Ruth Archives - Williamsburg Mennonite Church - Ruth: Recent Episodes
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On this Mother’s Day we are highlighting the importance and place of motherhood. There are many confusing signals that fly about concerning the place of motherhood in our society today. Is it something to escape from, erase or ignore? Hardly… it is a gift and calling to be embraced. The maternal nature comes from being made in God’s image. God is a mothering God (Ruth 2:11-12). Not all women become mothers, but those who do step into a high calling. May they be supported and blessed in it.
PLEASE NOTE.....Our Zoom Meeting was interrupted approximately 10 minutes into the sermon message. Pastor David unaware of this continued to speak and the Meeting was reconnected shortly thereafter.....there is an approximate 1 minute gap in the message for which we apologize.
This is the 5th of our 5 sermon series, Crossing Boundaries… The Book of Ruth. We see in Ruth the “safety net” at work. Ruth, the foreigner, supported Naomi’s home by gleaning fields. Deuteronomy 24:19 says “when you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.” Also, in this Ephesian passage we have echoes from Ruth and a challenge for us today. That is to fully live into the peace that Jesus has brought us which destroys the dividing walls of hostility. We though once far off ourselves have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Who are the alienated ones today that God wants to bring near? Can we participate with God in that instead of allowing ourselves to be further polarized and pulled apart?
This is the 4th of our 5 sermon series, Crossing Boundaries… The Book of Ruth. Naomi’s life has gone from emptiness expressed in chapter 1 (1:20-21) to fullness in this the final chapter of Ruth (4:15-17). We see the difference a kinsman-redeemer has made in Naomi’s life. Boaz, the model Redeemer, points to our Redeeming God. Like Naomi’s life was restored and was to be sustained by Boaz, so our lives are restored and sustained by our Lord Jesus. Redeemed by the blood of The Lamb… Hallelujah!
This is the 3rd of our 5 sermon series, Crossing Boundaries. In Ruth 2 we see a search for food and in Ruth 3 we see a search for security. It seems strange that in seeking security Ruth took so much risk. Though we find our greatest security under the cover of God’s wings we will yet encounter risks that must be taken.
This is the 2nd in our 5-sermon series Crossing Boundaries looking into the book of Ruth. In Ruth we see God not in dramatic interventions such as we find in the Exodus story and other Old Testament accounts. Rather God is in the ins and outs of day to day ordinary life. This side of God may be closer to how we experience God today. Other characters enter the Ruth story here in chapter 2. These people seem to know God as the One who opens a redemptive future in the midst of everyday joys and sorrows. Do we know God in this way too? Some have the understanding that if we are not seeing dramatic interventions then we are not under God’s blessing. Ruth would say otherwise.
For a series of 5 sermons called Crossing Boundaries we will be looking into the book of Ruth. Of the 3 main characters in this Old Testament story 2 of them, Ruth and Naomi, are part of chapter 1. Naomi’s family escapes trouble brought on by famine by fleeing from Judah to neighboring Moab. While there her husband and two son die. When the famine subsides Naomi decides to return to her home and tells her Moabite daughter-in-laws to go back to their original families and stay in Moab. Ruth disobeys her mother-in-law despite being told 3 times to stay in Moab which is her home. Ruth’s decision not only defied Naomi it also went against all normal convention. Normally, if we have the chance, we run from trouble… as in Naomi’s family fleeing the famine. Rather that separating herself from Naomi, a widow with no family, no hope, no plan, Ruth bonds herself to this troubled one.
Ruth 1:16 But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or turn back 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.
What does this say to us who share the God that Ruth has chosen? Is our life a pattern of running from troubles that come our way? Or can we face the tough times that inevitably come in the strength that God provides?