerge in Bethlehem in Judah, a place where they find health and happiness, life and security. This story marks a threshold for themselves and for all the people of Israel. At the beginning of the story Naomi is broken and bitter, she has lost everything: her husband and her sons. She is facing starvation for the second time in her life. She left Bethlehem with her husband years ago because of a famine. Now there is bread again in Bethlehem, and there is none in Moab. Ruth, Naomi’s daughter in law, is a Moabite, an outsider belonging to an enemy tribe of Judah. None the less Ruth insists of remaining with Naomi. Naomi’s other widowed daughter in law, Orpah, decides to return to the security of her own family. Naomi and Ruth depend on the mercy of the Judahites in Bethlehem, who are instructed to welcome the stranger. The law says they must allow the poor to glean grain from the edges of their fields. Naomi brings Ruth to the fields belonging to a distant kinsman, Boaz. They join the harvesters gathering grain. Boaz has instructs his workers to be kind to the women. Gleaning is hard, back-breaking work. The women are allowed to gather the stalks that are dropped by the harvesters. They may cut, or even pull the grasses that have been missed by the workers’ scythes at the edges of the fields. It takes a great many hours of labor gather enough grain for a little flour. The women work out a deal to thresh and grind the grain with Boaz’s workers. Not only that, they take lodging with them in the threshing house, sharing meals and bedding down together. Boaz is glad of the extra hands and treats the women as employees. But this is not enough for Naomi. She needs more security for herself and her daughter-in-law, for when the harvest is over. Naomi comes up with a plan. Young Ruth must go to Boaz during the night, and offer herself to him. To sweeten the deal Naomi can also offer a field in Bethlehem that belonged to her husband, Elimelech. Ruth goes along with the plan, and finds favor with Boaz. Still, there are legal matters to attend to. Boaz will not marry Ruth without first offering her to another kinsman who has a closer relationship. This process is out of Naomi and Ruth’s hands. It rests entirely with the male elders of the city and the other male relative. The relative allows Boaz to go ahead and take Ruth, along with the field. The story ends well. Ruth gives birth to a baby boy who is named Obed, servant of God. Obed will become the father of Jesse, who in turn is the father of the great King David and the forerunner of Jesus of Nazareth. Generations later, Jesus will also be born in Bethlehem. The new mom, Ruth, is absent from the final scene of the story. Naomi receives all the attention instead. The women of the community of the community gather around her, blessing God for her good fortune. Now she has a male next of kin who will provide for her and protect her. She rocks the child in her weather beaten, gnarled hands. This is a threshold moment for herself and her family and also a threshold moment for all of Israel. In this moment, God says: “You are not broken, you are not voiceless, you, Naomi, have great worth in the arc of the history of my people.” Benedictine sister, Joan Chittister, is author of “The Story of Ruth: Twelve Moments in Every Women’s Life.” The first moment she describes is “loss.” The loss that Naomi and Ruth experience is evident from the first chapter of Ruth, they have lost their husbands and sons, their sources of hope and security. The second moment Sr. Joan describes is “change.” In order to begin a new life in Bethlehem, Naomi and Ruth must accept many changes. Sr. Joan says “Change and loss, it must be realized, are two different things. Loss takes something away from life. Change adds something to it. Loss is a black well; change is a fork in the road. Loss is not an option; it is a necessary and inevitable part of life. Change, on the other hand, is only a possibility. It can be resisted or embraced. It can be seen as temptation or as grace. It can be borne reluctantly or it can be chosen.”[1] Friends, in our own personal lives and in the life of the church, there are eras and transitions. There are uninvited times of change. They do not always feel comfortable right away. Our young lives tend to be times of optimism and hope, times of abundance of energy and possibility. As time goes by, losses seem inevitable. Losses bring changes that are less hospitable: such as the loss of a life partner, or our home. Last week I talked a little about my experiencing immigrating to the United States. That was certainly a great change in my own life and one that was not entirely expected. When Simon and I first arrived in Boston, I was anticipating a year of two of adventure before we returned to settle down to life in the United Kingdom. I had no idea that this would be our home 35 years later. At the time my concern was to obtain a work permit, rather than a resident visa. The evening we landed, we checked into an efficiency in a seedy hotel in Brighton. I’d anticipated the beautiful New England fall, but the next day as we headed out to pick up the newspaper and check the job opportunities and real estate listings there was a freezing rain. Not a great start. We were pretty miserable, walking from one expensive apartment to another. And we were not well prepared for the brisk Boston attitude. Fortunately the college housing office soon helped us find a nice apartment within walking distance. And I enjoyed a beautiful fall exploring the area and found a well paid job while I awaited my working visa. The winter did not go so well. We were not used to the extreme cold, and the way that people hunkered down during the winter months. I expected more camaraderie in my workplace, but it seemed that everyone had already made their own friend groups. Americans socialize differently from British people. Americans get together for a purpose. New Englanders don’t eat leisurely Sunday lunches together, or hang out in the pub for hours discussing politics, religion, sports passionately but amicably. Gradually, though, we adapted to a new way of life. The church we found felt like home. A workmate taught me that it’s important to get outside and enjoy the winter sunshine sledding, snow shoeing or skiing. We traveled as much as we could to many parts of the United States: New Hampshire and Vermont, California, Arizona and New Mexico, New Orleans. The beauty of the land and the diversity of the cultures were inspiring. These were the first half of life changes that were not so hard. Second half of life changes present more challenge. Over the past couple of years it has been particularly difficult to be far from family, as my parents age. And still, the difficult changes have to be faced as well as the easy ones. As I enjoyed a visit with my parents last week, we had to have some difficult conversations. These days, when we part we are not as hopeful as we used to be about seeing one another again. Sr. Joan says “Some people take charge of their environment at times of change; they reach down into themselves to release an energy long untapped and rouse themselves into whole new worlds. Others cower in the corners of the past, withdraw from the outer world, accommodate, and scrape life out one day at a time.” [2] This is a powerful message in the book of Ruth, and a wise message for our lives and our church. Change will still happen whether we acknowledge it. Naomi acknowledges the change in her life and takes charge of her environment. She finds the untapped energy to propel herself and the fate of her family into a new world. Wollaston Congregational Church is aging now. The building in which we are sitting is close to 100 years old. Our church experiencing the same kind of lifecycle changes as we experience in our individual lives. The times of plenty and optimism, such as a full sanctuary twice on Sunday and multiple choirs, are past. And so over the coming weeks and months we may make the decision to sell the church premises and rent back our worship space. This will free us from the burden of maintaining a too-large, too-old, too-expensive property. It will allow us to enter a new era of worship and ministry. That is a momentous decision and those of us who are empowered to make it can view it either as loss or as change. When we view it as change, we can determine that this is truly a threshold moment for our church. As Sr. Joan writes “We are all Naomis on the way from the grave, all Orpahs on the way to security, all Ruths on the way to a strange tomorrow.” [3] May all God’s people say, Amen [1] Joan Chittister. The Story of Ruth: Twelve Moments in Every Woman's Life (Kindle Locations 236-239). Kindle Edition. [2] Joan Chittister. The Story of Ruth: Twelve Moments in Every Woman's Life (Kindle Locations 272-274). Kindle Edition. [3] Joan Chittister. The Story of Ruth: Twelve Moments in Every Woman's Life (Kindle Locations 280-281). Kindle Edition.
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