Daily Office Readings for Tuesday of the 7th Week of Epiphany: Year 1
Morning, Psalms 121, 122, 123; Evening, Psalms 124, 125, 126;
Ruth 1:15-22; 2nd Corinthians 1:12-22; Matthew 5:13-20:
“But Ruth said, “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 the Lord do thus and so to me, and more as well, if even death parts me from you!” When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.” (Ruth 1:16 – 18)
This passage from Ruth is probably one of the most precious words I have ever heard or read. I am moved by Ruth’s close attachment to her mother-in-law. But more than that, she found someone with something she wanted – something she has never seen before but worth getting and keeping no matter the cost.
Every human being should have another human being that they could put such hope and trust in. Ruth is not replacing God for Naomi, but Ruth sees something godly in Naomi, something she has not seen in any Moabite or other person ever. Perhaps something she didn’t see in her husband before he died, who was the son of Naomi. But it is very important to Ruth that she not let it slip away from her, that she not let Naomi slip away from her, even to death.
I once read where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “If a man has not found something he is willing to die for, he is not fit to live.” My heroes change as I get older. I now seek out the quiet, soft spoken wise ones. They no longer have to be big and tough. Toughness can come in small packages. Folks like Naomi (or Ruth for that matter) will work just fine.
Today we remember John Roberts, Priest (1949); and his information may be found at: John Roberts
As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and to serve, and to teach others to love and to serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
Let us pray:
O Almighty God, Creator and Lover of all creation, You want us to live, learn and love one another always. Put in our paths we pray those among us who are the leading lights to the righteous way of life in order that we too, like Ruth, may so dedicate ourselves to mentors who are gifted and guided by You in order that we find our way to Your heavenly Temple not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens. Amen.
onewhoponders 