Ruth 3

The best example of threshing I've seen is in the move Sweet Land, a movie about immigrants to the U.S. Midwest. They thresh the grain the old-fashioned way. Impressive work for such a small amount of grain. It is hard to describe, yet it forms many of the images of the Bible, particularly in the preaching of John the Baptist and Jesus. The threshing floor is also the scene for Ruth 3.

This Sunday's sermon also deals with the messy issue of family. Nobody's family is perfect.

Sunday's text is one part embarassing, one part romantic, and one part confusing. Ruth makes a courageous move toward Boaz, one that could have ended poorly, shaming Boaz and herself.

When the term "next-of-kin" is used, another rendering of this term is "kinsman redeemer." Since land in Israel reverted to the tribe during jubilee years, only a family member could redeem family land in dispute. Only a family member could redeem a family member.

Ruth 2

Gleaning, Ruth's temporary profession, continues to this day.

Leviticus 19.9-10 and Deuteronomy 24.17-22 tell the Lord's commandments about gleaning. These verses help us to understand Ruth's context.

In our time, poverty is still rampant, particularly for widows and orphans around the world. Most of us do not have a farm, nor anywhere for others to glean.

Yet, we can do something about poverty. Read Ronald Sider's book about hunger. Chew on his prescriptions.

Learn about Feeding America (formerly America's Second Harvest). Find out what Americans are doing to end hunger.

Discover the Society of Saint Andrew and see how Chirstians are gleaning to end hunger today.

Read about World Communion Sunday, which is this Sunday. The Presbyterian Church (USA) focuses on peacemaking this Sunday. If we could end war, we could make a dent in starvation.

Finally, prepare yourself for the bread of life, gleaned from the harvest that God sowed, food from the free gift of grace, given and not earned.

Ruth 1

This week, we begin studying the story of Ruth.

The book of judges ends "...and [every man] did what was right in [his] own eyes" (Judges 21.25) The Hebrew uses the word for man, not the word for human being, or person, (adam - yes, the first person was named "human being"). If all of the men are behaving badly, it is interesting to find the story of women of faith, compassion, and service, a remedy to the collapsed society of the Judges.

A name is everything in Hebrew, as we hear Naomi change her name from "Pleasant" to "Bitter."

Naomi = pleasant

Ruth = companion, friend

Orpah = neck, back-turner

Mahlon = sickly, weak

Chilion = finished, done (they don't stand a chance, do they?)

The story of Ruth does follow her name - it is a story of friendship, companionship, and love. It is also a story of poverty, desperation and compassion. And it is the story of a God who develops a royal lineage, willing to take yet another detour through the plains of Moab, patiently walking beside us until our story reaches the birth of Jesus (Matthew 1) and beyond, even to us.

Stewardship Post

I've posted a stewardship study link on my other blog - you can click on it over to the right. Check it out!

Jonah 4 - Angry Prophet, Loving God

If you had had a great success, what would your reaction be? Maybe you didn't want to do the job in the first place, but nothing stood in your way. Would you be happy if you succeeded? Would you want to see things through to the end? Would you secretly hope for failure?

Ninevah has heard Jonah's message. God has spared the great city, much to Jonah's chagrin. Jonah mopes outside the city to see what will happen.

The last chapter of Jonah read like a parable, ending with an open-ended question. God is asking us this same question.

Jonah's name comes up in the New Testament at Matthew 12.38. The people cry out for a sign; Jesus gives them Jonah's sign, prophesying his death and resurrection, causing the early church to depict Jonah's story in art alongside the good shepherd.

The plant in the story is either a castor oil plant or a bottle-gourd. Jonah sets up a Succoth, or booth. The original meaning of Succoth is "thicket." Bottle-gourds grow as vines. Castor leaves can grow to 45 cm.

The "worm" is most likely a black vine weevil grub. The grubs live in the soil, attacking the plant from below. The grubs attack the root of the plant destroying it from within.

Are you like Jonah? Have you built a booth?

Jonah 3

If the first two chapters of Jonah are a detour, chapter three details God's original purpose for Ninevah - a message of judgment and an opportunity for repentance.

First, notice the use of numbers in Jonah. Three days comes up continually. Forty days is also a Biblical time frame: Noah (Genesis 7-8 - although the flood lasted 150 days total), Moses (Exodus 24), and Jesus' tempation in the wilderness (Matthew 4, Mark 1.12, Luke 4), to name a few. Lent lasts forty days and begins with the same sign of ashes. 40 days is a time for meditation, reflection and intentional repentance.

How many days would it take you to walk across Forest or Lynchburg? while talking?

Also, notice the interaction of the people with their livestock. It is not enough to repent on their own; their animals, the people's possessions and livelihoods, are part of the problem and the solution. Our lives are not neatly divided into our stuff and God's stuff; we cannot spiritually repent and continue to live as we have. And God loves creation, including animals.

Next week: people and much cattle.

Jonah's Song

People remember Jonah and the fish/whale, but they seldom remember that Jonah was a songwriter. The narrative pauses and a psalm begins. St Athanasius said that the Psalms are unique among the scriptures in that most scriptures speak to us; a Psalm speaks for us.

Only a song could describe the change that occurs within Jonah. A change of heart, an "A-ha!", is difficult to describe. There may be no action that the world can see. Yet a great change occurs within the human heart; God moves us further than any car, train, airplane, or, in Jonah's case, boat could ever take us.

Deep within the belly of an aquatic giant, a song begins.

Jonah describes his rescue in a song. Was it a changed Jonah who wrote the song or the song that changed Jonah?

If you could tell the story of your relationship with the Lord in a song, what would it be? What images would you use? Try it.

See the other Jonah Marbles.