Naomi and Ruth: Reaction or Prayer

 Last week we considered the idea that every person makes choices based on the information they have and the truths they believe. This information or truth may be false in the view of many people. It is, however, what the person believes. Of course, not everything we believe is true, either, to someone else… Something to pause and think about perhaps.

Because our truths are different from each other, we find ourselves in conflict with one another. We no longer take time to listen to each other. Too often, we simply react to a statement or to news or to an action. How, in this tumultuous and divisive time, might we meet with grace those whose ideology differs from ours? How can we accept and love one another as we are commanded by our Lord? How can we even face the daily news with its toll of death and destruction?

Listening instead of reacting is a start. It is not easy to stop and listen, though. We often need help to pause, help to listen, help to seek understanding and common ground. That’s where God is present. And we connect to God in prayer.

Looking at the story of Ruth and Naomi, we don’t hear that they prayed. In fact, there isn’t any overt mention of God in the entire book. However, we sense God working in and through the choices of the women. God honors the decision to go to Moab by giving the family a home and a community, including wives for the sons. God is with Ruth and Naomi as they return to Bethlehem. Despite Naomi’s assertion that the Almighty has made my life very bitter (Ruth 1:20), God provides a protector and husband for Ruth. The faithful choices made by the women lead to blessings. The women of Bethlehem note this and say, “Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel!” (Ruth 4:14)

It is easy to look back, after the fact, and see blessing. When you are in the middle of a troubling time in your personal life, or are concerned about external events, it is harder to see blessings. We can always, as the song says, “Take it to the Lord in prayer.” The hymn What a Friend we have in Jesus, by Joseph Scriven (1885) reminds us that it’s a “privilege to carry everything to God in prayer”! Scriven reminds us that we forfeit peace and needlessly bear pain because we forget to give our concerns to God. Even when there are “trials and temptations…[and] trouble anywhere” or when we are “weak and heavy-laden, cumbered with a load of care” we can “take it to the Lord in prayer.” The hymn ends with the promise from our “Blessed Savior, Thou hast promised Thou wilt all our burdens bear.” You can hear the hymn sung by Alan Jackson here.  

Ruth and Naomi probably didn’t see the hand of God while struggling to survive on the journey to Bethlehem or when seeking food in the edges of the fields, but God was every present. We often have trouble identifying God in our own troubles. We can trust however that God IS there and loving us through anything. Also, though it can be more difficult to identify, God is loving and working through the lives of those we don’t agree with.

Maybe this prayer by Rabbi Irwin Keller from 2016 can be of help when watching troubling news stories. Remembering that our soul, that each soul, is “pure and vulnerable” may open us to seeking healing for the “wounds of the world.”

Next week, we’ll look at the story of Anna and Simeon, who welcomed the Infant Christ in the Temple as inspiration for ways we might welcome Christ.

Naomi and Ruth: Decisions

In August, we began to look at the story of Ruth and Naomi from the Book of Ruth in the Hebrew Scriptures. We noticed how each decision and action had a ripple effect on the people and communities they were in. It is the same with us. Last week, we thought about the choices men and women made to confront workplace safety and inequity, and the results of those decisions. 

Ruth and Naomi made many seemingly small decisions which changed the dynamic of their family and the community they were in. The decision to leave Bethlehem caused sorrow to their friends and other family members who remained. Deciding to cast their lot with the people of Moab by marriage was a big ripple that resonated among the local community. Death always causes many changes. The loss of her husband and both sons made Naomi rethink her life and decide to return to the familiarity of Bethlehem. The different decisions by Orpah and Ruth made differing impacts on their family and friends. Arriving in Bethlehem as destitute widows brings dramatic changes to the people in the town and to Ruth and Naomi. Ruth’s obedience to Naomi and Boaz’ response to her courage and faithfulness made a huge difference in the dynamic of the town. Their descendants continued to impact the history of Israel and the world generation after generation.

Every day we make choices that we don’t think make much difference to anyone but ourselves. We may decide to go to the grocery store or to the farmer’s market. One choice helps local growers, the other helps big business. We respond in haste to a Facebook post we disagree with or we scroll past without responding or perhaps take time to respond thoughtfully.  

The decision we make is neither right nor wrong. It is how we respond to the information we have. With slightly different information, we might make a different decision. Ruth and Naomi made the best decisions they could within the framework of their lives. God honored the choices. God honors our choices, too. We are given free will by our loving God, so God doesn’t force us to do this or that. If we make what seems, in hindsight, to be a poor decision, God still honors our action—even if we may have to live with the results.

In the news every night we see the results of decisions individuals and leaders make. Some are choices that lead to death and destruction. Others are actions that provide hope and joy. Each person or group makes their decision using the information they have and believe is true. Our perspective is often very different from the person who decides to start a fire or someone who has an idea to walk across the country to raise money and awareness for some cause. Neither may be something we would do. Yet, these are the choices made by those individuals and they result in consequences.

Might it make a difference to how you view the news if you remembered that each story is activated by someone’s decision, which is based on their information? We might not understand a mass shooter any better, but we might pause to consider that he was motivated by the truths he believed. 

Every decision we make has results. May we ask God to help us make helpful choices that will benefit those we are in contact with.

Labor Day Decisions

 A little pause from our visit to Naomi and Ruth and their decisions to remember Labor Day, and why we have a day off from work. Mostly, now, the day is simply an occasion to get together for end-of-summer picnics or to go camping “one last time this year”. The roots run much deeper and are important to remember. The roots of the holiday are set amid the choices made by business leaders at the end of the 19^th century, by laborers and other workers. The decisions each side made at this pivotal moment, changed the appearance of working conditions in factories, mines, and elsewhere and gave the normal working man rights they did not previously have.

Labor Day originated in the midst of a time of upheaval and turmoil in America. A lot of change was happening in the workforce because of the Industrial Revolution and the movement of workers from farms to factories. We may not remember that we learned in school how the late 1800s was a time of oppression for these workers. The average workday was 12 hours and most worked seven days a week to earn enough. Children as young as 5 worked alongside the adults to help bring home enough to sustain their family. Not only that, conditions were unsafe. Factories and mines were especially unsafe and offered little in the way of fresh air, restrooms, or breaks. In some cases, workers were locked into the workrooms for their shift.

In response to conditions, labor unions formed and gradually became more vocal and powerful. The leadership organized strikes to protest conditions and pay. There were riots in many places. Often people were killed on all sides. Police, striking workers, the replacement workers brought in by management to keep the factories and mines going all fell victim.

On September 5, 1882, 10,000 workers marched from City Hall to Union Square in NYC to protest conditions (see picture). Slowly the idea of a “workingmen’s holiday” gained momentum in many states. It wasn’t until the employees of the Pullman Car company went on strike on May 11, 1894, that it became truly a national issue. By June 26, a boycott of all Pullman cars caused railroad traffic to come to a standstill. This was catastrophic because people and goods moved nearly entirely on the railroads. The federal government sent troops to Chicago, which led to riots and deaths. Congress then passed an act making Labor Day an official holiday and President Grover Cleveland signed it on June 28, 1894.

The choices and actions of the unions and the decisions by the striking workers who were willing to risk their lives to protest conditions ultimately led to legislation mandating shorter work days as well as improved working conditions. It is still a work in progress as, too often, the business bottom line and not the workers get the priority. Recently, Air Canada flight attendants went on strike for better wages causing massive airline disruptions. They, like many workers before, made the decision to stand up for their rights.

If your working conditions are good, give thanks for the decisions and choices of the brave men and women who marched and spoke up and challenged those in power. However, there are also still groups of workers who are ignored and mistreated because of their poverty, education, ethnicity, or immigration status. What choices will we make to stand with and for these groups?

Naomi and Ruth: Ripples

 For the next couple weeks, we’ll look at the story of Naomi and Ruth as found in the Book of Ruth in the Hebrew Scriptures. In this tale, we’ll see how supporting one another encourages the entire community, like ripples from a pebble in the water.

The story begins with Naomi and her husband Elimelek moving to Moab with their two sons during a famine time in Bethlehem. They settle in Moab which starts one set of ripples as the foreigners from Bethlehem learn to interact and live with the Moabite community. The boys grow up and marry Moabite girls: Ruth and Orpah. This is a new ripple in the pond caused by the integration of the foreigners more deeply into the community. Then tragedy strikes as Elimelek and his sons all die. This leaves the three women vulnerable as widows with no man to care for them. For Naomi and her daughters-in-law this is like a stone into the pond with huge ripples of consequences.

Naomi decides on the drastic step of returning to Bethlehem, telling her daughters-in-law to remain and find new husbands in Moab. Her decision resonates with multiple ripples. There is the goodbye and return to her family by Orpah. And there is the massive ripple when Ruth famously responds, “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.” (Ruth 1:16-17) Ruth is willing to leave all she knows to remain in relationship with Naomi. This choice ripples across the ages.

The pair sets out on a long trek of somewhere between 60 and 100 miles. They must cross the Jordan River and traverse desert and hills. It is possible, even probable, that they would have joined a caravan heading in the right direction. It would be rare and very unsafe for two women to travel alone, but the Bible doesn’t say. We are simply told, 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…” [arrived] in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning. (Ruth 1:19-20, 22) The return of Naomi with her Moabite daughter-in-law made ripples among the tight-knit community of Bethlehem.

The timing of getting to Bethlehem at the time of the harvest was fortuitous because the Law of Moses allowed widows and other destitute people to gather the grain from the edges of the field. Ruth offers to do this for herself and Naomi. She luckily entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters….in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek. (Ruth 2:3)

Boaz is impressed by Ruth’s support of her mother-in-law and tells her to stay with his workers throughout the barley harvest and into the next harvest as well. Naomi sees the opportunity in this and suggests a risky ploy to Ruth. She says, “Tonight [Boaz] will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor… note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.” (Ruth 3:2-4)

Ruth’s decision to glean and then to follow Naomi’s advice are intersecting ripples in the story. Her action results in Boaz meets with the elders, and another relative, at the city gate. As was the custom, he offers the other man a chance to buy land and wed Ruth. When he declines, Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon. I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown.” (Ruth 4:9-10)

Boaz marries the foreign woman leaving ripples of change in the wake. Ruth has a son. The Book of Ruth ends with the statement they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. (Ruth 4:17) The great King David of Israel is descended from the son of a foreign woman (Rahab) and the immigrant Moabite, Ruth. Because of her faithfulness, Ruth was welcomed into the community. Naomi supported Ruth just as Ruth supported Naomi. Together their courage and faithfulness led to the strengthening of the nation of Israel two generations later. Ruth’s insistence on going with Naomi dropped a pebble into the water. That pebble continued to eddy outward until it reached a stable in Bethlehem 1000+ years later.

Every choice we make and action we do has a ripple effect. These intersect with the actions and choices of others. Some actions cause large ripples or even waves and they join with other ripples. Some are barely noticeable. We never know where the ripples from our actions may lead.

Think about how your actions cause ripples that meet and cancel or build on other ripples around you. We’ll look more deeply at that next week.

Leah, Rachel, Jacob: Learning a new way

 For the past couple weeks, we’ve been looking at the family dynamics in the lives of Jacob, Rachel and Leah from the Hebrew Scriptures. Leah and Rachel had a competition over the number of children and the status that provided in the tribal culture. Their antagonism trickled down to their sons. This caused the sons of Leah to hate their half-brother, Joseph.

As the proud, and seemingly oblivious, father, Jacob doesn’t help the situation. Jacob loved Joseph more than all his other sons, because he had been born to him when he was old. He made a long robe with full sleeves for him. When his brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more than he loved them, they hated their brother so much that they would not speak to him in a friendly manner. (Genesis 37:3-4)

The sons of Rachel band together to throw Joseph into a pit to die, then decide to sell him into slavery. “What will we gain by killing our brother and covering up the murder? Let's sell him to these Ishmaelites. Then we won't have to hurt him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed, and when some Midianite traders came by, the brothers pulled Joseph out of the well and sold him for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt. (Genesis 37:26-28)

As we look at our own tendencies to dislike or even hate someone (or some culture) because they are different, how might living as Christ taught change our response?

Jesus says, You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:43-48)

Jesus expands the meaning of neighbor in the Parable of the Good Samaritan, where it is the unexpected (hated) Samaritan who helps the wounded man. Jesus, on the cross, cries out Father, forgive them. Jesus calls us to go beyond the personal and cultural norms to build relationships and bridges instead of burning them.

What can I do in my life today and this week to create a healing opportunity in my family or in another relationship? Maybe all I can do is start to pray for someone I dislike or fear. Maybe, like this cat and dog, I can find a common ground of agreement.

Leah, Rachel, Jacob: Truth and Lies

 Last week we met Jacob and Leah and Rachel, one of the many dysfunctional families in the Bible. While this family lived over four thousand years ago, the dynamic of competition and rivalry is still present and active in our lives. It drives our divisions and disagreements. It manifests in hate and war.

How can we combat this tendency in our lives? For Leah and Rachel their rivalry was fostered by Rachel’s inability to have children. She even bartered with her sister for some mandrake root (a supposed aphrodisiac) by offering Leah a chance to sleep with Jacob.

Our own self-importance or our perceived lack of power can make us do unhealthy things, too. At first glance these two things seem opposite. Yet, it is our desire for control that causes us to think we are wonderful, or it can cause us to think we have no control over anything.

Rachel needed to have (or thought she needed) children, especially sons. Being barren made her feel like a failure. She started to see her fertile sister as being better and having more power in the family. That led to feelings of anger, even against Jacob, and insecurity. She confronts him, When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!” (Genesis 30:1)

His reply probably didn’t help the situation. Jacob snarls, “Am I God?” he asked. “He’s the one who has kept you from having children!” (Genesis 30:2)

Leah’s ability to have children seems to have given her pride. It did give her status in the family unit. When she stopped having children, she offered her maid to Jacob as a surrogate wife to keep up with Rachel’s maid. Leah realized that she wasn’t getting pregnant anymore, so she took her servant, Zilpah, and gave her to Jacob as a wife. (Genesis 30: 9)

Each of the women told themselves a lie and came to believe it deeply. Rachel believed she was no good because she was childless. Leah felt that she was, if not loved, at least honored for having many sons. The truth was that God loved both women, and Jacob tried to do so as well.

Within our own families and other relationships, we may not start a birthing competition. However, don’t we all know families where siblings try to outdo each other with better cars or houses or jobs? Don’t we all know people whose only goal in life is to have the newest and best thing on the market even if it means destroying a relationship? Aren’t there people we know who sneer at other family members because their lifestyle is different from the family norm and therefore “wrong”.

This comparison doesn’t stop with family members. Neighbors and cultures and countries that have different customs and norms from our personal ones, may be deemed ‘barbarian’ or ‘evil’ or ‘stupid’. That designation, untrue though it is, historically has lead to genocide, wars, and inquisitions among other evils.

What are the lies we tell ourselves about our families and other relationships?

Think about your own personal norms. How do they differ from other members of your family or community? Do you find yourself labeling those who think differently as ‘bad’?

What might you do to change that mindset and be more understanding of neighbors and family members who are different from you?

Leah, Rachel, Jacob: Family Dynamics

 This summer, and into the fall, we are looking at men and women in the Bible who can inspire us to remember that God uses even flawed and fumbling humanity to build the Kingdom of God. We have already looked at Elizabeth and Zechariah from the New Testament in June, and Sarah with her husband Abraham from Genesis in July. We now move forward a couple generations to look at Leah and Jacob (Abraham’s grandson). Theirs was a troubled relationship, and yet God was present and active in their lives.

Isaac, the miraculous son of Abraham and Sarah’s old age, marries Rebecca. She bears him twin sons: Jacob and Esau. (Genesis 25:19-26) We hear that Rebecca receives a prophecy stating, The sons in your womb will become two nations. From the very beginning, the two nations will be rivals. One nation will be stronger than the other; and your older son will serve your younger son. As the boys grow, the sibling rivalry seems to be fostered by the parents. We learn that Isaac loved Esau because he enjoyed eating the wild game Esau brought home, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Jacob seems to take advantage of this by tricking his brother out of his birthright with lentil stew. When Isaac is old and blind, he wants to bless his sons. Rebecca convinces Jacob to trick the old man into giving him the blessing of the first-born son. (Genesis 27:1-40). Esau is, understandably, enraged and Jacob flees to Haran where he meets his mother’s brother Laban and his two daughters. In Genesis 29, we read how Jacob loves Rachel, the younger daughter, but is tricked into marrying the elder one, Leah.

When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, he enabled her to have children, but Rachel could not conceive. Bearing children was important in tribal cultures because it ensured the lineage. Because she cannot conceive, Rachel starts a sort of ‘birthing competition’ by giving her maid to Jacob to bear children she can claim. Leah, even though she has four children, responds by offering her own maid to Jacob. (Genesis 29:40-30:24)

Finally, God remembered Rachel’s plight and answered her prayers by enabling her to have children. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. “God has removed my disgrace,” she said. And she named him Joseph, for she said, “May the Lord add yet another son to my family.”

The family rivalry continues to manifest and multiply between the sons of Rachel and Leah, until his brothers sell Joseph to slave traders going to Egypt, then claim he was killed by wild animals. (Genesis 37:18-36)

What can we learn from all this dysfunctional family dynamics from four millennia ago?

It would be easy to stand apart and say, ‘that’s awful and the parents should have known better.’ Then we might be self-convicted by realizing that we have our own competitive tendencies. Perhaps not amongst our families (although every family likely has some dysfunction and competition). There are other ways we can compete and try to outdo each other. Or we simply think we are better than someone else because we can do a task better, or because we are lucky enough to have more privilege.

Think about your life and relationships. Where do you find yourself in competition with co-workers, family members, or even the trap of ‘keeping up with the Jones.’ Next week we’ll delve into that idea more deeply.