Throughout Lent we are taking another look at the Way of Love practices. This season we
are considering the Book of Ruth and the Sunday lessons to see what they can
teach us about these seven tenets. We started by considering Rest
from the perspective of resting in God and letting God be in control. Last week
we contemplated the idea that when we Go, we are stepping out in faith and
trusting God to “lead me on a level path”.
Today, we look at Learn as a discipline in Lent. There
are various ways we Learn a lesson, whether it is English or Math or Science, or
even Faith. However, any teacher knows that children, and adults, are
individuals. Some Learn better with words, some with pictures, some by hands-on
activities, others do best one-on-one while the gregarious ones learn by
sharing ideas with others.
We pick up the story of Ruth and Naomi with the famous
section where Ruth refuses to leave her mother-in-law. (Ruth 1:14b-18) “Ruth clung to her…[saying] ‘Do not press me
to leave you or to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; where
you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will
die—there will I be buried. May the Lord do thus and so to me, and more as
well, if even death parts me from you!’”
Naomi acquiesces and they go on together. Somewhere Ruth has
Learned
that she can depend on Naomi and on Naomi’s God. In our faith lives, we Learn
by practice and study, just like school studies. Perhaps even more importantly,
we Learn
by observing faith lived out. There is a saying that ‘faith is more caught than
taught’. St. Francis of Assisi is often quoted as saying, “Preach the gospel at
all times; when necessary, use words.” How we live does more to help others Learn
about God and faith than hundreds of sentences, no matter how richly crafted.
The Psalm for this Sunday (63:1-8) is all about God walking
alongside us. The Psalmist announces, “O
God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you, as in a barren and dry land
where there is no water…For your loving-kindness is better than life itself…For
you have been my helper, and under
the shadow of your wings I will rejoice. My soul clings to you; your right hand
holds me fast” (Ps. 63:1-3, 7-8) When we Learn that God’s ‘loving-kindness is better than life itself’,
we are ready for anything.
As the Psalmist notes, living with God as helper gives us
the desire to “bless [God] as long as I live and lift up my hands in your Name. My soul is content, as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth
praises you with joyful lips, When I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on
you in the night watches.” (Psalm 63:4-6)
Knowing that God walks with us helps us to Learn
where to go on our faith journey. God knows we need companions on our way.
Naomi had Ruth. Churches are communities where we journey together. When Jesus
sent the apostles out to prepare the way, he sent them in pairs.
In Luke 10:1, we hear how “the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he
was about to go.” We do our best work when we are not alone. We Learn
from each other’s experiences and from God constantly, whether we are aware of
it or not. When we Learn to look for God beside us, we know we are not alone. Ruth
told Naomi ‘where you go, I will go’. God tells us the same thing. As we travel
through life, growing in faith, we Learn that indeed God does “not leave [us] orphaned…we will come to them
and make our home with [you]”. (John 14:18, 23)
What is your style of Learning?
Was your personal faith ‘caught’ or ‘taught’?
Can you trust that God is walking beside you, and making a
home with you?
Who are your companions on the Way?