Category: Naomi

11/4/2021 0 Comments

It started with regular folks

Beloved of God,

    We will be hosting an evening service of remembrance on Sunday, November 7th at 6:00pm in the gathering space. Through this past year or so, there are many of us who have needed time and space to grieve, but have not been able to do so as we wish. Others of us have had to deal with griefs alone when we needed our community to grieve with us. If this is something you would like to do, please consider joining us at 6:00pm this Sunday. We are meant to “mourn with those who mourn” (Rom. 12:15), and it is especially important to do that right now. Please email me or Stephanie Farley if you would like to come.
       Our Scripture reading on Sunday comes from Ruth, and bookends the moment that she petitions Boaz to marry and the moment when their son, Obed, is born. If you have not read the book of Ruth in a while, I would recommend that you do. It is charming and instructive, not least of all because you find everyday folks doing the right thing even when it is hard.

    Most of us have lived long enough to know that keeping faith with what we know is right doesn’t always yield tangible reward. There are no lollipops or gold stars for it. We are not always lauded for doing the right thing. It is much the same for Naomi, and Ruth, and Boaz...until this point. A child arrives in their midst. Ruth has a claim to Israel. Boaz has an heir. Naomi has a kinsman, a grandson, to look after her well into old age. The right choices finally bear fruit.
    But even these three don’t imagine how great that fruit will be. The lass verse of this passage points forward: The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. We, sitting here thousands of years later, know that when these three welcome Obed into the world, they are also welcoming a family line into which the Christ will be born. And it all started with regular folks, keeping faith with what is good, and righteous, and just. God dares to move in such ways, and what a blessing that is!

Please join me this week in praying for:

An end to this pandemic.
Those in positions of public trust at the federal, state, and local level. Pray especially for those who have just been elected to serve.
School Administrators, Teachers, students and staff as they come to the final 6 weeks of the semester.
Faithful folks who do good, not because they are seeking reward, but simply because it accords with God’s will and design for the world.
Your enemies, whoever you think they may be.
Those facing loss or carrying grief. Pray especially for the family of our neighbor who lost his life in a vehicle accident this week.
Doctors, nurses, PA’s, paramedics, and others working to keep us all well.
Those called to respond to emergencies on our roads, in our wildlands, in our towns and even in our homes. Pray especially for those called to respond to the fatal accident suffered by one of our neighbors this week. One another (please email [email protected] if you’d like to be added to our prayer list).