Worship at Home - 21 June 2020 - Ruth 3

The prayers for today’s service have been provided by Jenny Endersby and the reflection by Christine Denny. We turn our attention to the third chapter of Ruth.Introduction:

Call to Worship (based on StF 499)
In great love, God calls us to worship
as those made by love, for love.
In Christ, God calls us by name
and receives us as his own.
Let us worship then, offering all that faith can do
whilst God’s love continues to make us anew.

Hymn StF 110 – In the Wonder of Creation - https://youtu.be/__FwA_q6Bjs


Prayer of approach - (to be read aloud imagining the others who are reading it with you)

Father God we invite you to come and join with us as,
Physically apart, we gather together in spiritual communion.
Bless us Jesus as we read the Word and reflect on you.
Be with us Holy Spirit and open our ears to hear and understand
Open our eyes to see and perceive your work in our lives.
Help me still my mind to hear from you.
Let my heart be warmed by your love,
And my tongue rejoicingly sing your praises.

Prayers of confession...

Lord I confess to you the struggles that I have had this week.
Forgive me for when I have grumbled and complained to others
Forgive me for not seeking your face when I was in difficulties
Forgive me for when I didn’t reach out to others because of self-centredness.
Forgive me for when I have been scared and not trusted my life to you.

...and Thanksgiving

Thank you Jesus that in your life on earth you were tempted just as we are and know the frailty of our good intentions.
Thank you Jesus that you took on all our mistakes and redeemed them on the cross.
Thank you Father for giving us your son so that we can be restored into loving relationship with you.
Help me to know your forgiveness deep in my heart and, forgetting what is behind, in renewal run the race you have set before me.

Engaging with Scripture

Reading: Ruth 3

3 One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, ‘My daughter, I must find a home for you, where you will be well provided for. 2 Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing-floor. 3 Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing-floor, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.’

5 ‘I will do whatever you say,’ Ruth answered. 6 So she went down to the threshing-floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do.

7 When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down. 8 In the middle of the night something startled the man; he turned – and there was a woman lying at his feet!

9 ‘Who are you?’ he asked.

‘I am your servant Ruth,’ she said. ‘Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a guardian-redeemer of our family.’

10 ‘The Lord bless you, my daughter,’ he replied. ‘This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: you have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. 11 And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character. 12 Although it is true that I am a guardian-redeemer of our family, there is another who is more closely related than I. 13 Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to do his duty as your guardian-redeemer, good; let him redeem you. But if he is not willing, as surely as the Lord lives I will do it. Lie here until morning.’

14 So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be recognised; and he said, ‘No one must know that a woman came to the threshing-floor.’

15 He also said, ‘Bring me the shawl you are wearing and hold it out.’ When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and placed the bundle on her. Then he went back to town.

16 When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, ‘How did it go, my daughter?’

Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her 17 and added, ‘He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, “Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.”’

18 Then Naomi said, ‘Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today.’

Reflection

A place of security and safety has been our main concern during the past few weeks. A place where we can find peace of mind and an internal peace. There is a story of three artists who were asked to paint a picture that summed up the word ‘peace’. The first painted a scene of a beautiful sunset, whilst the second saw ‘peace’ in a scene of a lake with snow-capped mountains in the background and the mirrored image of the majestic mountains in the still and peaceful waters.

The third artist portrayed a raging white water river with action and spray everywhere. When questioned where peace was in the scene, he pointed out a little bird in the foreground. “This”, he said is peace. This bird has found its place of rest and stillness in the midst of it all”.

Naomi was intent on finding a place of rest and security for herself and for Ruth her daughter-in-law. With overall concepts of redemption and self-giving love which come out in this Book, this chapter considers how Naomi can find a place of security for Ruth who has in self-giving love stayed to support her as she returns to her homeland; a place where Ruth may not have been welcomed because she was of a different ethnicity.

From her feelings of despair and abandonment by God, Naomi was regaining her faith, her spirit had returned, particularly seeing in Ruth such devotion and love for another person and her commitment to put herself in a difficult situation for the sake of her mother-in –law.

If marriage proposals were left to the male species, I would probably not be in a close loving relationship right now. In fact if I hadn’t taken his arm as we walked around the gardens of a stately home, we could still be just good friends. The proposal was not made by me, although we discussed it together and it was supposed to be a surprise. The place and timing was a surprise as St Paul’s Church in Bedford was closed just after Christmas and the engagement ring had to be resized, so the question was posed in the churchyard and later confirmed with the giving of a calamari ring in a restaurant.

Naomi realised that Ruth would have to take the initiative with Boaz, who was a brother to Naomi’s husband and a good and wealthy man who could support and care for her, so as her mother-in-law had told her, she lay at the feet of Boaz in the field as he slept, guarding the grain of his harvest. It is interesting to know that Boaz is mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus in the book of Matthew 1:5 and Luke 3:32. Ruth had already talked with Boaz about his continued protection, even though she knew that she was an outsider and not in the same position in society as his other servant girls. Boaz had seen how she was such a good companion to Naomi and affirmed that in the eyes of God she was a person of great love and compassion. He saw that God was protecting her. When Boaz awoke and saw Ruth at his feet and heard her request to cover her, she was opening herself to the possibility of either a one night stand or the promise of spending her life with him. As with any romantic film, there are threats to the relationship in this story. There is a moment of uncertainty because even if Boaz feels morally obliged to marry Ruth, there are matters to be discussed with the rest of his family about the land which was owned by Elimelek, which would have been passed down to his sons if they had not also died.

We are left in suspense at the end of the chapter not knowing the decision from the kinsmen’s meeting. The story comes to a conclusion next week.

As we look for security and peace in our lives today we need, like the little bird, to find amongst the turmoil and uncertainty of this world, a rock. Naomi guided Ruth toward the rock of her life, Boaz. We are being guided to Jesus, the rock for us all in troubled times. In the storm, he calmed the seas enabling the disciples to find peace and rest. As we pass through these troubled times, may we remember all our hope on God is founded. Jesus is our rock and we can find security in Him.

Let us pray with the Psalmist, Psalm 4:8: ‘I will lie down and sleep in peace, for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety’. Amen

Hymn – StF 728 – O God you search me and you know me - https://youtu.be/mEGc3_D19Vo

Prayers of Intercession (based on Graham Kendrick’s song and Philippians 3 after reflecting on Ruth’s life where she gives up everything she knows to follow Naomi into potential insecurity.)

All I once held dear, built my life upon

Creator God we pray for our world and for those who have had their personal worlds turned upside down with the corona virus crisis. May the shaking of the foundations of our lives have brought us closer to you. We thank you for the opportunities we, your church, have to reach out with loving hands to our neighbours and ask that you would bless those relationships and make them fruitful.

All this world reveres, and wars to own
Majestic God as we come out of lockdown in the UK and in other countries help us to look beyond our borders and remember those whose needs are greater than our own. May this time of reversal have taught us to value lives more than money. We lift up all the leaders of our nations to you and ask that you would give them wisdom aligned with compassion. Show us how or where we can bring justice and peace to our world.

All I once thought gain I have counted loss
Lord Jesus you said you had nowhere to lay your head and we remember those who, like Ruth, are refugees travelling into the unknown. We pray that they will find you as they seek a new home. May you walk with them as you did with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Help us to join with them and acknowledge ourselves as travellers in faith seeking a new home with you. In this time of restrictions and isolation help us to find new ways to reach out to the stranger and show them hospitality.

Spent and worthless now, compared to this
We pray for those who are struggling in poverty or job insecurity whether newly come or only too familiar. You are Jehovah Jireh, the God that provides. Where there is inequality bring generosity. Let us see the difference between wants and needs and have generous hearts and hands. Thank you for the help groups that have sprung up because of Covid-19 and the food banks that continue to run. May they all give hope to the hopeless.

Knowing you, Jesus
Knowing you, there is no greater thing
Lord God we pray for all our friends and families that they may know you and love you more and more. Thank you for those who are accessing church online who have never been in a church before, thank you for those who are praying having never prayed before. Bring healing to those in pain. Comfort us as we mourn the passing on of those dear to us. Help us to fix our eyes upon you so that we can rest in the knowledge that we will travel into your presence and rejoin with those we love.

You are our all, you’re the best
You are our joy, our righteousness
And we love you, Lord

Amen



Hymn – StF 327 – Jesus is King - https://youtu.be/kQWP5LYtiZA