Epiphany: Elimelech

Today we meet the first of the men and women in the Book of Ruth that will tell their story during Epiphany. We meet Elimelech in the first two verses of the book. The image from CreationWiki.org is one artist’s interpretation of how the family might have looked on their way to Moab. 
Here’s his story: 

I grew up on the stories of how wonderful it would be to return to our ancestral home. My father was proud of being descended from the son of a son of a son of a son… you get the picture. It was a family story handed down from father to son ever since the sons of Jacob left the Promised Land during the long-ago famine.

My father always said, “when we return to Ephrath, we will be rich.” He recited the story of our family leaving the hill country in a sing-song monotone that too often lulled me to sleep. My mother made the story more interesting, by telling me that Ephrath was where the great patriarch Jacob, father of our people, had buried his beloved wife Rachel after she gave birth to Benjamin. It was because of her other son, Joseph, that we (all the sons of Jacob and their families) had been able to settle in Egypt all those generations ago.

I never knew Egypt. All I knew as a boy was endless travel in the desert. We followed our flocks around from grazing area to grazing area. Always we would return to Sinai, the ‘mountain of God’ where our leader, Moses, would visit with the Holy One. None of the rest of the men were allowed on the mountain. Even Moses’ brother Aaron was not to set foot there, even though he was our spiritual leader.  

Before I was born, Moses the great leader, confronted Pharaoh in Egypt and defeated the Egyptian gods. It was another of the stories told around the campfires. One that enthralled me was the tale of Moses dividing the sea so that the people crossed on dry land. It was much more interesting because I knew Moses and had seen his staff. I was a bit disappointed that it really didn’t look any different than the staffs used by most of the men for walking and guiding the sheep back to the right path.

Moses also gave us rules from God so that we would not sin. Not obeying the Holy One of Israel had caused punishment during the years of wandering. Fire had consumed some who built a golden calf not long after the group left Egypt. Another time, poisonous snakes crawled into the camp and were only stopped by a bronze snake on a pole. That object both attracted and appalled me when it was displayed during the telling and re-telling of that cautionary tale.

For forty years we followed Moses. Eventually he sent men into Canaan to see what resistance there would be. They came back with a mixed report. All agreed that the land was rich and fruitful. However, the inhabitants were said to be ‘giants’. However much I wanted to believe Joshua’s assurance that God would be with us, I didn’t want to risk fighting against giants. I had a wife to think about.

Naomi and I were married not too long before Moses died, and Joshua assumed command. He was set on entering the ‘land promised to Abraham and his children forever’. We passed through the country of Moab and camped by the Jordan River. Only when the waters of that swift flowing river parted, did we dare to believe that God was with Joshua as with Moses. Then we followed him across into the plain between the River and the fortified city of Jericho.

The destruction of that strong town will be told around fires for generations. By the help of a woman, who some whispered was a prostitute, our spies returned safely. The armies of Israel marched around the city for six days, then on the seventh, we attacked. The resistance melted like the walls had been flattened.

We were free to settle in the land. Of course, there were still skirmishes as the locals resisted our return. The people of Canaan had renamed Ephrath as Beyt-Lehem in honor of one of their gods. We called it Beth-lehem Ephrath to combine the old and new names. Indeed it was a rich land-a House of Bread.

Then came the seasons with no rain. It went on for so long that the crops were destroyed. There was hunger and talk of famine. I had my family to think of. Two sons had been born. I remembered that Moab was a rich land, watered by the Jordan River. We set out from Ephrath and settled in Moab.

We have a good life in Moab. My sons grew into men and found wives. They are Moabite women, but what else could we do? The news from Ephrath said that there are still poor crops even though the rain cycle had resumed.

I tried to keep faith in the One God of Israel. It was hard in the midst of all the Moabite festivals to all their gods. Naomi was better at staying true to the Holy One. I thought that perhaps it didn’t really matter what the name of the god was, just as long as that god provided food and safety. I don’t know if I am wrong or right. I know that those who remained in the Promised Land will say I have lost my faith, and my part in the life of the Children of Israel. I have a good life, here in Moab. It is enough.

©Cynthia Davis 2020

What resonates from Elimelech’s story to your life?

When have you been separated from your faith community? How did you keep your faith?

Road Trip

Do families still do road trips? Two years ago my husband & I took 3 of our grandchildren on a road trip of sorts. We traveled with them through southeast NM while their parents enjoyed a second honeymoon for their 10^th anniversary. It was a fun time, although we had forgotten how stressful and yet invigorating it can be to travel with children aged 4-8.

When we first set out, they were excited to be on the way. In the same way, the disciples felt honored and thrilled to be asked by the up and coming young rabbi, Jesus, to follow him. Can you hear them whispering to each other?

“This will be great. Think how much we’ll learn.”

“I wonder what amazing things we’ll see.”

“When we get home, everyone will want to hear all about where we’ve been and what we did.”

“It doesn’t matter where we go, it’s just exciting to be on the road with Jesus.”

The same thing happened to Ken and me on our trip with the grandkids. You see things you’ve seen before with new eyes when children are along. You look for things to delight them, like  the bats at Carlsbad Caverns and stopping for ice cream treats.

The disciples probably saw things with fresh eyes, too as they traveled with Jesus. Certainly this young rabbi was like no one they knew. He was not afraid to talk to any and every one. He was always willing to stop and listen and to reach out a hand to touch those in need. To the disciples, this was all new and exciting. People were flocking to see and hear their master. Even lepers didn’t make him fearful.

“A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, ‘If you choose, you can make me clean.’ Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I do choose. Be made clean!’ Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. After sternly warning him he sent him away at once, saying to him, ‘See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.’ But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.” (Mark 1:40-45)

We probably all remember the scene in the movie Wizard of Oz when Dorothy opens the door to her house after it lands. Rather than the drab grayscale landscape of Kansas, is the colorful and strange land of the Munchkins of Oz. “I don’t think we are in Kansas anymore,” she tells faithful Toto. Instead of diving back under the bed, though, she steps bravely out into the bright light and is greeted by the enthusiastic song of the residents.

Everything was new and bright and exciting and interesting to Dorothy and to the disciples as they set out on their journeys. Maybe you have felt that way when starting a new ministry or felt God’s call on your life. Everything is bright and possible.

Even Naomi probably felt that Moab was a haven compared to the famine back in Bethlehem. We don’t get her thoughts in the Bible, but if you read between the lines, it would seem that life was better in Moab because they decided to ‘remain there’. “The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion; they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there.” (Ruth 1) Life is looking up. What could possibly go wrong?

How often do you feel that excited about being a Christian and following Jesus? It can be easy to take faith for granted and slip into the same old routine of prayer and worship and life. Then we see faith through the eyes of a new Christian or someone who has just returned from a marvelous retreat time and we are reminded of how wonderful our God is. Are there new opportunities for you in your Lenten journey this year? What new plans does God have for you? You probably won’t travel to Oz or Moab.

This week, I challenge you to look at your life-ministry, work, family, free time, etc. with the fresh eyes of a child or the excited eyes of the disciples as they first set out with Jesus. What are some possibilities you are missing?  

Next time we’ll look at a few things that might bring us up short in our Road to Home.

"Grasp", a special book review

Jim Trainor, Episcopal priest and professional physicist recently released an interesting book: Grasp, Making Sense of Science and Spirituality. Trainor has set out to “write not so much as to provide a comprehensive text book on either science or theology but to provide a perspective on both and how they relate to each other.” In the process he has made such complex ideas as quantum physics and ‘string theory’ understandable. Trainor also shows how belief in a sovereign creator God is not at odds with science, but rather science and theology compliment each other.

Trainor uses delightful, simple stories to explain the relationship between science and faith. He says we often think “if we can come up with a theory…say, about how the Big Bang unfolded over the past 14 billion years, we can now claim to understand the development of the universe without invoking the God of the Bible. This just doesn’t make sense.” He tells of his mother’s blueberry muffins to illustrate. “I didn’t know how my mother made the muffins…I always saw those muffins as…evidence of her love for me....One day…I cam across her blueberry muffin recipe…I had discovered the secret of my mom’s blueberry muffins…Did my discovery of my mother’s blueberry muffin recipe destroy my confidence in her love for me?...Of course not!” In the same way, learning more about the science of physics doesn’t leave God out of the process.

On the contrary, Trainor remarks that “when we react in fear to modern scientific findings, we are not demonstrating faith in God, but rather, I suspect, faith in our naïve reality.” He points to the Apostle Paul as another Christian who was faced with cosmopolitan and secular religious beliefs of the Corinthians. Paul states, “I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified…that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.” (I Cor. 2:1-4) In other words, faith approaches the questions of the universe from a different perspective than the scientist.

Trainor starts out by explaining the scientific process of discovering facts. This is done by observation, looking at the effect something has on other objects, and through witnesses. All of these are valid for religious seekers, too. Equally important is “trusting a relationship rather than (or in addition to) having facts.” The division between science and religion began back in the 1700’s with Galileo and Newton and continued with later discoveries such as Charles Darwin’s publication of Origin of the Species with “religion assuming a less important role in the minds of many scholars, and the Church [finding] itself on a slippery slope, poorly prepared to defend itself against the new findings of science.”

It is here that Trainor begins to explain where the true correlation between science and religion happens. He points out that the scientific concept of reality, size, distance, and time are really impossible to grasp. He says, “We should not expect to define, measure, prove, or disprove God by our meager grasp of reality.” We should remember, too, “the Bible was not intended to be a predictor of science and technology.” God’s emphasis is on “his relationship with human beings; it’s not to give a detailed explanation of how he created the universe.”

That very relationship is why we can all, whether we are learned physicists or ordinary folk, “know the mind of God, and it doesn’t involve understanding the origin of the universe…Having the mind of God is all about love.” It is not about facts or knowledge or about knowing what we do and do not understand.

In Grasp, Jim Trainor has given us a readable apologetic for both the Christian and scientific mind. His expertise from 30 years in the scientific world working with brilliant scientific minds and in some of the world’s premiere research institutions gives him a solid background to explain the science of physics in terms laypersons can understand. Trainor’s life-long search for a relationship with God that including “a period of rethinking and even rebelling” led to his ordination as a priest. It was then he realized the need to “better understand the relationship between the worlds of science and religious faith.” In fact, for Trainor and many scientists, science affirms the faith and vice versa.

Jim Trainor says that our view of life is like a house under construction. “Science builds upon the foundation of research…each brick is carefully evaluated and understood…we are like the entry level laborer working on the house…we have not been given the privilege of seeing the final plans.” However, “faith provides a different view of the house…we know its purpose is: to glorify God…we see the completed house, but only as through a fog…we believe the object of our faith is true, we cannot always explain it using scientific language.”

The study guide and reference section provide the option to delve deeper into the scientific and religious works cited in the book. Whether you are a scientist seeking to understand faith or a religious person trying to make sense of scientific concepts you will be informed by this book. Even non-believers may find that they come away with a deeper understanding of both sides of the coin.