Rev. Zach

Ruth 4:1-22 ; Luke 1:46-55 Over the last three weeks, we have been on a journey through the book of Ruth. We started with Naomi, Ruth’s mother-in-law, fleeing famine in Bethlehem, finding food and wives for her sons in Moab,7, and losing everything when her husbands and sons died. You may or may not remember that I previously said that “the Moabites were indistinct ethnically from the Judians (being descended from Lot), but they had a different cultural identity and a different tribal God.” That’s all true, but it’s only part of the puzzle – which we’ll get to in a minute. First I want to remind you of some wordplay that we find in the text that is really important as we come to the end. As I said before, “Naomi” means Pleasant. “Elimelech,” her hubby, means God is King, and going to Moab was to turn their back on God. Likewise, their sons were Mahlon and Chilion, meaning Sickness and Spent, and Orpah – the daughter-in-law who returned home – means Back of the Neck. All this would ha...

Ruth 3:1-18 ; Matthew 7:7-12 As most of you know, this is the third of four sermons based on the book of Ruth. In the first week we talked about the despair of these two women, Ruth and her Mother-in-law Naomi, that caused them to bind their lives and their fates – and even their concept of God and community – into what became an expression of chessed, which is a Hebrew concept meaning “love expressed through loyalty”. Last week we had the amazing Jackie Cummings, and the wisdom of her mom, who reflected on the story of Ruth gleaning the fields of Boaz, as Ruth continued to embody “love expressed through loyalty.” Now, I know we don’t normally do this, but I wonder if anyone remembers the “momism” from last week? It was “Do right and right will follow you.” Jackie talked a little about a lot, and it was a beautiful thing to see the way she brought her mother’s wisdom with her because that is very much what we find in Ruth’s story as Naomi continues to coach her along the way. I said at...

The following sermon was delivered by Jackie Cummings, a Ruling Elder in the PC(USA) and Treasurer of the Presbytery of South Louisiana. As I started my study for today’s lesson, my mom’s voice rang out in the back of my mind. I tend to talk about my mom, Bertha Barnett, a lot when I do these things. She can quote scripture with the best of them but she also has these little "momisms" that get engrained in your brain and you realize when you are older- Ah that’s what mom meant. There was one momism that played in my mind continuously as I studied this and that is going to be our theme for today. “Do right and right will follow you.” Last Sunday you heard the beginning of the story of Ruth and Naomi. The loss of a son for Naomi and the faithfulness of a widowed daughter-in-law. Two ladies bound together. Did they have to be bound? No, in that time, Ruth could have returned to her family for a chance to remarry (like Naomi’s other daughter-in-law) but she chose to stay with ...

Ruth 1:1-22 ; Matthew 5:3-9 Today begins a 4 part series on the book of Ruth, and we’re going to start out with a pop quiz. Q: Ruth was one of how many books in the Bible named for women? A: Two Q: The other one was ____? A: Esther, and she was the ______ of _____? Q: Ruth was a ______ from _____? A foreigner from Moab – today we would call her an immigrant or a refugee, perhaps even a climate-related refugee (though her status had more to do with seasonal harvest yields than a functionally altered biosphere). Well done! As we move forward in this series I want to encourage you all to read the book of Ruth. Chances are you will find something new in it, even if you have read it before. Don’t worry if you get ahead of the readings for worship. Just read it and let the story sink in. You might want to do a little extra digging in a study Bible or some online commentaries, but the same word of caution goes here as I mentioned before the readings. Be careful about interpretations that want...