Rector's Reflection—23 Pentecost, Proper 27
November 8, 2009

I love the Book of Ruth. It is a story that has passed down through generations and, without a whole lot of massaging, could be a movie-of-the-week. It's got intrigue. It's got joy and sorrow. It's got rags to riches. It's got a little passion... okay - Hollywood would probably overplay that part of the plot line.

The Readers' Digest condensed version of Ruth is this. Elimelech and Naomi are a Hebrew couple who have two sons. A famine hits Judah and everyone is starving, so Elimelech and Naomi leave Bethlehem (ironically, "house of bread" but there is none) for greener pastures and eventually settle in Moab. This is pretty remarkable because Judeans and Moabites are, shall we say, not disposed to be friendly to one another. The family settles in nonetheless and the two sons marry Moabite women, Ruth and Orpah.

Eventually, all three men die. Naomi wants to go back to her homeland and she urges the young women to stay in Moab. Orpah agrees but Ruth says no. On the way back home, Naomi and Ruth arrive in Bethlehem where Naomi's relative Boaz is harvesting a bumper crop of grain. Ruth goes to work for Boaz as a gleaner, someone who picks up what the reapers have left behind. Naomi and Ruth are treated generously. Naomi knows that she has to provide some future security for Ruth and so she devises a crafty plan. The result of the plan is that Boaz marries Ruth and they have a son named Obed... who becomes the father of Jesse... who becomes the father of David.

Now if some of the names in here sound familiar, it's because, as we are approaching Advent which will lead us in Christmas, names like Bethlehem and David are going to reappear. Ruth is sort of the prequel to Luke.

One of the big expectations in both Testaments and particularly in the Book of Ruth is hospitality. The story of Abraham and Sarah contains hospitality. The Moabites practiced hospitality in welcoming Naomi and Elimelech into their midst. Boaz was generous, yes, but farmers were expected to make the edges of their fields available for gleaners, certainly a hospitable act.

Hospitality is a true mark of a faith community. When we adopted the diocesan vision of "One church in mission: inviting, transforming, and reconciling" we assumed the long-held expectation of hospitality. We opened ourselves up to welcoming people... even Moabites... into our part of the Body of Christ. Of course, hospitality brings with it a chance of making ourselves vulnerable to disappointment, but there is also the great chance that those who come through our doors... who cross those fabulous welcome mats!... will be nourished by God's sacraments, surrounded by the witness of this community, and brought into the brightness of the light of Christ. Ultimately, hospitality is one way that our stewardship continues throughout the year.

Towards the end of the letter to the Hebrews there is a cautionary note to that community: "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it." Hospitality was a part of that faith community then and this faith community now because, as the story of Ruth relates—as well as countless other stories in scripture—God works through some of most unlikely folks for the most wonderful of ends.

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers... for thereby some have even entertained the great-grandmother of a king!

Susan+