i was baptized like really early


i might give satan a swirly


A sermon from the Third Chapter of Ruth:

We all want to be people of character, don’t we?

And while we all define that a little differently; it’s fair to say that the kind of life we’re looking to lead looks remarkably similar from person to person…

What matters to you? What do you want your life to look like? What do you want it to be marked by, to include??? 
*Go ahead; call out some qualities:
(Happiness, love, gratitude, joy, family, peace, generosity, security)
Anything else???

But that’s pretty much what really matters, isn’t it? 
If we could all just stay focused on those few things, we’d all probably be a lot happier. Wouldn’t we?

But that’s the rub, isn’t it? Because it’s not that easy. There’s so much else that fights for our attention and energy…

…Which is why Ruth is such a compelling person of faith.

I mean, I don’t know about you, but I’m going to be a little sad next week, when we hear the last chapter of Ruth, and say goodbye to this faithful woman!
Ruth is the type of person with all these admirable qualities; she’s brave, and daring. She’s faithful and loving. Feisty even! Ruth is the kind of woman you want to be more like, or at least friends with.

Which is why when Ruth startles Boaz awake with her Hail Mary plan, he’s not put off! Surprised, but not put off! In fact, if anything, Boaz is grateful! Ruth’s gamble only serves to endear her more deeply! It shows she has the qualities he can’t help but admire!

That’s why when Boaz covers Ruth, he calls her loyal. Loyal!
But you might call her faithful.

Because this daring encounter, is a picture of what true faith looks like! 
And it not complicated, either. Ruth simply counts on Boaz. It’s that simple!

How many of us, though, when trouble comes, turn-tail and run like Naomi? 
Or, how many of us, when trouble finds us, think to pray—only to stop? To think, we don’t deserve to pray because we only pray when we’re in trouble.

Thankfully, Ruth gives us a glimpse of what it really means to be faithful. 
And it’s not timid, it’s bold! The way Ruth, when she calls on Boaz, reminds him he has an obligation to her, and tells him she means to get it!

And here’s the deal, in your baptism, God made an obligation to you! An obligation God means to keep! 
That means when we come to God, we should do it the way Ruth does to Boaz. Not hiding anything or trying to get our life in order first, but on account of a promise made to you!

That’s easier said than done, though, isn’t it?
Because in the thick of it, it’s hard to have the kind of daring faith.

One of the things that’s so great about Ruth is, she has the sense to see opportunity when it knocks on her door.
And I don’t just mean waiting for Boaz to be contented before she goes to him. I mean, seeing the opportunity to be a faithful wife, even when her husband dies. I mean, seeing the chance to provide, by going out to the fields with nothing!
Those are opportunities only faith can see!

And how many times do we miss them? Because of fear. Or, because we dream being faithful in big things; while in the meantime we miss a million opportunities to be faithful it in the little things. 

That’s the story of Ruth, isn’t it?
Those of you who have read all of Ruth know the punchline that comes at the end. But one of the messages of Ruth is, to be ready for the big thing, take every opportunity of practice…
Like when the cupboards are bare, or an in-law is grieving. 
Because we’ve all found ourselves in a situation like that before, haven’t we?

While that message is an end in and of itself, just be faithful in the little things another lesson of Ruth is, it’s in being faithful in those places that empowers Ruth to live out her admirable traits!

Naomi, when disaster hits, runs. But Ruth won’t. And then, even though Ruth has nothing to offer, she goes to Boaz, counting on him to honor his commitments.
It turns out, each of those moments were actually an opportunities! Opportunities to actually live a faithful life. To live out faith, hope and love! 

Turns out, you don’t need much to live the lives we were describing earlier! Ruth does it with literally nothing! 
Because it’s not like Ruth has some extra strong nerve, or some really small fear-center. It’s just that she has faith. Or loyalty, if you want to call it that. 
Either way, she’s puts it to use in the moment. 
No matter what it might be. Even the ones that don’t look glamorous. Even the one’s the look disastrous! 

Like Naomi, not Ruth, we think we can’t live out our faith unless everything is just so. We spend so much of our lives trying to protect ourselves, don’t we? Playing it safe. Holding back. 
But, it turns out, it’s all the ways we try and protect ourselves, end up costing us what we really want. Like, who has ever become more generous by hoarding what they have? Who has ever become more grateful by focusing on every little threat to what they have?

It turns out, our lives are lived paradoxically! That’s a Christian word, these days we’d say counterintuitively. But what I mean is, those things we called out earlier: Happiness, love, gratitude, joy, family, peace, generosity, security; you can’t acquire them yourself, there’s nothing you can do to keep them!
They can only be received. Or asked for.

And that’s what Ruth leans into every time!
And we love her for it, don’t we? So does Boaz and the people of Bethlehem!

It’s lovely the way Ruth dares to go to Boaz at night, not hiding or pretending; just showing she needs him to cover her. 
*In fact, when she asks Boaz to cover her, SHE’S proposing to HIM!

But that’s just describing faith, isn’t it? Commending you to exercise it. But that doesn’t do us any good in moments like these. So, here, receive a word you can trust, one that will give you faith:
YOU’RE no different that Ruth. No different.

If you want to to covered, someone else is going to have to do it. And that’s hard to admit. Mostly to ourselves. Which is too bad, because that means we’re the ones keeping us from what we really want. 

Because here’s the Gospel truth, Ruth isn’t the only one who has someone to cover her by night. YOU do, too! 

In your baptism. On that day Jesus hung on that cross. During those hours when the sun was darkened, Jesus came to each one of us and covered us with himself!

You, like Ruth, have been given everything you need to live the kind of life you long to! 
Only, the opportunity to live it out, comes amidst of disaster. Our disasters, yes; but ultimately in the ultimate disaster. The day to the Son of God was killed. 
And on that day, when Jesus was stripped, when our kind showed ourselves for who we really are; Jesus, like Ruth, stood by us! 
And what’s more, like Boaz, he also covered us! 
Only, Jesus covered us with his very self. He gave us his life that not even Death can remove!

The real tragedy in our lives and the book of Ruth is, failing to see what we have in front of us.

Like Naomi, at the first sign of any challenge, we shrink back. We wonder why God has left us in the lurch. 
But the promise of Ruth is, it’s in exactly those places that God IS showing up! That God is giving us the best thing we could ever get; not our same old life, but the new one he comes to give! 

Which is why Ruth is so compelling! Not just because she has the sense to trust that. But because she chases it! She parts with everything else to have it! In the end, she even expects it! 

And folks, that’s the way it is between you and the God YOU have. The God that covers YOU!
That life you want to live, Jesus has already given you everything for it! All you have to do is, hang around. Count on Jesus to hand it over.
It’s counterintuitive, I know. But if Ruth is to be admired, and she is, than it’s the best bet any of us have.

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