Ruth 1:1-7; 19b-21 (NRSV)
In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to live in the country of Moab, he and his wife and two sons. 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. But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. When they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Chilion also died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.
Then she started to return with her daughters-in-law from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had considered his people and given them food. So she set out from the place where she had been living, she and her two daughters-in-law, and they went on their way to go back to the land of Judah.
...When they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them; and the women said, “Is this Naomi?” She said to them,
“Call me no longer Naomi,
call me Mara,
for the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me.
I went away full,
but the Lord has brought me back empty;
why call me Naomi
when the Lord has dealt harshly with me,
and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?"
Most people know the story of Ruth, at least generally. In the editing I provided today though for the text, I left out Ruth's plea to stay with Naomi, as well as Orpah's return. We'll get to those another day, but I wanted to look first at Naomi herself, who for all intents and purposes drives the story of Ruth.
Naomi's speech to her people in the land of Judah is a poignant one.
She's come back after many years. A lifetime really. And according to her, it has been a lifetime of tears. She's lost her husband and her sons. She left her home with promise and now returns defeated.
Yet as she returns, in her misery, she misses perhaps that after all these years, she is remembered.
It's not the kind of memory of going back to a high school reunion. In fact, even at my ten year high school reunion, there were lots of us who had forgotten some of the faces.
But Naomi - poor, miserable, lonely Naomi - is remembered. And her arrival has caused a stir in the town.
God is a God of memory. God remembers who we truly are, even when we forget ourselves. Naomi remembers herself as "Mara" - bitter. Her memory cannot yet get past the fact that she is alone.
And yet God remembers her and her people remember her.
And she will not be alone.
How does God remember you? How do you remember yourself? Perhaps, like Naomi, you are still in the process of finding that all out. Perhaps sadness overshadows joy sometimes. Even many times.
But God remembers you. Remembers the real you. Your true self.
Child of God.
“Call me no longer Naomi,
call me Mara,
for the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me.
I went away full,
but the Lord has brought me back empty;
why call me Naomi
when the Lord has dealt harshly with me,
and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?"
Most people know the story of Ruth, at least generally. In the editing I provided today though for the text, I left out Ruth's plea to stay with Naomi, as well as Orpah's return. We'll get to those another day, but I wanted to look first at Naomi herself, who for all intents and purposes drives the story of Ruth.
Naomi's speech to her people in the land of Judah is a poignant one.
She's come back after many years. A lifetime really. And according to her, it has been a lifetime of tears. She's lost her husband and her sons. She left her home with promise and now returns defeated.
Yet as she returns, in her misery, she misses perhaps that after all these years, she is remembered.
It's not the kind of memory of going back to a high school reunion. In fact, even at my ten year high school reunion, there were lots of us who had forgotten some of the faces.
But Naomi - poor, miserable, lonely Naomi - is remembered. And her arrival has caused a stir in the town.
God is a God of memory. God remembers who we truly are, even when we forget ourselves. Naomi remembers herself as "Mara" - bitter. Her memory cannot yet get past the fact that she is alone.
And yet God remembers her and her people remember her.
And she will not be alone.
How does God remember you? How do you remember yourself? Perhaps, like Naomi, you are still in the process of finding that all out. Perhaps sadness overshadows joy sometimes. Even many times.
But God remembers you. Remembers the real you. Your true self.
Child of God.
God of memory, remind me when I forget, who I truly am. Your child. Amen.
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