November 1, 2009 Sermon

Wherever you go..(Ruth 1:1-18; Mark 12:28-34)

Rev. Kerri Mesner

I understand that you have been spending several weeks now exploring themes around pilgrims, pilgrim coats, pilgrim journeys, and that some in your community have shared parts of their journeys with you as well. What a wonderful, rich image this gives us when we look at our own journeys- as individuals and as a community.

And today and next Sunday, we get to join two women who journeyed together through famine and family, through life and death, through leavings and love. What might we learn if we join Ruth and Naomi for a few miles of their journey? How might their story change our journeys even today? Will you pray with me...

So as a good theology student, I could spend a good deal of time today trying to unpack whether or not the book of Ruth is historically accurate or simply a parable. We could draw on all kinds of commentary and research to try to figure out what “really happened”. And I’m not discounting the value of that kind of digging- it can deepen our understanding of Scripture in wonderful ways. But today- and next week... I want to suggest that we focus instead on the heart of this story... the truths that it might whisper into our own hearts, whether or not it “actually happened”. Or, to borrow a phrase from Marcus Borg, to recognize that “just because something didn’t happen, doesn’t mean it isn’t true”. And so today I want to share one particular take on Ruth and Naomi’s story... and it may resonate for you- or it may not. I invite you to walk with me as we explore one possibility together. See for me, as a minister who trained in a predominantly l/g/b/t congregation, I was taught to look deeply for the places where I might find our people in Scripture. I learned, as a lesbian, to look for the voices who perhaps hadn’t been heard or easily recognized. And I discovered, in that community, that for many l/g/b/t people, Ruth and Naomi might well be considered some of their early biblical ancestors. What if we just assume, as Rev. Elder Nancy Wilson suggests, that l/g/b/t people were always a part of the bible? How might this change our understanding of Ruth and Naomi’s story?

Certainly, there’s the depth of their relationship... which many scholars and commentators refer to as a preeminent example of loyalty and friendship. And yet, when Naomi tells Orpah and Ruth to leave, to go home, Ruth clung to her. She clung to her. (And here is a moment for those of you who love word study...) When we look up the Greek root of this word “clung”, we discover that it is the same word used in Genesis 2 in speaking about a man uniting with his wife. Dabaq. which means to be united, hold fast, keep, cling to... Dabaq. Ruth clung to Naomi.

And then we have the wonderful passage that was read today where Ruth proclaims the depth of her commitment to Naomi...‘Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you! 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 will I be buried. May God do thus and so to me, and more as well, if even death parts me from you!’ What does it mean that centuries of couples have chosen to use these very words in their marriage ceremonies as proclamations of their love and mutuality?

So... you might ask... okay Kerri this is all fine and good, but what relevance does it have for me today? Is it even any of my business- of our business- whether or not Ruth and Naomi were friends or were something more to each other? Perhaps knowing “what really happened” isn’t the most important thing here. But I guess I do want to lift up the possibility... for any of us here who have struggled to find our lives reflected in Scripture.

And for me, it’s about something more too. And that something more, I think, connects us to our New Testament Scripture that we heard today. The Great Commandment. How many of us could say it- at least a version of it- without even having to think about it? And yet... what does it really mean to love God with all one’s heart, mind, and strength? What does it mean to love one’s neighbour as oneself? Sometimes I worry that we hear this commandment so often that it almost becomes a cliché. It’s kind of like one of those words that if you say it enough times, it loses its original meaning. And perhaps that’s where Ruth and Naomi can help us a bit today. Whatever the nature of their relationship, it was clear that these were two women who cared deeply for each other. So deeply that they were willing to risk everything to continue this risky, at that time even life-threatening – pilgrim journey together.

Ruth says, ‘Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you! 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 will I be buried. May God do thus and so to me, and more as well, if even death parts me from you!’ A wholehearted love. A love that requires heart mind and spirit. And I wonder if Ruth and Naomi are teaching us something here about the kind of love that it takes to persevere, to care, to love someone despite all obstacles... even death.

And I wonder if this is the kind of love that Jesus was talking about. A wholehearted love. I wonder if one of the ways we come to understand God in our lives... to understand Christ and Christ’s love in our lives, is through the people in our lives. You know who those people are for you. It might be a partner. It might be a friend or someone in your biological family or your family of choice. But I wonder, along with Carter Heyward, if one of the deepest ways we can come to know Christ’s love is through our very human relationships, and through having the courage, like Ruth and Naomi, to risk a wholehearted love for that person or those people in our lives?

I lost a dear friend last week to cancer, and because he was in London England, I wasn’t able to be with him in his last weeks. His partner, however, wrote all of us frequently, sharing stories from their shared journey as they said took this final journey together. I have no doubt that they continue to share a love that is- as the Song of Solomon puts it- stronger than death. That, like Ruth and Naomi, not even death can separate them. In our community prayers this morning, I will invite you to remember those you have loved who have gone before you... to name them silently or aloud, to honor them and to honor the love that binds us to those we’ve lost... the love that is stronger than death.

When we walk a mile or two with Ruth and Naomi today, I wonder if they aren’t asking us... challenging us...to open our hearts that bit wider... to take the risk of loving with our whole hearts minds and strength... not only the people in our lives, but to take the risk of loving Christ with our whole heart, mind and strength... and to take the risk of letting Christ love us that much in return. I can’t even quite fathom what that love – Christ’s love- really looks like or feels like- sometimes it feels beyond my scope... bigger than I can even get my head around. And yet, if I’m willing to risk my whole heart, mind, and strength, I suspect that Christ will teach me... will grow me... will show me how to love and be loved that wholeheartedly. Am I willing, like Ruth and Naomi, to take that risk?

Are you? Are we? Will you pray with me.

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