Gloom Despair and Agony on Me

Growing up as a child, and especially with family in the South, we used to watch of a lot of a show called Hee Haw. It was a variety show depicting life in a fictional town of folk in the country and their shenanigans and their sorrows. And at some point in the show they’d cut to a scene of guys in their overalls and their moonshine jugs, lamenting their troubles and singing  a song that went like this-“Gloom, despair, and agony on me, deep dark depression, excessive misery. If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all. Gloom, despair and agony on me!” And they all wail.

That’s pretty much how the Book of Ruth opens

The first chapter of Ruth sets up the story that follows starting with a time “In the days when the judges ruled” which refers back to the time of the judges, a time of chaos and disobedience in Israel. At the end of the book of the book of Judges it reads, “In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes. (Judges 21:25). {Katharine Schifferdecker writes) Doing what is right in your own eyes is never a good thing in the Bible; and, indeed, the book of Judges traces a story of decline and anarchy in Israel.

God regularly raises up "judges" -- military and political leaders -- to save Israel from their enemies, but they fall back into mayhem every time. The book of Judges, which comes right before Ruth, ends with inter-tribal conflict and these ominous words: "In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes"

Doing "what was right in their own eyes" is a direct denial of the Law given to Israel, those words for life we studied earlier this summer.  The Law is given to promote life, life with God and life in community. Israel, in the book of Judges, fails to fulfill that Law and so falls into chaos.

And this is how we end up with the women in the story today.

Famine hits Bethlehem. Literally the city who name means “house of bread” has none. Naomi and her family migrate to Moab. There, the deaths of her husband and two sons leave Naomi bereft, empty. They left Bethlehem, the house of bread, because of a famine, she and her husband and sons. And at first it seems it went well, but then she lost her husband. And under the law of Israel, this meant that her sons must provide. And she probably wasn’t exactly delighted that they married foreign girls, but the bigger problem is that those marriages produced no children. So when after ten years, those two sons have also both died, these women are stuck. Naomi and Ruth and Orpah are stuck. And they’ve now given the land they had to pay bills and survive, but whatever they had is all gone.

If the book of Judges is largely about the people of Israel not keeping the Law, then Ruth is about people going above and beyond the requirements of the Law. Ruth, a foreigner, a Moabite (a fact we're reminded of often even though she is living in her own land in the beginning, is not required to follow the laws of Israel. She has married an Israelite, but when he dies, the expected thing is that she will return to the home of her parents. That's what her sister-in-law, Orpah, does. That's what Naomi, her mother-in-law, urges her to do.

And we don’t know what kind of relationship they had, whether her mother in law was kind or friendly before this. But Ruth chooses to demonstrate faithfulness, lovingkindness, covenant love instead. She chooses to enter into the covenant of Israel and Israel's God, saying, "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" (1:16).”

Ruth chooses to join her story to the story we've been hearing the last several weeks; she chooses to enter into Israel's covenant with God. She chooses the life of being a stranger in a foreign land. To leave all that she has known and to go to a place she's never been, with no assurance of security.

And it might not turn out well. No one is looking for a childless widow to marry. Certainly not one who in 10 years had no children.  A childless widow in ancient Israel had to rely on the kindness of those around her. In this story, Naomi relies on Ruth, and Ruth herself has to rely on the kindness of strangers.

If we stay focused on the gloom and despair, Naomi, we don’t appreciate Ruth. But Naomi is arguably the main character in the book. In some way we may know the pain of her loss and disappointment, her grief and bitterness. She speaks honestly. We too know places like that.

Naomi knows that these foreigners will not provide for her. She also knows that even going back to Bethlehem she has only the slightest of hopes. Because only if the people follow the law God gave to care for the widow can she live. And remember they aren’t doing that- the people are doing what they please. The reality is that most such women died of starvation or of the consequences of prostitution, their only other way to survive. Orpah is sad, but can go home and hope for the best from her tribe. Ruth could as well. But Ruth chooses two things that we shouldn’t expect. She chooses to stay with her kvetching mother in law, regardless of what their relationship was like before, and she chooses the God and people of Israel.

The bitterness of Naomi is not the whole of the story.

We don’t know anything about the journey in between but we do know that poor Naomi, now has a traveling companion and indeed a partner for whatever may come. Yet when they reach Jerusalem, my heart breaks for Ruth for a moment, because after all this Naomi wails to her own people and says, “just call me Mara”-

Bitter. And stands there with Ruth at her side and proclaims her life is empty and she has nothing. Wow! Really?

Sometimes we do that too. We are Mara. Perhaps…where ever that place is for you, God is speaking. We claim we are empty or the people around us aren’t who we want them to be.  

Ruth goes above and beyond what the law would ever expect of her, a law she doesn’t have to be bound by. To show the heart of God and of the law- God’s heart of steadfast loving faithfulness.

Our God loves us steadfastly- even when we sing of gloom and despair and discount the ones around us, God clings in love and won’t let go. And promises the story goes on.

Ruth’s loyalty and love for her mother-in-law holds the promise of something more, as does the final verse of this chapter: “They came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest” (1:22). Naomi is empty (1:21), but faithful Ruth is right beside her, and the harvest is coming.

And the harvest coming whether Naomi is bitter or not.

The harvest is coming still. May God fill the places of emptiness in our hearts, and open our eyes to see the wonder and faithfulness of those around us in God’s story of love.

 

Entering the Larger Life of God

Today the Sadducees are getting a bad rap in the gospel. It’s the first thing we hear-they don’t believe in the resurrection! But I got to wondering, how about us?

What do WE mean when we say we believe in resurrection? I asked a lot of people this week.

One friend says it simply means God promises life after death. Another said-life never ends, even if it seems like it from a human viewpoint. God's life-giving power will always be more powerful than death and destruction. The crucified and risen Christ is the ultimate promise of redemption and new life for all of creation.

Someone else said-It means that the fundamental character of God is to bring life from death. We receive that promise through Christ and we can depend on it throughout our life and beyond. It doesn't mean that life doesn't pass away. It means that we can depend on God's character to bring life from death…and it's a promise that all can trust in. As a Christian it means that I've been given the Spirit in order to participate in God's action.

Another friend shared-God is constantly creating and recreating. Now. And in the future. We see new life everywhere. Isn’t that resurrection?

Then I talked to our afterschool kids who told me that God's new life comes in how God gives us blessings in this life and promises more to come. Probably with lots of gold and fluffy clouds. "After all Pastor, the Bible says there's a lot of gold!"

And others told me about pets in the afterlife, and I starting imagining My Little Pony. But who’s to say?

I was struck though-all of the answers I got focused upon Life more than death. While many adults focused on the life to come, our kids whose lives are just as complicated think it matters where God is giving life now, even as some of them are still actively mourning the killing in our neighborhood of their friend Wilberto a few months ago.

My seminary President chimed in on Facebook and shared that he has a friend who is an Episcopal priest who always announced a death saying, "Jane/John has moved on into the larger life of God." I love that image! But I would expand it- it’s not only about the great hereafter. We gather here and say that gathered in the name of Christ we can experience this earthy and earthly life as a foretaste of the feast to come. Moments where the larger life of God come to us now. Resurrection starts now and resurrection extends beyond our horizon. But you know, I am also struck by the notion in the gospel today that as much as God desires us to live in this altered reality, God is not making us believe in resurrection. The Sadducees weren’t buying it.

On Wednesday night when we talked about this week’s gospel and right away the question was-just who were those Sadducees?  They were a small group within Judaism in Jesus’ day who had a particular view. Just like lots of people claim to be Christians but the message can be different, so too in Jesus’ day there were different viewpoints in Judaism. The Sadducees believed that even though there were more scrolls others considered to to the Hebrew Scripture, for them,only the first five books mattered- Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Numbers and Leviticus. That’s it. Most others felt God had more to say; they did not. The rest of the words on the scrolls were helping many develop a belief in life after death by the power of God-resurrection. But not the Sadducees. They also only believed that God was in the one temple in Jerusalem- and that’s where they were, so much so it kind of felt like “their” house. So when Jesus has come to Jerusalem and gone straight to the temple and set up shop day after day, it’s like he has occupied “Their” house. They’re miffed. So they come and ask him the question we hear today about an idea they don’t even believe in-resurrection. They can’t imagine even if there is more after this life, that it will look any different than their expectation. Instread they think the way you live on is that your name is carried on by your children- literally your seed lives. That’s why all those barren women matter. People are only children of our earthly creators. Even if there was an afterlife, for that poor woman, afterlife would mean continuing to try to produce that child-hardly paradise. Then Jesus shakes them up by quoting about Moses back to them- God is bringing life out of what seems like death, and the barrenness of the childless but it’s a whole different world. Larger than their vision.

It’s larger but we don’t know much. What will resurrection of the body and that next life be like? Over time this has generated tons of questions. During the Crusades and times of war when people lost hands or feet or heads and whole bodies could not be returned, people worried about how their body would be resurrected if not all of it had been buried. Some people literally went around worried about fingernails! Others worried about what if the ashes blew away, how would that work? How could God fix that? In our data gathering world, if we can’t have proof, we aren’t so sure. Perhaps a modern day version of what we will accept versus not. It’s why books about what heaven will be like are popular. It’s only natural we want to know. And for those missing dear departed saints we just named last week, it’s fresh. How will we know them? What will we look like? Us, only better? Or what it will look like- our favorite time? Who will be there? What about people we don’t want there, who we don’t want to see? We hope Jesus knows how to arrange our next house when he says that there are many dwelling places. When we say we believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting week after week what do we know? Whatever the concern, we all worry how God will do it, or sometimes wonder if God even can.

Kind of like the Sadducees- we can fall victim to relying only on our vision, not trusting in the larger life of God. The God who says- you see all this? I created it. You can trust in what seems beyond your full vision. For the Sadducees, life came to a dramatic halt when their temple was destroyed 70 AD- since that was the only place God was, and it was gone, they just couldn’t go on. If, like the Sadducees, we limit our vision to imagine God’s love or power, that smaller view will not bring life for us either. It’s true we don’t know much, but we know God is powerful, God keeps promises and we will be with Jesus.

Now I come back again to what words people shared about resurrection- here’s what I see-all those responses were not so much about death but life. Life! That’s the mysterious good news. God who gave us life, gives life. And the promise that more lies beyond this life.  And in the meantime, we live in this life, and we should live! And it’s life with God! God who is in our beginnings and endings is in all of the in between as well, both the glorious and the frightening. Inviting us to live as those given promises, and power-resurrection now. This is the larger life of God. Where is it found? In all those new life moments-when we remember we are already God’s children claimed in baptism at this font. When we hear that we are freed from our failures and struggles to live anew each Sunday to start worship. When we hear that Jesus Christ is love and food and healing for us each time we gather at this table. When we get that second chance in relationships, or that new lease on life in some part of our lives. Moments of peace we didn’t expect that helps us carry on-resurrection. Given by a God who even more than life is love. That’s this cross for us. God loving us into life after all the kinds of death we experience.

In the end, this is what all the words we say when we gather remind us of-  In Christ, this life and love proclaim we are children of God forever. Children again this day invited even deeper into the larger life of God.

Amen

He's Dead- Is There Something You Can Do?

I was walking home after the mid-day Good Friday service and the prayer vigil looking forward to some long awaited time with my family and Toby, when, as I approached the corner where I lived, a car pulled up to the stop sign and honked the horn. I didn’t immediately recognize the car, but just then the window rolled down and the man inside asked, “Excuse me, ma’am but are you a pastor?” Now I should say that my all black outfit and Anglican collar was a pretty good indicator.

When I indicated that yes, I was a pastor, he looked pleased and asked, “Do you have a minute, I really need a pastor” and began parking the car as I said that I could spare a moment. He takes time parking a very well maintained car and steps out, beginning by thanking me profusely, then beginning to tell me he has just had a terrible thing happen.

He was walking his parents’ dog while visiting and it seems that the leash was too loose. The dog who apparently often tries to slip the leash, managed to do just that and dart into the path of a car. The result was fatal. I expressed my condolences as he continued that he had the dog and was on the way to have it buried, but seeing me he had stopped because “ I was wondering since you are a pastor, if there is something you can do?”Perhaps it was my Good Friday/Easter mindset, but I immediately began to wonder in my mind just what he meant by this.

I suggested that I could say a prayer, a blessing of sorts and asked if this was what he had in mind. To which he said, “why yes, that would be great, I mean it’s not like you can raise him from the dead or something.” Indeed. Just then a neighbor walking his dog sauntered by. The man became sad and noted- my neighbor’s dog was wearing the same style of leash and collar. “You there, sir! Please hold on tightly to your dog! I was walking my family’s dog with that collar and he slipped the leash and now is dead! Take care of your dog!”
My neighbor appeared cautiously grateful and a little confused, as he moved on. “I really did everything I could,” the man said. Of course, he had.

I asked for the name of his family dog and after telling me, he offered that  the dog was in the trunk. Before I could say anything, he was popping the trunk. Two thoughts went through my head- is this safe? And what will I see? There was a cardboard box, with a cover over it. I offered to pray, and we prayed a prayer of thanksgiving for God’s gift to us of creation and all the creatures we share life with, a prayer of thanksgiving for Kelly (the recently deceased) and a prayer of hope for the day when God restores all of creation. I prayed for comfort in this time of mourning and peace for all whose lives were touched by Kelly.

Afterwards, he hugged me and repeated how he had done all he could, regaled
me with the family history of canines, and then again reiterated- “I did all I could.” I assured him that this was so, and that he could accept that God knew this was true- that he could accept this as true and not beat himself up. That Kelly knew but Kelly had just wanted to run like he always liked to. He hugged me again, thanked me, wished me a Blessed Easter, and told me how grateful he was to cross paths with a pastor.

In all of the ways I have been blessed to proclaim forgiveness and assurance, I could not have imagined this one. But as I walked a couple doors down and saw my own puppy waiting at the door, tail wagging, I really do believe that in its own canine way, there was a story of Good Friday to Easter grace there.