INTRODUCTION
Welcome to our worship for the third Sunday in June. June is Bible month and so we continue to look at the Old Testament book of Ruth.
PRAYER
Blessèd are you, Lord our God,
Giver of life,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
At the opening of this day
you call us out of darkness
into your marvelous light.
Blessèd are you for ever and ever. Amen.
HYMN: StF 24 “Come, Now is the Time to Worship”
https://youtu.be/NPWq8eM4lu8
PRAYERS
Adoration
Loving God, ground of all our being,
we come to worship you and adore you;
Very aware of the mystery of your being,
knowing that in so many ways you are beyond our understanding,
because if we could understand you, you wouldn’t be God.
You are beyond our understanding
but You have revealed enough of yourself
for us to know that you are worthy,
worthy of all our praise, all our adoration,
and all our love.
In the universe you made, formed from your Word,
a universe so vast our human minds are stunned by its size
you created billions of blazing stars that last for billions of year,
a variety of different planets and worlds.
You created this planet we inhabit,
this beautiful Earth with its incredible variety of life,
plants, fish, birds, animals,
all formed to be beautiful, expression of your love.
You made us too, in your own image and likeness,
created by you and loved by you as your children.
You are beyond our understanding
but You have revealed enough of yourself
for us to know that you are worthy,
worthy of all our praise, all our adoration,
and all our love.
You became part of your own creation,
walking the dusty roads of Galilee and Judea,
revealing yourself in Jesus,
wonderfully and impossibly both fully human and fully God.
You showed us who you are, in your healing and miracles,
through your actions and by your teaching.
You showed us the true nature of you love and care for us
through your suffering and crucifixion,
and assured us of the reality of eternal life
by your resurrection.
You showed us enough of yourself
so that we can know it is right
to offer our praise, worship and love.
You are beyond our understanding
but You have revealed enough of yourself
for us to know that you are worthy,
worthy of all our praise, all our adoration,
and all our love.
You entered our lives as Spirit,
as our Helper, Counsellor and Guide,
speaking to us through hymns, prayers, Scripture and preaching,
and through that still small voice that we know is you.
You are beyond our understanding
but You have revealed enough of yourself
for us to know that you are worthy,
worthy of all our praise, all our adoration,
and all our love. Amen.
Confession
Loving and forgiving God,
we ask you that you would help us
to bring to mind those times when
we have failed you and each other.
Silence
We bring to mind those times in our lives when we have failed to love you.
Those times we have gone our own way, rather than yours.
Those times when we have failed to love others.
Those times when we have failed to love ourselves.
We have failed to follow the way of Christ
in our thinking, our speaking and our acting or failing to act.
We are truly sorry and ask for the assurance of your forgiveness.
In Jesus’ precious name we pray.
Amen.
READING: Ruth 3
One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, ‘My daughter, I must find a home for you, where you will be well provided for. Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing-floor. Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing-floor, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.’
‘I will do whatever you say,’ Ruth answered. So she went down to the threshing-floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do.
When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down. In the middle of the night something startled the man; he turned – and there was a woman lying at his feet!
‘Who are you?’ he asked.
‘I am your servant Ruth,’ she said. ‘Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a guardian-redeemer of our family.’
‘The Lord bless you, my daughter,’ he replied. ‘This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: you have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character. Although it is true that I am a guardian-redeemer of our family, there is another who is more closely related than I. Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to do his duty as your guardian-redeemer, good; let him redeem you. But if he is not willing, as surely as the Lord lives I will do it. Lie here until morning.’
So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be recognised; and he said, ‘No one must know that a woman came to the threshing-floor.’
He also said, ‘Bring me the shawl you are wearing and hold it out.’ When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and placed the bundle on her. Then he went back to town.
When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, ‘How did it go, my daughter?’
Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her and added, ‘He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, “Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.”’
Then Naomi said, ‘Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today.’
HYMN: StF 338 “There is a Redeemer”
https://youtu.be/ldRcFz7rK7w
SERMON
The third chapter of Ruth is often known by preachers as the “difficult chapter”, not because there is any difficult or controversial theology in it, but because, if you understand certain Biblical euphemisms, it’s definitely an adult chapter.
I said at the start of Bible month that the account of Ruth’s life in the book that bears her name is a good story. It would make a really good TV miniseries. It begins with tragedy, then there is some hope, a seduction scene and the tension of what will happen next and finally a happy ending.
Our chapter begins and end as chapter two did, with Ruth and Naomi together in the home that they shared. At this point Naomi seems to have fixed on Boaz as the solution to all their problems and basically sends Ruth off to seduce Boaz, who has already shown an attraction towards her. Noami tells Ruth to “wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes.” Her intent couldn’t be clearer.
It becomes even more clear when you realise that the threshing floor was a place where, at the end of the harvest, the wine would flow freely, and anything could happen.
In addition to the preparations Naomi instructed Ruth to make, she also told her to “go down to the threshing-floor, but don’t let Boaz know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.”
It is here our euphemisms come in. “Uncover his feet” doesn’t mean his feet at all, it means something a bit higher up, and “lie down” is the equivalent of our modern expression “sleeping with somebody”. It doesn’t just mean sleeping.
Does this make us feel uncomfortable? It should. Naomi has basically commanded Ruth to use her body to secure a future with Boaz for them both. Naomi is using Ruth to secure her own future.
We can easily understand that Naomi treating Ruth in this way was wrong. But there is another problem; Naomi’s actions demonstrate a lack of faith in God and God’s perfect timing. God had been quietly and unobtrusively at work in the lives of Naomi and Ruth: first bringing them to Bethlehem as we saw in chapter one and then guiding Ruth into the field of Boaz, who was not only their relative but a potential kinsman redeemer who could give them a secure future. God had done all that, yet Naomi either couldn’t wait for God’s timing or lost faith that God would indeed secure their future.
Have we ever done the same? Have we ever lost faith in God’s love for us and God’s perfect timing and tried to move things along ourselves?
As a faithful daughter-in-law Ruth obeyed Naomi’s instructions, or at least she appeared to. A careful reading of our text suggests that Ruth interpreted Naomi’s instructions in such a way that she obeyed yet remained virtuous.
The way Ruth is portrayed throughout the book that bears her name suggests that she wouldn’t use illicit sex to secure a husband and hers and Naomi’s futures. Throughout the book Ruth behaves in a Godly and honourable way and was not a woman who would break one of the commandments of the God she had committed herself to. Boaz had been so impressed by Ruth’s conduct and character that he had pronounced God’s blessing upon her.
We are told that Ruth “went down to the threshing-floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do.” This is not the only translation of the original Hebrew. Other translations have, “she did according to all that her mother-in-law commanded her.” The line could be understood to mean that Ruth did all that Naomi had commanded but not literally in the way Naomi meant it.
Biblical commentators suggest that Ruth took Naomi’s euphemisms literally, so she lay at Boaz’s actual feet and actually slept.
This is confirmed by Boaz’s reaction when he woke. He couldn’t see who Ruth was because she was lying at his feet. All Boaz could see was a woman lying at his feet, which is why he asked, “Who are you?” If Ruth had been lying closer than his feet, he would have known who she was.
Ruth then identifies herself. “I am your servant Ruth. Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a guardian-redeemer of our family.”
These are very carefully chosen words. She is basically asking Boaz to marry her, to fulfil his legal obligation as “guardian-redeemer”. This is further made clear by her use of the phrase “Spread the corner of your garment over me” in which she is not only asking for Boaz’s protection but asking him to be God’s answer to her prayers as the image of wings was often used to talk about God’s protection of his people.
This is also further evidence that Ruth didn’t follow Naomi’s instructions to the letter, because if Boaz and Ruth had slept together then, by the laws of that time, they were already married.
So we see that Ruth has behaved as honourably as she could in the circumstances, caught between her duty to obey her other-in-law Naomi and her faith in God and basic decency and honesty. Boaz certainly saw nothing in Ruth’s words and deeds that would change his opinion of her: he calls her “a woman of noble character.” This was very high praise indeed.
Can the same be said of us who claim to be disciples of Jesus. Do people who know us think of us as men and women of noble character? Do people who know our words and deeds think of us as Christlike people? Do we attract people to think about following Jesus themselves?
And so we come to Boaz, the third person in our passage. Is Boaz faithless and manipulative like Naomi, or is he an honourable man; a man of noble character?
Our passage makes it clear that the impression we gained of Boaz in Ruth 2 is the correct one, he is a godly man, an honourable man of noble character.
Boaz is very much a godly man. In chapter 2 we saw him greet the harvesters with the words, “The Lord be with you.” Later we see him give a great blessing to Ruth, “May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”
Now we see his entirely honourable response to Ruth. He is happy to marry her, to act as her kinsman-redeemer and indeed acknowledges that she could have run after a younger man, but she didn’t. He is also entirely honourable in another way: Boaz acknowledges that there is another kinsman-redeemer who is closer than he and has the right to act in that role; even though it’s clear he wants to marry Ruth himself. Boaz says he must give the closer relative the opportunity to redeem Ruth. He will do it the very next morning. He is willing to give up that which he desires, Ruth, because it is the honourable thing to do, because it is the law of God.
This is a challenge to us as Christian disciples. Are we always willing to do the right thing even when it will mean we deny ourselves?
We think of Jesus in Gethsemane and his words to his Heavenly Father: ‘Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will”
Sometimes to be faithful disciples of Christ we have to be willing to deny ourselves in order to obey our Lord. Boaz was willing to deny himself the pleasure of marriage to Ruth if the closer kinsman-redeemer exercised his rights under Israelite law. Jesus was willing to give his life on the cross in order that God’s will be done.
Are we willing to deny ourselves for the sake of others and of God?
At the beginning of Ruth 3 we see Naomi lacking faith in God and using Ruth, a person who has dedicated herself to Naomi’s welfare and care, in perhaps the worst way one woman can use another. We see selfishness and a faith in God that has failed.
Then we come to Ruth, a woman of noble character who keeps her promise to obey Naomi but who does it in a way that is honourable and full of faith in God to bring about her redemption through Boaz.
Finally we have Boaz, the honourable godly man who puts the will of God and the laws of God before his own desires; the man who wants to do the right thing even though it might cost him.
Appropriately Boaz and Ruth are direct ancestors of Jesus, whose self-sacrifice brought our redemption. As Christian disciples it is their example we should follow as we seek to follow Jesus, our Saviour and Lord.
Amen.
HYMN: StF 615 “Let Love be Real”
https://youtu.be/SkBAxZw5NxU
PRAYERS: Intercession
Gracious and loving God,
beyond all time and space,
yet intimately involved in every human life,
we bring our prayers to you now,
trusting in your goodness and mercy.
We pray for our sisters and brothers in Christ,
not only in our own churches but across the world.
We think especially of those who are not able to meet
for worship and fellowship and to share Holy Communion
either because of Covid-19
or because their faith makes it very difficult in their country.
Lord hear us.
Lord graciously hear us.
We pray for the leaders of our world,
faced with difficult decisions about Covid restrictions
about how to revive deteriorating economic conditions
and about how to bring about equality for all,
whatever their race, creed, gender or sexuality.
Lord hear us.
Lord graciously hear us.
We pray for those who are in real personal need at this time:
those who have lost their jobs and income,
those who cannot afford to feed their families,
Those who cannot afford the basic necessities of life.
Lord hear us.
Lord graciously hear us.
We pray for those who are sick,
in body, mind or spirit.
For those at home, in hospital or in care homes.
We pray for those known to us who are poorly at this time……
Lord hear us.
Lord graciously hear us.
We bring all these prayers in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who taught us when we pray to say….
The Lord’s Prayer
HYMN: StF 440 “Amazing Grace”
https://youtu.be/HsCp5LG_zNE
BLESSING
The love of the Father enfold us,
the wisdom of the Son enlighten us,
the fire of the Spirit enflame us;
and the blessing of God, the Three in One,
be upon us and abide with us now and for ever. Amen.
Sunday, 21 June 2020
Sunday, 14 June 2020
Bible Month Service for Sunday 14th June 2020
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to our worship for the second Sunday in June. June is Bible moth and so we will be looking at the Old Testament book of Ruth for the next four weeks.
HYMN: StF 364 “O For a Thousand Tongues”
https://youtu.be/i289qFwVGKo
PRAYERS:
‘We will exalt you, our God the King; we will praise your name for ever and ever.
Every day we will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever’
A moment of silence
Prayer of Adoration
Creator God, we glimpse your beauty
in setting sun, mountain top, eagle’s wing.
We sense your power in thunder crash,
lightning flash and ocean’s roar.
Creator God we praise you
Precious Jesus, we see your love
stretched out upon a cruel cross.
We stand in awe at your sacrifice,
pure love poured out for humankind.
Precious Jesus we praise you
Holy Spirit, we see your power
in lives transformed, hearts on fire.
We listen for your still, small voice,
comforting, guiding, calling.
Holy Spirit we praise you.
Father, Son and Holy Spirit
We see your beauty, power and love
Sustaining and transforming
Each and every day.
We worship, praise and adore you
Through the precious name of your Son
Our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Loving God, as we worship you, we marvel at your greatness and are amazed by your goodness.
As we look at you, we look also at ourselves.
In your perfection, we see our imperfection.
In your love, we see our lack of love.
In your generosity, we see our meanness.
In your willingness to forgive and heal, we see the burdens we don’t want to release.
Gracious God, as we pray to you now,
We are mindful of the baggage we carry:
The worries, the fears, the guilt we long to be rid of,
Yet keep clinging on to.
Forgive us, Lord,
That although we try to let go of our burdens,
We all too readily pick them up again,
Thinking our sin is too great for your love.
We lay down before you now those things that weigh us down.
Lord Jesus, we rejoice that you came to seek the imperfect:
The sinners, the lost, the mistaken ones,
People like us.
We ask you now to cut away the burdens that weigh us down;
Cut them completely, Lord,
Let them fall away from us forever.
In your gentleness lift us up again to a new life,
Freed and renewed!
For we pray in Jesus name. Amen
READING: Ruth 2
Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz.
And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, ‘Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favour.’
Naomi said to her, ‘Go ahead, my daughter.’ So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.
Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, ‘The Lord be with you!’
‘The Lord bless you!’ they answered.
Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, ‘Who does that young woman belong to?’
The overseer replied, ‘She is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. She said, “Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.” She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.’
So Boaz said to Ruth, ‘My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.’
At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, ‘Why have I found such favour in your eyes that you notice me – a foreigner?’
Boaz replied, ‘I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband – how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.’
‘May I continue to find favour in your eyes, my lord,’ she said. ‘You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant – though I do not have the standing of one of your servants.’
At mealtime Boaz said to her, ‘Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.’
When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, ‘Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her. Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.’
So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah. She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.
Her mother-in-law asked her, ‘Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!’
Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. ‘The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,’ she said.
‘The Lord bless him!’ Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. ‘He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.’ She added, ‘That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers.’
Then Ruth the Moabite said, ‘He even said to me, “Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.”’
Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, ‘It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.’
So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
HYMN: StF 338 “There is a Redeemer”
https://youtu.be/ldRcFz7rK7w
REFLECTION: (by Rev Christine Leech)
One of my hobbies is reading and I really enjoy detective stories. I like to try and find the solution to the crime by finding and following the clues.I'm not all that good at it but I enjoy the challenge. Quite often the writer leaves it to near the end ofthe story before revealing a clue or secret which is the key which unlocks the solving of the crime.
In today's chapter of the book of Ruth the writer reveals to us as readers in the first sentence something that Ruth is unaware of. The writer tells us about Boaz, a kinsman of Elimelech, Naomi's late husband and that he is a prominent rich man. So when Ruth meets Boaz in what seems to be a purely accidental way we are in the know. We never know when what we see as a chance encounter with someone as we go about our daily lives, that this is God , showing his care and grace to us, through a chance encounter with a stranger.
We have been told that Boaz is a kinsman of Elimalech, a member of the family. In the Old Testament family means a much wider network of relations than our quite often small families today. The family was the basic unit of Israelite society and the ownership of land was also very important. All the land was God's who gave it to families as an inheritance.
Family solidarity was very strong in Israel and members of the family had obligations to help and protect one another. Boaz was wealthy. He was a man of worth, of means, of integrity and influence. All these attributes along with his family connections are important in the role he will play in the continuing story of Ruth. There is a growing relationship between Ruth a poor widowed girl from Moab, a foreigner, and Boaz the influential wealthy man who was related to Elimelech.
Ruth seeks Naomi's permission to go to the harvest field to glean. She obviously knows about the law concerning gleaning. This is explained in Leviticus 19:9-10:
"When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest, you shall leave them for the poor and the alien."
Enshrined in the law is concern for the needy, the helpless and the foreigner. God is a God who rescues slaves and cares for the poor, helpless and needy and so God's people should behave in the same way, they should reflect the nature of God.
What does that mean for us? To what extent then should we help the underprivileged and poor? Surely this should be a major part of our mission. In our Circuit we have Food Banks to help those in need and the ARC to help the refugees and asylum seekers who come to our country as Ruth came to Israel. But will this be enough in the coming months of hardship and unemployment? Should each church be now thinking and planning how we can help? Helping the needy is not an option it's an obligation, part of belonging to
God's family.
Ruth sees the generous provision for the poor but knows this depended on the goodwill of the owner of the field. Here, at this point in the story we have Boaz as a generous provider and Ruth as a needy person who is dependent on another's gracious giving. Ruth's request, Naomi's encouragement, Ruth's choice of field, Boaz's decision to harvest his field at this time all come together and are used by God to demonstrate his care. God uses our choices, our decisions, our responsibilities to bring about his purposes.
Ruth understands herself as a foreigner. Boaz welcomes her as a member of the family of God who has come to seek refuge under the wings of God. Here we see grace is to do with the provision of personal needs. God not only governs his world, he sustains and provides for it. His gracious provision for us often comes through the gracious generosity of others - we have seen and learned of many examples of this during lockdown. Boaz's kind words and deeds possibly showed Ruth that there was light and hope after her pain and suffering.
We need in our Christian life to be accountable to God and care for others, to be open to God's direction and grace and open to the claim on us of the needs of others. Our lives and relationships are meant to mirror God's
Our prayer should be how in this situation we find ourselves in can we as churches and individuals show God's love and care to those in need?
Amen.
HYMN: StF 471 “Lord I Come to You”
https://youtu.be/H9_0jiO5ZRM
PRAYERS OF CONCERN
Lord Jesus Christ,
Whose death and resurrection brought the possibility of healing and wholeness to a broken world;
Hear us now as we pray.
Living Lord Jesus,
Bring healing and wholeness to our broken world.
We pray for the church throughout the world,
thinking particularly of our brothers and sisters who are struggling with not being able to gather physically together for worship, those who are missing sharing in Holy Communion and in fellowship over tea and coffee.
We pray for West Pennine Moors Methodist Circuit, for our Ministers and Local Preachers, that in faith and unity we may be constantly renewed by your Holy Spirit for mission and service.
Living Lord Jesus,
Bring healing and wholeness to our broken world.
We pray for the peoples of the world, for those who are suffering under brutal regimes, for those who have little or nothing to eat, for those who suffer prejudice because of the colour of their skin, their religious convictions, their sexuality or their gender and for those for whom life seems hopeless.
Lord, we pray that all people on this earth would know justice, freedom and peace
Living Lord Jesus,
Bring healing and wholeness to our broken world.
We pray for our own country and for those who have authority and influence. We pray that injustice and suffering in our own country would be addressed and ask that you would guide our leaders to serve us with wisdom, honesty and compassion.
Living Lord Jesus,
Bring healing and wholeness to our broken world.
We pray for those among whom we live and work. We know so many people who do not know you, who do not understand what you did for them on that Calvary cross, who do not know the power of resurrection and the Holy Spirit and of your love in their lives. Help us to use the gifts you have given us to love them and give them a good Christian witness so that the love we have in our lives would draw them to your eternal love.
Living Lord Jesus,
Bring healing and wholeness to our broken world.
We pray for all who are in sorrow, need, anxiety or sickness. This morning we pray especially for Kath Heyworth and her family following the death of her mother Sheila: that in their pain and suffering they may know your comforting and healing presence, and in despair find hope.
Living Lord Jesus,
Bring healing and wholeness to our broken world.
In you, Lord Jesus Christ, we are one family in earth and heaven. We remember in your presence those whose earthly lives are ended and we give you thanks for those who have revealed your love to us.
Help us to follow the example of your saints in light and bring us with them to the fullness of your eternal joy and love.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who taught us when we pray to say….
The Lord’s Prayer
HYMN: H&P “Lord Thy Church on Earth is Seeking”
https://youtu.be/iujyEnur7M4
BLESSING
May the blessing of God Almighty,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
be with us all, with those we love;
and with those who, for the sake of Christ
we ought to love.
This day and forever more. Amen.
Sunday, 7 June 2020
Service for Sunday 7th June 2020
SERVICE FOR SUNDAY 7TH JUNE 2020
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to our worship for the first Sunday in June. June is Bible month in The Methodist Church and so we will be looking at the Old Testament book of Ruth for the next four weeks.
PRAYER
Lord our God,
eternal and wonderful,
wholly to be trusted:
you give life to all;
you help those who come to you
and give hope to those who call on you.
Set our hearts and minds at peace,
that we may bring our prayers to you
with confidence and joy;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
HYMN: STF 693 “Beauty for Brokenness”
https://youtu.be/MO1G-o7Yj-c
OPENING PRAYERS
Blessèd are you, Lord our God:
in your love you create all things out of nothing
through your eternal Word.
We glorify and adore you.
Blessèd are you, Lord our God:
in your love you redeemed the world
through our Lord Jesus Christ.
We glorify and adore you.
Blessèd are you, Lord our God:
in your love you empower your people
through the gift of the Holy Spirit.
We glorify and adore you. Amen.
Holy God,
we confess that we have rebelled against you
and broken your law of love;
we have not loved our neighbours
nor heard the cry of the needy.
Forgive us, we pray,
and free us for joyful obedience;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
In Christ we are set free.
Through Christ we are forgiven.
Amen. Thanks be to God.
READING
Ruth 1: 1-22
In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.
Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.
When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.
Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, ‘Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.’
Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud and said to her, ‘We will go back with you to your people.’
But Naomi said, ‘Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me – even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons – would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!’
At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.
‘Look,’ said Naomi, ‘your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.’
But Ruth replied, ‘Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.’ When Naomi realised that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, ‘Can this be Naomi?’
‘Don’t call me Naomi,’ she told them. ‘Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.’
So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.
HYMN: STF 272 “The Servant King”
https://youtu.be/8rh4xEvMVQQ
SERMON
There are some really good stories in the Bible and the story of Ruth is one of them. When I say story, I’m not for a moment suggesting it isn’t true, but the Book of Ruth is a complete story with a solid beginning, a meaty middle full of drama and romance and a great ending. It is, of course, one of the few books in the Bible to focus on the story of a woman.
Historically the story of Ruth takes pace during the time of the Judges, before Israel had a king. It takes place during a time of famine, a time of desperation, a time when people were unsure if their loved ones would still be alive in a few weeks or months, and time when it was impossible to plan for the future.
Although set in the time of the Judges, the story of Ruth was probably written down at the end of the Babylonian exile, around 539BC, when the Israelites were returning to their land and to Jerusalem – another time of uncertainty about what the future might hold.
The first few verses set the scene. A Jewish family leave Bethlehem and go and settle in Moab and the two sons marry Moabite women. All three women then loose their husbands and so the eldest, Naomi, decides to return to Bethlehem. Her two daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah decide to go with her.
It is significant that Naomi decides to return to Bethlehem because “she heard in Moab that the LORD had shown his care for his people by giving them food.”
Some commentaries on Ruth suggest that when Naomi and Elimelech left Bethlehem for Moab they abandoned their faith in God. Perhaps part of Naomi’s motivation was a desire to return to worship the God of Israel at a time when it was believed there were many gods and goddesses and that they could only be worshipped in their own territory. The God of Israel was feeding his people when other gods weren’t feeding theirs may well have been a thought that went through Naomi’s mind. She, of course, didn’t have the understanding that we have of God, that there is just one God who created all and who rules over all.
And so, Naomi set off for Bethlehem and her two daughters-in-law went with her. Naomi urged them to go back and return to their own mothers so that they could find new husbands and have children. Sadly, in that culture, at that time, it was the belief that marriage and sons were the only markers of a woman’s value. Today we know better, that all human beings are of equal worth and value no matter what their gender or sexuality, no matter their race or faith.
One of the two younger women, Orpah, eventually agreed to go back to her mother’s house. People often criticise Orpah, assuming that Ruth made the more moral choice, but did she? We assume that only Ruth made the right choice because the Bible follows her story rather than Orpah’s; but it does this because she is an important woman in the history of the Jewish people and Christianity; not necessarily because her choice was any better. Orpah is loyal, loving and obedient just as Ruth is but whilst Ruth is loyal, loving and obedient to Naomi, Orpah demonstrates the same qualities towards her own mother.
Perhaps Orpah knew her own mother needed her and went back to care for her, just as Ruth decided to stay with Naomi, who she knew needed her and to care for her.
Even though Ruth stayed, Naomi continued trying to persuade Ruth to return to her own mother, but Ruth was adamant. She clung to Naomi and said, “Do not urge me to go back and desert you. Where you go, I shall go, and where you stay, I shall stay. Your people will be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I shall die, and there be buried. I solemnly declare before the LORD that nothing but death shall part me from you.”
There could be several motivations behind Ruth’s words. They may have simply been a vow of loyalty between mother and daughter-in-law. They may have come from a deep affection and love that Ruth had for Naomi. Or, it may be that Ruth was making a contract with Naomi in exchange for her protection in a foreign land. My gut feeling is its more likely to be one of the first two alternatives.
Whatever the motivation, the promise Ruth made to Naomi was basically to be a daughter to her for the rest of her life, to take care of her, to look after her, to be faithful to her.
From a Christian perspective the kind of dedication Ruth showed to Naomi should remind us of the kind of dedication we should show to Jesus. It is the same as the dedication that we make every year as Methodists when we make our annual covenant promise. When we become disciples of Jesus, whether that is through a conversion experience or through months and years of gradually coming to Christ. As Christian disciples we should be willing to go where Jesus wants us to, to stay where Jesus wants us to stay; and to be faithful to Jesus and God in all we think, say and do. To serve God faithfully for the whole of our earthly life.
Some people think that when they make that commitment to Jesus then all their problems should go away. Some extreme American evangelical preachers even teach that. Sadly, it doesn’t work that way as, sadly, a few of them claimed to be immune from Coronavirus because of their faith and yet still died as a result of contracting the virus.
Bad things happen to good people. Bad things happen to followers of Jesus and sometimes when they do we can get angry with God and then we feel guilty about our anger.
In our passage we see that Naomi is angry with God. When Naomi and Ruth arrive in Bethlehem and some of the women say, “Can this be Naomi?”
“Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”
No wonder Naomi is feeling bitter. She has lost not only her husband but both her children. I can’t even begin to imagine the grief she must have been feeling, the pain that still existed in the depths of her heart of those she loved taken from her. It is clear that she blames God for those deaths, because at that time the Israelites believed that everything that happened, whether good or bad, was caused by God.
Naomi never gives up her faith in God though, she is just bitter at the hand she thinks God has dealt her.
That same attitude and belief is often seen in the Psalms when we sometimes see the Psalmist almost shouting angrily at God, pouring out their pain and grief that in their understanding God has caused the misfortune they are currently suffering from. This same understanding of God is found in Job.
Neither the Psalmist nor Job ever give up their faith in God; they are just angry at what they think God has done.
These days we know better. We know that God doesn’t cause bad things to happen to anybody because we know through Jesus that God is love and love never deliberately inflicts pain and misfortune.
Sometimes, though, we are angry with God because we think that God has let something bad happen or has not stopped it happening. Many people have asked why God has allowed Covid-19 and why he has allowed husbands, wives and children to die from it. I’m sure we have all seen the tears and heard the cries of anguish on TV or radio. Some have no doubt be angry with God and shouted their frustration and anger just as the Psalmist did. Some have felt very bitter, just as Naomi did.
Some Christians feel it is wrong to express our anger and frustration to God, but God loves us and wouldn’t want to deny us the expression of our pain. In don’t believe we should feel guilty when we are angry with God. In Jesus God became one of us and he knows what it feels like to lose people we care about. Jesus lost his earthly father Joseph when he was a young man and we are told that when his friend Lazarus died Jesus wept.
Jesus wept. The shortest verse in the Bible and one of the most powerful. God understands our human reactions to suffering and death because God knows what it is like to experience both. God is there for us and when we are ready God will bring us the healing we need to help us move on.
We will see, over the next three weeks as our study of Ruth continues, that is exactly what God does for Naomi.
We have seen today in our passage the faithfulness and commitment that Ruth had to Naomi, a faithfulness and commitment that is very similar to that we should give to Jesus as his disciples if we are truly to call ourselves his followers. Even when we are frustrated and angry with God we should remain faithful to God and keep our faith in God, because we can be sure God will help us if we are open to him and trust in him, because he loves us more than we can ever know or even try to imagine.
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
Gracious God,
whose Spirit helps us in our weakness
and guides us in our prayers,
we pray for the Church and for the world
in the name of Jesus Christ.
Renew the life and faith of the Church;
strengthen our witness;
and make us one in Christ.
Grant that we and all who confess that Christ is Lord
may be faithful in your service
and filled with the Spirit,
that the world may be turned to you.
Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.
Guide the nations
in the ways of justice, liberty and peace;
and help them to seek
the unity and welfare of all people.
Give to all in authority
wisdom to know and strength to do what is right.
Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.
Comfort those in sorrow;
heal the sick in body or in mind,
those at home, in nursing homes or in hospital
and deliver the oppressed.
Grant us compassion for all who suffer,
and help us so to carry one another’s burdens
that we may fulfil the law of Christ.
Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.
Receive our thanks and praise
for all who have served you faithfully here on earth,
and especially those who have revealed to us
your grace in Christ.
may we and all your people
share the life and joy of your kingdom;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
HYMN: StF 477 “Teach Me to Dance to the Beat of Your Heart”
https://youtu.be/T1LaArPzHyk
BLESSING
The peace of the earth be with you,
the peace of the heavens too;
the peace of the rivers be with you,
the peace of the oceans too.
Deep peace falling over you.
God's peace, God's peace growing in you.
Amen
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to our worship for the first Sunday in June. June is Bible month in The Methodist Church and so we will be looking at the Old Testament book of Ruth for the next four weeks.
PRAYER
Lord our God,
eternal and wonderful,
wholly to be trusted:
you give life to all;
you help those who come to you
and give hope to those who call on you.
Set our hearts and minds at peace,
that we may bring our prayers to you
with confidence and joy;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
HYMN: STF 693 “Beauty for Brokenness”
https://youtu.be/MO1G-o7Yj-c
OPENING PRAYERS
Blessèd are you, Lord our God:
in your love you create all things out of nothing
through your eternal Word.
We glorify and adore you.
Blessèd are you, Lord our God:
in your love you redeemed the world
through our Lord Jesus Christ.
We glorify and adore you.
Blessèd are you, Lord our God:
in your love you empower your people
through the gift of the Holy Spirit.
We glorify and adore you. Amen.
Holy God,
we confess that we have rebelled against you
and broken your law of love;
we have not loved our neighbours
nor heard the cry of the needy.
Forgive us, we pray,
and free us for joyful obedience;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
In Christ we are set free.
Through Christ we are forgiven.
Amen. Thanks be to God.
READING
Ruth 1: 1-22
In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.
Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.
When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.
Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, ‘Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.’
Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud and said to her, ‘We will go back with you to your people.’
But Naomi said, ‘Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me – even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons – would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!’
At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.
‘Look,’ said Naomi, ‘your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.’
But Ruth replied, ‘Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.’ When Naomi realised that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, ‘Can this be Naomi?’
‘Don’t call me Naomi,’ she told them. ‘Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.’
So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.
HYMN: STF 272 “The Servant King”
https://youtu.be/8rh4xEvMVQQ
SERMON
There are some really good stories in the Bible and the story of Ruth is one of them. When I say story, I’m not for a moment suggesting it isn’t true, but the Book of Ruth is a complete story with a solid beginning, a meaty middle full of drama and romance and a great ending. It is, of course, one of the few books in the Bible to focus on the story of a woman.
Historically the story of Ruth takes pace during the time of the Judges, before Israel had a king. It takes place during a time of famine, a time of desperation, a time when people were unsure if their loved ones would still be alive in a few weeks or months, and time when it was impossible to plan for the future.
Although set in the time of the Judges, the story of Ruth was probably written down at the end of the Babylonian exile, around 539BC, when the Israelites were returning to their land and to Jerusalem – another time of uncertainty about what the future might hold.
The first few verses set the scene. A Jewish family leave Bethlehem and go and settle in Moab and the two sons marry Moabite women. All three women then loose their husbands and so the eldest, Naomi, decides to return to Bethlehem. Her two daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah decide to go with her.
It is significant that Naomi decides to return to Bethlehem because “she heard in Moab that the LORD had shown his care for his people by giving them food.”
Some commentaries on Ruth suggest that when Naomi and Elimelech left Bethlehem for Moab they abandoned their faith in God. Perhaps part of Naomi’s motivation was a desire to return to worship the God of Israel at a time when it was believed there were many gods and goddesses and that they could only be worshipped in their own territory. The God of Israel was feeding his people when other gods weren’t feeding theirs may well have been a thought that went through Naomi’s mind. She, of course, didn’t have the understanding that we have of God, that there is just one God who created all and who rules over all.
And so, Naomi set off for Bethlehem and her two daughters-in-law went with her. Naomi urged them to go back and return to their own mothers so that they could find new husbands and have children. Sadly, in that culture, at that time, it was the belief that marriage and sons were the only markers of a woman’s value. Today we know better, that all human beings are of equal worth and value no matter what their gender or sexuality, no matter their race or faith.
One of the two younger women, Orpah, eventually agreed to go back to her mother’s house. People often criticise Orpah, assuming that Ruth made the more moral choice, but did she? We assume that only Ruth made the right choice because the Bible follows her story rather than Orpah’s; but it does this because she is an important woman in the history of the Jewish people and Christianity; not necessarily because her choice was any better. Orpah is loyal, loving and obedient just as Ruth is but whilst Ruth is loyal, loving and obedient to Naomi, Orpah demonstrates the same qualities towards her own mother.
Perhaps Orpah knew her own mother needed her and went back to care for her, just as Ruth decided to stay with Naomi, who she knew needed her and to care for her.
Even though Ruth stayed, Naomi continued trying to persuade Ruth to return to her own mother, but Ruth was adamant. She clung to Naomi and said, “Do not urge me to go back and desert you. Where you go, I shall go, and where you stay, I shall stay. Your people will be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I shall die, and there be buried. I solemnly declare before the LORD that nothing but death shall part me from you.”
There could be several motivations behind Ruth’s words. They may have simply been a vow of loyalty between mother and daughter-in-law. They may have come from a deep affection and love that Ruth had for Naomi. Or, it may be that Ruth was making a contract with Naomi in exchange for her protection in a foreign land. My gut feeling is its more likely to be one of the first two alternatives.
Whatever the motivation, the promise Ruth made to Naomi was basically to be a daughter to her for the rest of her life, to take care of her, to look after her, to be faithful to her.
From a Christian perspective the kind of dedication Ruth showed to Naomi should remind us of the kind of dedication we should show to Jesus. It is the same as the dedication that we make every year as Methodists when we make our annual covenant promise. When we become disciples of Jesus, whether that is through a conversion experience or through months and years of gradually coming to Christ. As Christian disciples we should be willing to go where Jesus wants us to, to stay where Jesus wants us to stay; and to be faithful to Jesus and God in all we think, say and do. To serve God faithfully for the whole of our earthly life.
Some people think that when they make that commitment to Jesus then all their problems should go away. Some extreme American evangelical preachers even teach that. Sadly, it doesn’t work that way as, sadly, a few of them claimed to be immune from Coronavirus because of their faith and yet still died as a result of contracting the virus.
Bad things happen to good people. Bad things happen to followers of Jesus and sometimes when they do we can get angry with God and then we feel guilty about our anger.
In our passage we see that Naomi is angry with God. When Naomi and Ruth arrive in Bethlehem and some of the women say, “Can this be Naomi?”
“Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”
No wonder Naomi is feeling bitter. She has lost not only her husband but both her children. I can’t even begin to imagine the grief she must have been feeling, the pain that still existed in the depths of her heart of those she loved taken from her. It is clear that she blames God for those deaths, because at that time the Israelites believed that everything that happened, whether good or bad, was caused by God.
Naomi never gives up her faith in God though, she is just bitter at the hand she thinks God has dealt her.
That same attitude and belief is often seen in the Psalms when we sometimes see the Psalmist almost shouting angrily at God, pouring out their pain and grief that in their understanding God has caused the misfortune they are currently suffering from. This same understanding of God is found in Job.
Neither the Psalmist nor Job ever give up their faith in God; they are just angry at what they think God has done.
These days we know better. We know that God doesn’t cause bad things to happen to anybody because we know through Jesus that God is love and love never deliberately inflicts pain and misfortune.
Sometimes, though, we are angry with God because we think that God has let something bad happen or has not stopped it happening. Many people have asked why God has allowed Covid-19 and why he has allowed husbands, wives and children to die from it. I’m sure we have all seen the tears and heard the cries of anguish on TV or radio. Some have no doubt be angry with God and shouted their frustration and anger just as the Psalmist did. Some have felt very bitter, just as Naomi did.
Some Christians feel it is wrong to express our anger and frustration to God, but God loves us and wouldn’t want to deny us the expression of our pain. In don’t believe we should feel guilty when we are angry with God. In Jesus God became one of us and he knows what it feels like to lose people we care about. Jesus lost his earthly father Joseph when he was a young man and we are told that when his friend Lazarus died Jesus wept.
Jesus wept. The shortest verse in the Bible and one of the most powerful. God understands our human reactions to suffering and death because God knows what it is like to experience both. God is there for us and when we are ready God will bring us the healing we need to help us move on.
We will see, over the next three weeks as our study of Ruth continues, that is exactly what God does for Naomi.
We have seen today in our passage the faithfulness and commitment that Ruth had to Naomi, a faithfulness and commitment that is very similar to that we should give to Jesus as his disciples if we are truly to call ourselves his followers. Even when we are frustrated and angry with God we should remain faithful to God and keep our faith in God, because we can be sure God will help us if we are open to him and trust in him, because he loves us more than we can ever know or even try to imagine.
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
Gracious God,
whose Spirit helps us in our weakness
and guides us in our prayers,
we pray for the Church and for the world
in the name of Jesus Christ.
Renew the life and faith of the Church;
strengthen our witness;
and make us one in Christ.
Grant that we and all who confess that Christ is Lord
may be faithful in your service
and filled with the Spirit,
that the world may be turned to you.
Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.
Guide the nations
in the ways of justice, liberty and peace;
and help them to seek
the unity and welfare of all people.
Give to all in authority
wisdom to know and strength to do what is right.
Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.
Comfort those in sorrow;
heal the sick in body or in mind,
those at home, in nursing homes or in hospital
and deliver the oppressed.
Grant us compassion for all who suffer,
and help us so to carry one another’s burdens
that we may fulfil the law of Christ.
Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.
Receive our thanks and praise
for all who have served you faithfully here on earth,
and especially those who have revealed to us
your grace in Christ.
may we and all your people
share the life and joy of your kingdom;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
HYMN: StF 477 “Teach Me to Dance to the Beat of Your Heart”
https://youtu.be/T1LaArPzHyk
BLESSING
The peace of the earth be with you,
the peace of the heavens too;
the peace of the rivers be with you,
the peace of the oceans too.
Deep peace falling over you.
God's peace, God's peace growing in you.
Amen
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