October 13, 2019 - God Accompanies Us with Faithfulness - Ruth 1:1-17

God Accompanies Us with Faithfulness

Ruth 1:1-17

Pentecost + 18 – October 13, 2018

 
– Unknown

Naomi was a strong woman/ suffered terrible loss

• One loss piled upon another – doesn’t really matter how strong you are. How much can 1 person take?

• Not the only one we know of – I could tell you the stories of several women who’ve faced tragedy upon tragedy, like Ruth

• All of them carrying on, moving into the future, putting one foot in front of the other

• Like Naomi, in this book of Ruth

o Who suffers the loss of her homeland and her people in Bethlehem, as she and husband and sons leave due to the famine and economic/food insecurity, going to where there is food

o (in Moab of all places – long history there; distant relatives through Lot (Abraham’s nephew) – but viewed with distrust and suspicion, not supposed to be in relationship with that people- and yet desperate times call for desperate measures)

o and her boys find Moabite wives, and things move along

o until husband and then 2 boys die, leaving her alone, an immigrant in a foreign land, with no sense of hope for the future, no clear direction, no promise to hold on to

o No husband, no children, alone in the world with just her 2 daughters in law

o And feeling that the hand of the Lord has turned against her, she turns back toward Bethlehem, where her people are, perhaps the chance that that will care for her

o And on the way, reminding her DIL of all that she and they have lost, encouraging them to turn back, to return to their families rather than remain with her, b/c she has nothing to offer them, no guarantee of a brighter future

o (changes name to Mara/”bitter” from Naomi/”pleasant” b/c God has dealt bitterly with her and she feels that will never change)

The struggle of deep losses and tragedy

• You too know people, like I know people, who have experienced loss after loss

o Losing a spouse or a child

o Debilitating diseases

o Unemployment/financial insecurity

o Divorce

o Loss of a sense of place or belonging

• Feeling adrift, not anchored to the past or future

• Hopeless, desolate, distressed, depressed

• Abandoned by God, feeling that if God hasn’t exactly caused these things to happen or turned God’s hand against you, certainly feeling like God has left you on your own, wondering why these things have happened, why God lets them happen, wondering when the tide will turn

• Turning desperately toward home, without any real hope of change

God accompanies Naomi in Ruth

• God doesn’t play a starring role in this book; more of a behind the scenes player (not like Moses with the burning bush or Jacob wrestling God or any of the other stories we’ve been hearing this fall where God makes a concrete appearance)

• But that doesn’t mean that God isn’t active in this tale of Naomi

o Because God shows up in the person of Ruth

o Who as a daughter in law who doesn’t really owe Naomi anything

o And yet stands as an example of God’s chesed – steadfast love, devotion, faithfulness, love in action

• We hear this declaration of commitment from Ruth in the end of this passage:

o 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 I will be buried. May the Lord do thus and so to me, and more as well, if even death parts me from you!

o Suggested as a reading at weddings b/c it expresses this deep commitment to share another’s life that seems worthy of people starting married life together – with all of the hopes and dreams of the future before them

o And yet what’s amazing about this declaration from Ruth is the setting/context

 Not the beginning of a bright, hopeful future

 But smack dab in the middle of all of the mess and muck of life – in the aftermath of the trauma of losing their hubands/sons, as they journey into a land that is not Ruth’s home – Ruth decides to commit to Naomi

o Doesn’t try to comfort Naomi with platitudes or explanations of what has happened and why

 But rather promises to walk with her into this uncertain future, the great unknown, to stay with her and be a companion to her, come what may

• Ruth is God in the flesh for Naomi – an unexpected source, but reminding of God’s love and faithfulness, even when Naomi cannot quite see it for herself

God accompanies us in faithfulness – often through the love and commitment of others

• Often how God works – not smack dab out in the open in ways that are so obvious to us

• But in and through the love and care and commitment of the people around us

o The ones who show up at our doorstep with meals

o Or who take us to medical appointments

o Or who take care of the kids so we can deal with the emergencies of life

o The ones who pick up the phone to call after the immediate tragedy of death and loss has past – helping us to know that we have not been forgotten

• These are gifts of God in our lives, reminding us that we do not journey alone, no matter how rocky the road may be

• And ultimately, God accompanies us in and though tragedy and loss and hopelessness, with chesed, steadfast love and faithfulness, reminding us that we are never alone, even in the darkest of hours, carrying us through back to solid ground

• See this most clearly on the cross, with Jesus who came to live our life and fully experience the hurts and grown and struggle is life, and rises again to call us into be life

• And then knowing we are not alone, God sends us to be Ruths in the world, walking with though who are lost and hurting, sharing and living God’s undying love for each and everyone one of us

• So, here’s to the Ruths of the world! May we know them. May we be them. May we raise them up to walk with a hurting world. ♥️

• Amen. 

October 6, 2019 - God Renews the Covenant - Deuteronomy 5:1-21; 6:4-9

God Renews the Covenant

Deuteronomy 5:1-21; 6:4-9

Pentecost + 17 – October 6, 2019

“Love the Lord Your God”

“What I do most days matters more than what I do once in a while” – author Gretchen Rubin

·     Talking about the importance and the power of habits

·     That we change our lives through the things we do every day

·     (and she has a whole book devoted to various strategies centered around creating the new habits we want to embrace or breaking the old habits we know aren’t serving us anymore)

·     And what we do most days is what will influence and change the direction of our lives and help us to become the people we want to be – or not

Ancient Israelites were in danger of forgetting this

·     Of forgetting their identity as God people, chosen to be a holy people and a priestly nation

·     Of falling away, falling into bad habits

·     Of breaking covenant

·     Background/context

o  People who are about to enter the promised land (finally! – after 40ish years)

o  Not the original generation led out of slavery from Egypt (not the grown-ups anyway – everyone over the age of 20 at that time was destined to not enter the land b/c they didn’t trust God to make a way/allow them victory over the people already in the land…)

o  And so this is a new generation, one that grew up or was born in the wilderness as they wandered

o  A people on the move, who has known the provision and protection and promise of God

o  And now they are about to go into the land – but not before Moses preaches to the whole assembly – men, women, and children

o  Reminding them of their relationship with the Lord

o  And reminding them, in his own way, that what they do most days/every day is more important than what they do once in a while

·     Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. ⁵ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. ⁶ Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. ⁷ Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. ⁸ Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, ⁹ and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

o  Keep these words in your heart. Recite them to your children. Talk about them at home and away, before bed and 1^st thing in the morning; attach them to your hand and on your forehead; write them on the mirror, put a post it on the fridge where you’ll see it every day, make it your screensaver on your computer, set a reminder on your phone

·     Remember who you are, remember who God has called you to be; internalize these words so that they become a part of you, so that you live, every single day, these words that tell and teach what it means to be the people of God who have been led out of slavery into freedom…

We are sometimes in danger of forgetting this too – that what we do most days is more important than what we do once in a while

·     That God has made a covenant with us

o  “Not just with our ancestors did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today…”

o  That God has created us for relationship with the divine and with each other

o  And that God has a vision for what that relationship looks like when it is lived out among God’s people

§  We see the broad outlines in the 10 Commandments – what it looks like to live as a people who have been freed from captivity – what it means to embrace that freedom and extend it to other

·     Sometimes tempted to take that for granted, to get complacent

·     Neglecting it, not living it out, not practicing our faith each day

·     Preaching to the choir here – here you are on Sunday morning and many/most of you are here most Sundays

o  And engaged in faith practices regularly

·     But can we embrace this life of faith more deeply? Can we deepen our discipleship as people who have been claimed by God in the gift of baptism?

o  Because when we don’t practice our faith, boy, it’s easy to fall into other habits – to be lured away to all of the things the commandments tell us not to do!

o  Practicing our faith – through weekly worship, sure, but even more through daily prayer and reading the Bible, serving others, giving, seeking to build God’s kingdom – this is what helps us to internalize God’s words to us, to make keeping covenant a habit (and in a good, life-giving way – not just rote routine, but the habits that influence and change our lives, so that we become the people we wish to become, the people God has called and claimed us to be!)

God continually renews the covenant

·     Moses reminded the people gathered that this covenant, this relationship with the LORD was not just with their parents and grandparents, but that God wanted to relationship to live on in them

·     And thank God – literally – that God is a covenant keeper!

o  God has been making these promises to their ancestors for generation upon generation, stretching all the way back to Abraham

o  And though they have failed and faltered along the way (even while Moses was up on Mt. Sinai receiving the 10 commandments in the first place –  remember that bit about the golden calf?!?!!!), though they anger and disappoint God, forgetting who they are and their end of the deal – God never falls away

o  God continues to call them and claim them and send them back out into the world to live as people of the covenant, people whose lives are guided and shaped by the words God is writing on their hearts

God continually renews the covenant with us too

·     And God hasn’t given up on us yet

·      The covenant of faith is passed on to us in the moment of baptism

o  Which happens for many/most of us when we are infants or children too young to really know or understand or even remember what is happening; a covenant entered into on our behalf by loving adults who speak for us – and as we grow, we hopefully come to claim and live that faith as our own; my family's practice of remembering baptismal anniversary for each of us - candles, water, scripture, pictures, stories

o  But even when we don’t – the promise is still there, because God is the keeper of covenants

o  And in baptism, we are made God’s beloved children forever – sealed by the Holy Spirit, and marked with the cross of Christ forever!

·     May we seek to live into this covenant every day, not just once in a while: loving God with all our hearts and with all our souls, and with all our might (with all our oomph!), keeping these words in our hearts, and then going into the world to share the love of Christ as we have been sent to do. Amen.

September 29, 2019 - God Promises: "I Will Be with You" - Exodus 1:8-2:10, 3:1-15

God Promises, “I Will Be with You.”

Exodus 1:8-2:10, 3:1-15

Pentecost + 16 – September 29, 2019

Moses and the Burning Bush

Intro: “Speak the truth even if your voice shakes”

·     See these words of advice floating around the internet a fair amount

·     Idea that sometimes it’s a scary thing to speak up, to speak out, to share the truth with another who may have a different point of view

·     And yet – the call comes to speak the truth, even in uncomfortable situations

TT: People in the biblical story we hear this morning might have resonated with this on a deep level

·     Not just a matter of shaking voices and feeling embarrassed or causing conflict with another, creating a rift in a relationship

·     Lives were at stake here right from the opening words

·     We’ve skipped over from Jacob and his 12 sons several generations down the line – 400 years later

o  Joseph: Jacob’s favorite son; sold into slavery by jealous brothers, taken to Egypt, where eventually he became Pharaoh’s right hand man, set over all the land of Egypt – stockpiled food for the coming famine (revealed in a dream)

o  And eventually family came seeking help, ultimately there’s a revelation and reunion and the whole extended family comes to live in Egypt

o  Which is all well and good until now, where we enter the story

·     New king arose who did not know Joseph – threatened by the numbers of Israelites

o  In fear, seeks to oppress them, to consolidate his own power

o  Enslaves them, works them ruthlessly, to the point of collapse

·     That doesn’t work, so plan B: midwives to kill the boy babies

o  Imagine them shaking a bit as they choose to defy this command

o  And yet they are bold with their reason/excuse as to why

·     Moses’ mother – who does not speak, except that actions speak louder than words

o  Love for her fine baby compels her to hide him until she can’t any more

o  Places him in a basket and sets it among the reeds of the river, fingers crossed, hoping for a good ending to this traumatic story

·     Miriam, Moses’ sister – who is set to watch over her baby brother floating on the river

o  Who sees Egyptian princess discovering Moses and dares to speak out, volunteering to find her a nurse

·     Pharaoh’s own daughter – speaking out in compassion as she ultimately adopts this child her father considers one of his enemies

·     And then Moses – the beneficiary of all of these courageous women who spoke in words and deeds, even with shaking voices

o  Who grows up a Hebrew in the Pharaoh’s household

o  Who murders an Egyptian for beating an Israelite and has to flee from Pharaoh who seeks to kill him

o  Makes new life in the land far across the wilderness, marrying, becoming a shepherd

·     And there sees a bush that burns but it not consumed

·     And encounters God, who tells him that God has heard the cry of God’s people and has come down to deliver them, and that Moses will be the one to go to speak the truth to Pharaoh

·     And Moses’ voice is surely shaking! “Who am I to go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

TW: It is a scary thing to find yourself the one anointed to go and speak the truth, especially to power. (this is a different pharaoh, by the way, the one he grew up with has died…)

·     To speak up and tell the Pharaoh that the time of slavery and oppression is over – terrifying

·     And we can relate

o  B/c the call to followers of Jesus is to hear the cries of those around us longing for hope, desperate for justice, and to act as Christ’s body in the world

o  To work for justice, to stand at the side of the vulnerable, the weak, the oppressed

o  To go and speak out on their behalf

·     And that’s not necessarily attending a march or demonstration, though it might be; could mean writing letters to govt reps, maybe even running for office!

·     It could be confronting a co-worker or boss or family member or neighbor about racism or sexism or homophobia or fear of the other

·     It might look like listening to a person express their point of view and then daring to share a different way of looking at the situation, knowing that it may cause discomfort in the relationship

·     It is not easy; sometimes even harder when it’s someone we are close to; there’s a lot at stake

·     We may ask God, “Who am I to go…?”

·     God didn’t let Moses off the hook, and God doesn’t let us off the hook either

GT: But when God sends Moses, God sends him with a promise: “I will be with you.”

·     God is sending Moses back into a fear-inspiring situation, but God doesn’t send Moses alone

·     God promises to go with Moses, just as God promised to be with Abraham and with Isaac and with Jacob, just as God promised to be with Joseph

·     This name for God is a reminder of the one who has stood by Moses’ ancestors, one who has a history of following through, of leading each of them through struggles and trials, never abandoning them

·     The work God gives Moses to do won’t be easy – Pharaoh doesn’t let the people go without a struggle (you remember those stories!) – But no matter how scary it gets, God stays with Moses to fulfill God’s plan to deliver the people from slavery into freedom

·     And God sends Moses with others – like his brother Aaron and sister Miriam – to help him and support him along the way

GW: The promise is for us too. When God calls us into uncomfortable situations and places when our voices shake and quake as we speak truths that are hard for others (and sometimes even ourselves!) to hear – God says, “I will be with you.”

·     We aren’t called to follow God into these places alone

·     God promises to be with us – to lead and guide, to encourage and inspire, to empower our voices when we would rather stay silent

o  Jesus final words in Matthew: “Go, make disciples… and remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

·     God never sends us to do work without God’s presence right there beside us

·     And God sends us with one another to proclaim God’s love, to live out God’s mercy, to share God’s good news of a coming kingdom

·     May we speak of God’s vision of freedom and justice to those who need to hear it, even if our voices shake, knowing that God is with us, just as God promised.

·     Amen.