In the celebrity-obsessed culture we have today people want to be noticed above all else. Indeed, surveys continue to tell us that our young people desire careers that will thrust them into the limelight over just about anything else. We want to be noticed. Perhaps this stems from our creation and bearing the image of God. Our first parents were created to be in relationship with God constantly. Adam and Eve were noticed by God. Once, however, sin enters the picture and the relationship is fractured, Adam and Eve no longer felt noticed and thus humanity has been doing things to get noticed ever since. We have forgotten (if we ever knew) that God is omnipresent and always notices us. We do not need the notice of others on a grand scale, so long as we know we are grandly noticed by God. This makes interactions like the one we have this week between Ruth and Boaz much more important. Ruth is not worried about being noticed, but Boaz notices her and then intervenes in her life.
"Then Boaz said to Ruth, 'Now, listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping, and go after them. Have I not charged the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn.' " -Ruth 2:8-9 ESV
Boaz implores Ruth to stay in his field. Wandering away from the field will put Ruth, and thus Naomi, into potential peril. He has noticed Ruth and now takes steps to safeguard her. God is much the same way in our lives. As you may recall Boaz emerges on the scene and notices Ruth right away, but in this passage he intervenes in her life. God has always noticed you and intervenes in your life at just the right time to keep you in his care. God can and does orchestrate events and people to provide for you and to protect you--even and perhaps especially in the midst of pain and suffering. As Christians we are instructed to remain in God's field, the field of His care for us in Christ. There the Lord promises us provision for our great need for Him including living water and the bread of life--Christ Jesus himself.
"Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, 'Why
have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me,
since I am a foreigner?' But Boaz answered her, 'All that you have done
for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully
told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land
and came to a people that you did not know before. The LORD repay you
for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the LORD, the
God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!' " -Ruth 2:10-12 ESV
When Ruth comes to know she is noticed by the words of Boaz, she is overwhelmed. This happens to us to when we come to know that God has noticed us. It is not to say that we went beyond His noticing, but that at just the right time we come to know of it. Like David in Psalm 8:4, Ruth cannot fathom why Boaz would take note of her. Her status as a Moabite would have disqualified her in any other place and culture from the mercy of these foreign hosts, yet in God's field she receives mercy. Boaz quickly notes that Ruth has done the work of true Israelite and even goes so far as to invoke the God of Israel to bless and reward her because she has taken refuge under His wings. Ruth has been noticed not only by Boaz, but by God Himself. Indeed, may we all be noticed for the good we do for others.
"Then she said, 'I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, for you have
comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not one of
your servants.' " -Ruth 2:13 ESV
Being noticed and knowing we have been noticed has a way of giving comfort. Celebrity is not the real noticing we want or need. We need to know that God notices and that knowing often comes from the way we comfort one another in trying times.
News for You:
A Memorial Service for Dave Hellyer will be held Saturday, 10/28 at 2 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Omak.
This Sunday we will forgo our regular evening service to join Our Savior Lutheran Church at 4 p.m. for an international service of worship to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Rerformation.
CPC is seeking to fill our church secretary position. A
successful candidate will be proficient in Microsoft Word and Excel with
experience in database programs. The position will be 25 hours per week
(9-12, 1-3) Monday-Friday. Applications can be obtained at the church
office. Call the church office for more information.
Youth Group Meals are needed. Our middle and high school
youth group meets at Kurt and Jennifer Fudge's house at 6 p.m. The youth
group shares a family style meal, a devotion and activities. Be part of
the joy by getting involved.
CPC's annual Trunk-or-Treat will be October 31 from 5-7 p.m. There are many ways to get involved:
Bring candy and your decorated vehicle to the church parking lot by 4:30 p.m. and provide some joy and community
Donate bags of candy to the church (we had over 400 kids last year, so we went through a LOT of candy)
Volunteer to help cook hot dogs or donate funds to help purchase hot dogs/buns.
Provide portable lighting to help light up the parking lot
Operation Christmas Childboxes are available starting next week at CPC. The deadline to submit boxes will be Sunday, 11/12.
Ruth has gone off to glean for Naomi. She took a personal risk to care for the woman she declared to be her family. Most of us will take a risk for our families, even sacrifice for our families when called upon to do so. Yet Ruth showed her amazing love that she did so for Naomi. Ruth embodies what Jesus will later commend-that the people of God are a new a family and that even if we should have to leave our family to follow Jesus of origins behind, we gain far more than we lose in doing so (see Matthew 19:28-30). Ruth exemplifies what Jesus will later proclaim.
Even so, Ruth is not the only protagonist in this little book. This week in our reading Boaz enters stage right:
"And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. And he said to the reapers, 'The LORD be with you!' And they answered, 'The LORD bless you.' Then Boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the reapers, 'Whose young woman is this?' And the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, 'She is the young Moabite woman, who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. She said, "Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers." So she came, and she has continued from early morning until now, except for a short rest.' " -Ruth 2:4-7 ESV
Ruth has specifically targeted Boaz's field based on his reputation. When Boaz finally emerges on the scene, we are struck at once by his piety. Boaz's greeting is traditional, yet faithful, invoking the name of his God (YHWH) and his reapers respond in a faithful way. As the landowner, Boaz would have taken almost a paternal role in the life of his workers. Their faithful, pious response to Boaz shows that his own piety has rubbed off on them. Think of the Apostle Paul stating, "Be imitators of me as I am of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1 ESV). Boaz is a man of God to be imitated.
There is one more thing about Boaz that we need to note as he is introduced. Boaz notices. Being observant of the environment and other people is a commendable habit. As Boaz approaches his fields he immediately notices that a woman he does not know is out gleaning in the field. Now Boaz, as a pious Israelite, would have considered allowing gleaning his sacred duty to the poor (see Leviticus 19:9-10). Yet, Boaz goes a step further and notices Ruth. It is one thing to help the faceless poor, and quite another to get to know the poor as people as we offer aid. This short passage certainly commends the latter.
The reapers also report one more thing-that Ruth is working tirelessly. When we have a job to do, especially if that job is coming to the aid of another, we need to put everything we have into the job. Ruth took one short rest (because rest is not a bad thing), but otherwise poured herself into the task before her. We can be like Ruth and work tirelessly to help others that, like Boaz, we notice.
News for You:
CPC is seeking to fill our church secretary position. A
successful candidate will be proficient in Microsoft Word and Excel with
experience in database programs. The position will be 25 hours per week
(9-12, 1-3) Monday-Friday. Applications can be obtained at the church
office. Call the church office for more information.
Youth Group Meals are needed. Our middle and high school
youth group meets at Kurt and Jennifer Fudge's house at 6 p.m. The youth
group shares a family style meal, a devotion and activities. Be part of
the joy by getting involved.
CPC's annual Trunk-or-Treat will be October 31 from 5-7 p.m. There are many ways to get involved:
Bring candy and your decorated vehicle to the church parking lot by 4:30 p.m. and provide some joy and community
Donate bags of candy to the church (we had over 400 kids last year, so we went through a LOT of candy)
Volunteer to help cook hot dogs or donate funds to help purchase hot dogs/buns.
Provide portable lighting to help light up the parking lot
Operation Christmas Childboxes are available starting next week at CPC. The deadline to submit boxes will be Sunday, 11/12.
As I drove home last night I listened to radio interviews with people traveling to Las Vegas for vacation after the tragic events of October 1 (if you do not know what happened, here is a link to a summary article, but, fair warning, it is deeply troubling and upsetting). One couple being interviewed noted the horror of the recent events, but then said, "Tough as it is to say, life goes on." I turned the radio off after that and thought and prayed the rest of my way home. Truly, life does go on for most of us. After three massive hurricanes did untold damage to property and claimed dozens of lives of our countrymen in Florida, Texas, the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, the truth is that some of us can just shrug and move on.
As a young student of economics and political science I was enraptured by Adam Smith, the 18th century Scottish economist. I loved his famous The Wealth of Nations (widely considered the foundation for modern market economies) and read through it a few times. Then, I had a professor ask if I had read his earlier work, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, and of course I had not. In that earlier work I found questions that I could not answer. Is it right or good for us to feel distant and impartial to the suffering of others? Smith seems to thread the needle explaining both how we can feel sympathetic and how we can feel distant. Famously, he discusses a man being tortured and an observer. So long as the observer keeps his thoughts on the self and does not let his imagination drift toward the other, he can be impartial, distant, unaffected, even cold toward the other's suffering. Once the imagination places him in the position of the other, however, such distance and impartiality is not only impossible, but wrong. Smith's religious affiliations are hotly debated, but I do want to note how thoroughly he was a product of the Enlightenment and Modernity. Smith seems to dismiss the idea that the suffering of others OUGHT to impact the self. His concern, it seems, is to illicit sentiment for the self while remaining impartial to the other. In the end, Smith, like so many of his generation and the generations that have been raised up following him in the sham of Modernity, falls into the trap of the sovereign self. It is the self that is the final arbitrator of what is right and wrong for the self. This is the position of the old man, the flesh, the carnal one who presumes the seat of judgment over others, but yet acquits the self for the same things (see Romans 2:1-11).
Now, you may be asking, what does any of this have to do with the opening of the second chapter of the Book of Ruth?
"Now Naomi had a relative of her husband’s, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, 'Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor.' And she said to her, 'Go, my daughter.' So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech." -Ruth 2:1-3
We cannot be indifferent to the needs and crises of others. Indeed, life goes on, but it is precisely because of this that we need to care for the needs of others. Ruth and Naomi are destitute. They have returned to Bethlehem with nothing. They must presume on the kindness of Naomi's husband's kinsman, Boaz. The Lord commanded his people to give thought even in their business practice for the needs of the sojourner (Ruth, as a Moabite), the widow (Naomi) and the fatherless (see Deuteronomy 24:19-22). Hence, we do not have the option of indifference as followers of Jesus Christ. While we can and perhaps ought to disagree about how BEST to serve the needs of the vulnerable in society, we cannot debate God's will on this topic. God judges our society not on how the best of us are doing, but on how the least of us are doing (see Matthew 25:31-46). For the ancient and contemporary people of God, this continues to hold sway.
John Donne, a great Christian thinker once wrote in journal entry (we turned it into a poem):
"No man is an island, Entire of itself. Each is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less. As well as if a promontory were. As well as if a manor of thine own Or of thine friend's were. Each man's death diminishes me, For I am involved in mankind. Therefore, send not to know For whom the bell tolls, It tolls for thee."
Donne's point is that we cannot dismiss the suffering and death of others (here signified by the tolling of a church bell calling the community to a funeral service). No life is insignificant for every human life bears the image of God. We weep with those who weep.
As followers of Jesus we insist that every life matters and that every death matters as well. This is why at CPC we stand for the lives of the unborn with our partners at CareNet. Ruth and Naomi's lives matter to God. We cannot be calloused to the suffering of others. Those wounded and the families grieving for those killed in Las Vegas cannot be dismissed by the Christian. Our countrymen suffering in Puerto Rico cannot be ignored and dismissed by the Christian (by the way, if you want to help financially in Puerto Rico by working through our local EPC churches, you can do so here).
Ruth tells Naomi she is going to go at great personal risk because Ruth takes seriously that the embittered life of Naomi matters. She holds out hope that Boaz will do likewise. Friends, may we do the same for the suffering of others in prayer and support of various kinds. We can do this on a grand scale together, but perhaps, even more importantly as Ruth demonstrates, we need to do this on a personal level. Do you know someone who weeps? Do you know someone in need, be it physical, emotional, or spiritual? Do you know someone who is suffering in any way? Come alongside him or her and be a listening ear, a prayer partner and a pointer to God who loves us and walks with us even in the midst of tragedy, crisis and pain.
News for You:
CPC is seeking to fill our church secretary position. A successful candidate will be proficient in Microsoft Word and Excel with experience in database programs. The position will be 25 hours per week (9-12, 1-3) Monday-Friday. Applications can be obtained at the church office. Call the church office for more information.
Women's Bible Study launches Sunday, 10/8, at 6 p.m. in the Memorial Parlor at CPC. The study will cover Kay Arthur's "Ignite Your Passion for God." Copies of the study book are still available. Sign up at the Welcome Center at CPC.
Youth Group Meals are needed. Our middle and high school youth group meets at Kurt and Jennifer Fudge's house at 6 p.m. The youth group shares a family style meal, a devotion and activities. Be part of the joy by getting involved.
CPC's annual Trunk-or-Treat will be October 31 from 5-7 p.m. There are many ways to get involved:
Bring candy and your decorated vehicle to the church parking lot by 4:30 p.m. and provide some joy and community
Donate bags of candy to the church (we had over 400 kids last year, so we went through a LOT of candy)
Volunteer to help cook hot dogs or donate funds to help purchase hot dogs/buns.
Provide portable lighting to help light up the parking lot
Operation Christmas Childboxes are available starting next week at CPC. The deadline to submit boxes will be Sunday, 11/12.
Bitterness is unease with our circumstances left to fester. What results is disdain for other people, for the self and, most importantly, for God. Today that last one often takes the form of denying the existence of God as if one's declaration regarding God actually had an effect on His reality. Even if we do not deny God's existence or power or goodness or love explicitly, we do so practically by neglecting faith and faith's outward expression of worship. This is where the 'spiritual but not religious' crowd meets the 'I love Jesus, but hate the Church' crowd. Neither of these will actually help us deal with the pit of bitterness in our souls. Sure, we can hide behind lofty sounding words or strike back with sharp sarcasm or even numb ourselves with work or sinful pleasures, but in the end God will not be denied for He is the great I AM. So, if you cannot go around God, what is left? I think that is where our passage comes in this week with the continuing struggle of Naomi.
"So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. And the women said, 'Is this Naomi?' She said to them, 'Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the LORD has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?'
So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest. " -Ruth 1:19-22 ESV
Naomi cannot see beyond her present circumstance. The town of Bethlehem is stirred up because this long lost relative has come home. While the text does not supply the emotion of those in Bethlehem it is hard for me to understand the women's question as anything but joy. They are happy that Naomi has returned to them. If there is one thing bitterness cannot abide it is joy. A surefire test for bitterness is how we interact with the joy of others. Indeed, as Christians we are called to weep with those who weep, but we are equally called to rejoice with those who rejoice. The women of Bethlehem, I wager, are rejoicing that Naomi, long gone and perhaps presumed dead, has finally returned to them. Naomi, lost in her bitterness can only curse their joy and curse God at the same time.
Cursing God is the real danger of bitterness. It is not that the Almighty will be thwarted in His purpose or even in His love and grace. Rather, it is the bitterness that fossilizes the heart and strangles any joy we may feel. Naomi has that kind of bitterness. She wants to be called 'Mara' (meaning bitter) not as a lament for the tragedy she has borne. We may understand her renaming herself if she is merely calling the women of Bethlehem to weep with her. Rather, she has taken her new name as a testimony against the Lord. She blames God for what happened to her. She blames God for her husband and sons dying. She blames God for having to leave her adopted homeland and return to Bethlehem as a beggar who can only hope for redemption. She blames God for her present circumstance. Yet, she cannot take the modernist route of denying God's existence. She knows too well the promises of God and how God has kept His promises. She cannot deny God, so instead she despises God.
In Naomi's despising of God we learn the most important thing about God. Despite our emotional reaction to God, if He has determined to love us, to save us, to redeem us, God will not abandon us. We can rage against the Almighty, we can curse His name, we can even blame God for everything rotten in our lives--not a single one of these things will turn God away from us. Naomi does not have God's point-of-view and neither do any of us. It takes the intervention of God to turn our most horrific circumstances (and Naomi's circumstance is horrific) into anything good. This is God's work and it is marvelous in our eyes. We will follow Mara as God transforms her back into Naomi throughout the next three chapters. Yet let us take away a few things:
Bitterness directed outwardly or inwardly is poison to the soul.
Denying or cursing God does not change His power or His love toward us.
The test of bitterness is if we can rejoice in each other's joy.
It takes God to intervene in our lives to save us from our bitterness.
If you are feeling bitter right now, talk to God about it, talk to a friend about it, seek prayer and support from a local church. Bitterness is soul-killing, but God can raise the dead.
News for You:
Sign up now for our Fall small groups. We are studying "Your
Church Experiencing God Together." You can find dates and locations at
the Welcome Center at CPC or just call and we will help you out.
We are raising funds to help build the Okanogan Community Homeless Shelter. You can find out more at their website, okshelter.org!
Are you interested in getting to know CPC better? Try the New Membership Class on October 1st following the Fellowship Hour. Lunch will be provided if you let us know you are coming.
Our next community outreach event will be our annual Trunk-or-Treat. Decorate the trunk of your rig and help provide a fun, festive and safe experience for parents and kids on October 31. More details to come!
Pain can lead us down dangerous paths. Pain can take a person who has been getting along just fine in life and turn them to the demon of addiction. Pain can turn a person against friend and family and even God. Pain can lead us away from the life that God desires for us in community and lead us to isolation and self-destruction. That's the kind of pain that Naomi has.
"And she said, 'See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.' But Ruth said, 'Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.' And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more. " -Ruth 1:15-18 ESV
Pain can close us off to the desire and ability of others to come along side us in our pain and offer the deep, healing balm of the love of God. Pain can lead to cursing our circumstance (and maybe even God) and the bitterness that follows that feeling of helplessness. Pain hems us in and dims the redemptive imagination even as it turns the heart and the mind from the powerful and fierce love of God. As a pastor, I see this all too often. I have reflected much on pastoral ministry in prayer with God over the last few months. I am tired of the idea that the pastor is to be a visionary leader, a strategic change-agent, a program-pusher or a mission-minded salesman. These concepts sound good, but they fail to actually help people in pain. Each of these identities creates anxiety and pain, and I am convinced that this is not God's will. Surely the Lord can call us to endure suffering for His glory, but He always goes with us through the pain. And in the comfort we receive we are to be a comfort to others. I am weary of the idea that people are to be used for a vision, a mission, a strategy or a program. People bear the image of God, even when distorted by pain. It is the call of the pastor and all who call on the name of Jesus, the innocent sufferer and bearer of our sin and pain on the cross, to meet people in that pain and walk alongside them in the presence of God. We are to practice the determined love of God on display in Ruth in our passage today.
I understand my role as a call to be a Ruth in the lives of the flock that God has placed in my care. I am to equip the saints for the work of ministry, that is, to recognize pain and walk into it alongside the sufferer and not run from it. We have so much pain surrounding us--pain of alienation from God, pain of hopelessness, pain of lovelessness, pain of faithlessness, pain of isolation from true, life-giving community found in Christ's church. We try to fix the pain on our own, utilizing the good gifts of God in an improper way. Yet, in the end, God's covenant promise to be with us and through this promise, our promise to each other to be with each other through thick and thin, is really what we need.
Ruth walks into Naomi's pain. She does so at great personal risk, but she does so under the watchful eye of God. Ruth not only claims Naomi as her kin, but in doing so she claims YHWH as her God. I may be pushing the text too far, but Ruth can claim YHWH because He has already claimed her. Ruth's determined love of Naomi flows out of the Lord's determined love for her. It is this same determined love that Christ Jesus has for you and commands us to give to one another. You do not have to be a pastor to do this. We need only see the pain in those around us and determine, through faith in the Lord, to meet that pain in love in some pretty practical ways. More than anything else, I think that is the mission of the Church, to bring the love of God in Christ Jesus to bear on the suffering, pain and anguish of the world. It will not lead to flashy conversions all of the time (Naomi merely falls silent at Ruth's determination), but it does lead us to the deep love of God over and again and away from the destruction of isolation.
News for You:
Sign up now for our Fall small groups. We are studying "Your Church Experiencing God Together." You can find dates and locations at the Welcome Center at CPC or just call and we will help you out.
We are raising funds to help build the Okanogan Community Homeless Shelter. You can find out more at their website, okshelter.org!
Are you interested in getting to know CPC better? Try the New Membership Class on October 1st following the Fellowship Hour. Lunch will be provided if you let us know you are coming.
Our next community outreach event will be our annual Trunk-or-Treat. Decorate the trunk of your rig and help provide a fun, festive and safe experience for parents and kids on October 31. More details to come!
My wife has often remarked that I do not behave well in crisis. My usually sharp decision-making matrix breaks down and I start doing things that are not only rash, but out-of-character. I think it is the part of me that wants to make everything right and fix what is wrong that takes over and I stop doing proper analysis of the situation and counting the costs. While these are my personal hang-ups in crises, I do not think I am alone. I think that for many decision-making in a time of crisis or turmoil is difficult to do well and often leads to questionable results.
As we zoom in our devotional passage this week, it is worth remembering that we find three women (Naomi, Orpah and Ruth) who all now widowed in a culture where widowhood means becoming destitute. The situation is dire, the choices are desperate, and the decision-making is more emotional than rational.
"But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? Turn back, my daughters; go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the LORD has gone out against me.” Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. " -Ruth 1:11-14 ESV
Naomi has been so devastated by the present crisis that she has no ability to imagine redemption. It is as if she faces the present circumstance and says, "The Lord has cursed me and there is no hope." The only way forward for her daughter-in-laws, so far as she knows, is to bear sons and let them grow up and then marry the two. Naomi knows this a pipe dream and so dismisses the option as quickly as she suggests it. At this point, she succumbs completely to bitterness and let's all hope run out.
Bitterness kills the redemption imagination and the reliance upon faith that God will bring good out of even the most devastating of circumstances. In her grief, Naomi cannot see beyond the current crisis and this, for her, is actually sin. She loses faith in the Lord and even goes so far as to assert that the Lord has acted specifically against her through the death of her husband and her two sons. Far from trusting the Lord to provide redemption and renewal, Naomi lays her crisis at the Lord's feet and asserts her wretchedness as the direct action of the Lord. This is wrong, as the rest of the story will make clear, but at the same time, it is understandable in the moment of crisis to wonder about such things. In light of fires, earthquake and hurricanes in our news recently, we may even be tempted to assert that the Lord has brought judgment in these acts, yet such a view does not come from wisdom. Wisdom would lead us to conclude that crisis and disaster befall us no matter our standing before the Lord, so our part is to be sure we are ready to meet our God should the circumstance lead to our death--and the only way to be ready is to put faith in Christ Jesus, the one who defeated sin, death and Satan, the one who makes all things new, and the one who redeems his own.
Crisis decision-making is never easy. When the decision-making is handed over by Naomi to Ruth and Orpah they will choose different paths. We will look at Ruth's path throughout the rest of this series, but at this point it is Orpah we need to put in view. Orpah chooses to return to her mother's house and, God-willing, take a new husband. While we can contrast Orpah's decision to leave Naomi with Ruth's decision to stay with Naomi and, therefore, pass judgment on Orpah for making the wrong decision, the Scripture makes no such claim or conclusion. Orpah chooses to return home and this is her response to the crisis. She is not necessarily wrong in making that choice anymore than Ruth is not necessarily wrong for NOT making that choice. She responds as best she can with the available information to the crisis at hand. I am uncomfortable with saying that she showed a lack of faith in the Lord, but certainly Ruth's more famous response seems to invite that thought.
Instead, gentle reader, let us take a sympathetic view of Orpah. She has just been told by her beloved mother-in-law to go home to her mother's house. She has been assured that staying will only produce more misery and condemn her to a lifetime of widowhood and the destitution that brings. Faced with the available information, she decides it best to do as Naomi says. This is not sin for Orpah, but rather a woman trying to do the best she can in a very tough spot. No, if there is sin in the passage it is in Naomi's bitterness and her lack of faith that the Lord will make a way where there seems to be no way. We never go wrong when we fall on the mercy of the Lord in faith, even, and perhaps especially, when in crisis.
News for You:
Fair Outreach Report:
We gave out over 800 bottles of water, talked with dozens of people in our community and enjoyed making our Savior's presence known. Thanks to all who helped. Our next big outreach event will be our annual Trunk-or-Treat. Start planning now for serving our community by providing a fun, festive and safe experience for parents and kids on October 31.
Adam's Road Ministry Event, September 14, 7 p.m.
The musical group Adam's Road willbe
at CPC soon. This group will be sharing the gospel in both testimony
and music and should not be missed. Again, come out and bring some
friends. The event is free (though a love offering will be taken) and
everyone attending gets a free CD.
Small Groups to Launch the week of September 24
Our Fall Small
Groups will be concentrating on, "Your Church Experiencing God
Together," the follow-up to last Fall's "Experiencing God." Sign ups
will begin shortly, do not miss out!
The Apostle Paul instructed the Romans in 12:15 to, "Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep." Knowing the difference is important. In times of mourning, it is inappropriate to rejoice. Imagine attending a funeral and someone suggests doing the wave or letting the kids have a go at a pinata. Death is a cause for weeping. It is the consequence of sin and even for the Christian it is a time for sadness at the loss of one we love--even if for the deceased it is entry into Heaven awaiting the great day of resurrection. Jesus wept at the death of Lazarus (John 11:35) and this seems the right thing for the Christian to do with others in the face of death. I have been to one too many "Celebrations of Life," where it was unclear to me that anyone actually died. We try to move past the weeping and mourning so quickly that we do not really stop to deal with the real and devastating consequences of death. It is just these consequences that Naomi, Orpah and Ruth face in our passage today.
"But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, 'Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May the LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The LORD grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!' Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. And they said to her, 'No, we will return with you to your people.' " -Ruth 1:8-10 ESV
Without father, son or husband these women are destitute. Naomi's plan to return to her homeland is her last chance at securing her well-being. She asks her daughter-in-laws to return to their mothers because they have no future with her. The death of Elimelech, Mahlon and Chilion has brought real and devastating consequences for all of the women, but Naomi will feel the sting the most acutely of the three. Naomi tries to send off Orpah and Ruth so that they may find a new husband and perhaps the rest and relief that was absent in the present situation.
Naomi wants to bear the burden of death by herself and in some ways we can see this as noble, but in others it is foolish. The trouble with failing to acknowledge and note a death with mourning and weeping is that those who will bear the consequence will have to do so alone. I remember some years back as I met with a grieving widow she stopped me as I was about to leave. The widow thanked me for saying her husband's name since no one else seemed to do so. I have often thought about that as I considered why that may be. The best answer I have is that we are afraid of death and speaking the name of dead person makes it real. We want widows and widowers, orphans and the bereaved to bear their pain and sorrow silently and nobly and, therefore, deliver us from the scary acknowledgment that life is fragile and death is always on the horizon.
Thankfully, both Orpah and Ruth linger with Naomi. She needs them to weep with her and mourn with her. We need others to weep with us in times of death and loss as well. We cannot ignore or hide the bereaved for any reason. We are clearly called in Scripture to come alongside those who weep and offer the comfort of presence, but also the hope of the Gospel of Jesus Christ who conquered sin, death and Satan once and for all in his own death and resurrection. So weep with those who weep because the reality of death is it is sad. We can remember and give thanks for those who die, but do not confuse mourning and rejoicing, lest you forget that our fervent prayer is that God will wipe the tears from our eyes and turn our mourning into dancing.
News for You:
CPC at the Okanogan County Fair, September
7 – Sept 10
This year
CPC will have a booth at the Okanogan County Fair.This is an opportunity for our church family
to be a sign of God’s Love, a source of Joy and a beacon of Hope to those who
do not yet know Jesus.We will have a brief training for volunteers following worship on September 3.
Adam's Road Ministry Event, September 14, 7 p.m.
The musical group Adam's Road willbe
at CPC soon. This group will be sharing the gospel in both testimony
and music and should not be missed. Again, come out and bring some
friends. The event is free (though a love offering will be taken) and
everyone attending gets a free CD.
Small Groups to Launch the week of September 17
Our Fall Small
Groups will be concentrating on, "Your Church Experiencing God
Together," the follow-up to last Fall's "Experiencing God." Sign ups
will begin shortly, do not miss out!
