Ruth 1:1-18
Proper 26 (31) - Year B
Two key words here -
"shub" = turn, return, go back, turn back, brought back (vs 6)
"dabaq" = clings (vs 14)
Are we not always caught with turning and turning - hopefully to come round right? Who shall we turn to if you turn away? Naomi urges a return of Oprah (whoops, Orpah) and Ruth to the world. She releases them, turns them. One is turned and one turns back again.
Are we not always caught in clinging. It is the first act recorded about Adam and Eve - even more ancient than the snake and fruit and tree story.
Martin Buber used these two images to describe the difficulties of dealing with life imaged as a whirlpool of fate. We either jump from one piece of flotsam-it or jetsam-it to another or we never do and only cling to what we have-it. Either it-action lead us downward and can be considered evil.
It is important to move beyond these two common responses to life and come to this: 'So long as the heaven of THOU is spread out over me the winds of causality cower at my heels and the whirlpool of fate stays its course.' [Martin Buber]
I have to admit it has been years since I read the wonderful book, "I and Thou." I don't have it right at hand and may be forgetting something here in the twilight of life. If so, I trust someone here will refresh my memory.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2003/november2003.html
Why continue running in the same circle of people? Why leave for another circle?
Inasmuch as we have multiple options of where to be and with whom, these are on-going questions. We also have differing needs, some of which come to the fore for a time and some that wait for another occasion. Sometimes we respond with very practical considerations of income and retirement? Sometimes our emotional well-being overrides any other issue. There are times when an internal hope or conversation with G*D will move us past either or these or anything else we have previously used to decide. Always there is inertia or lack of imagination that can come into play.
Whether practical, emotional, hopeful, or habitual, we are responding to where we see the nearness of the "freedom" of G*D and whether we are a part of a freedom to invest in life, to love, here or there, this circumstance or that, these ones or those. The more basic our freedom, the easier it is to say "both" at the same time or sequentially.
- - -
moments of import
heighten all our senses
hearts hearing calls
mind's eyes seeing options
ties that bind touch our soulssuch moments
come one per lifetime
and several
are present right now
for amusement and signifyingin this moment
we honor our ancestresses
Orpah and Ruth
both doing their best
in their every-day days
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007_10_01_archive.html
When looking at the rest of the Hebrew scriptures we find Moabites at odds with Israelites. When looking at this particular tale, there is no tension.
In the midst of bumper-sticker and 10-second sound-bite politics, the harangues of pundits of every stripe provide classic examples of stereotyping, straw arguments, and excluded middles (and so much more - pick a logical fallacy and you'll find it in their enthusiasm to be right), the blessing we yet hear and know as still possible is that, on the personal level, two disparate people can still find one another as beloveds.
When the discouragement of "news" and rumors/realities of war get you down, remember Mahlon and Orpah, Chilion and Ruth, Ruth and Naomi, and Ruth and Boaz. Love in the midst of other differences makes all the difference. In this story that shows how poorly conceived are tribal differences we find hope that as the laws against miscegenation fell, one-by-one and all together, so shall the laws regarding same-gender marriage.
We can even cast our hope wider so it is not just individuals, but whole nations, that can pledge hesed (loyalty) to one another by way of a larger picture where everyone benefits more through peace than our status quo. A recent paper looks at the UN in this light. The last paragraph reads: "In short, what is required is a complete revolution in our values and ways of living. It is not at all surprising to me that the UN and its initiatives spark controversy and fear among many in our society. The thought of a world in which all people live happily and contentedly is, on the surface, a very nice idea, but in practice a hugely difficult thing to achieve for those of us who are accustomed to live with privilege. And yet, if we are willing to revise our vision, we will see giving up that privilege, if it leads to a more peaceful world, might just be worth it. On this UN Sunday, I would encourage us to follow the model of Eleanor Roosevelt, roll up our sleeves and support the radical work of the UN."
Instead of putting the roles of Ruth and Naomi off on Eleanor, how might little ol' you pay attention to both the personal and public parts of your life? In part it is a choice of loyalties. May you grow into a larger loyalty to expansive and expanding love, no matter what privilege the rest of your cohorts cling to.
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2009_10_01_archive.html
1st rule: Don’t disappoint by Dying.
2nd rule: Go back Home.
3rd rule: Secure Borders.
4th rule: Break Boundaries.
5th rule: It’s OK to go Back.
6th rule: It’s OK to go Ahead.
7th rule: Determine your limit of Determination.
Now which of these is most important? When? With Whom?
http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2012/10/ruth-11-18.html