Ruth Goes to Boaz

Thursday, May 23, 2013  -- Week of Proper 2, Year One
Nicolaus Coperinicus and Johannes Kepler, Astronomers, 1543

[Go to http://www.missionstclare.com/english/ for an online version of the Daily Office including today's scripture readings.]

Today's Readings for the Daily Office
     (Book of Common Prayer, p. 966)
Psalms   18:1-20 (morning)    //    18:21-50 (evening)
Ruth 3:1-18
1 Timothy 4:1-16
Luke 13:31-35

I might mention a couple of things that make the first reading more interesting.  It is the story of Naomi's instruction to her daughter-in-law Ruth.  Naomi tells her to go to the threshing floor where the men would be winnowing the grain in the evening breeze.  Ruth is to wait until the men have eaten and drunk.  Naomi tells her to watch where Boaz goes to lie down to sleep, "then, go and uncover his feet and lie down; and he will tell you what to do."  (Ruth 3:4)

It helps to know that in the Bible the word "feet" is often used as a reference to sexual organs.  The passage is a bit ambiguous here, but it is not unlikely that there was some nakedness involved with Ruth's joining Boaz as he lay on the threshing floor. 

Ruth's answer to Boaz's question, "Who are you?" is also full of meaning.  "I am Ruth, your servant; spread your cloak over your servant, for you are next-of-kin."  The request that Boaz "spread his cloak" over her implies an offering of marriage.  In Ezekiel 16, the prophet speaks of Jerusalem as an unwanted, cast-off baby whom God saves and intends to marry.  "I spread the edge of my cloak over you, and covered your nakedness:  I pledged myself to you and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord GOD, and you became mine."

Ruth tells Boaz that he is "next-of-kin", literally "one with the right to redeem."  Ruth is telling Boaz that he is the relative closest in kinship to her late husband's family.  In the levirate marriage laws of Biblical tradition, a brother is charged with the duty to marry a widow of his brother if there are no male offspring so that his line and his property will continue.  That's not quite the case here, since Boaz was not a brother to Ruth's husband.  Boaz also informs her there is someone with a closer claim of kinship.  There is also property involved belonging to Ruth's father-in-law.  Boaz gives her grain and tells her to leave his bed early enough so as not to be seen.  He needs to negotiate with the other relative in order to claim (or redeem) the land and make the marriage.

One last note.  It is likely that this book was written during the time of the reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah when intermarriages between Israelites and foreigners were outlawed.  The reformers also required some existing families to be broken up and the foreign spouse sent away in the name of purity. 

Ruth is a Moabite who was married to an Israelite.  She is a paragon of loyalty and virtue in her behavior toward Naomi, choosing to remain steadfast to her mother-in-law rather than seek a new husband among her own Moabite kin.  When Ruth and Boaz marry, their offspring will be ancestors of the great King David.  Some have called the book of Ruth a short-story of "protest literature" against the ethnic cleansing pursued by Ezra and Nehemiah -- one portion of the Bible written to challenge another portion of the Bible.  I think that's interesting.

Lowell
_______

Audio podcast:  Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week.  Go to: http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id244.html

About Morning Reflections

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.

Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at http://www.missionstclare.com/english/index.html

Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location

-- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html

The Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church

is to explore and celebrate

God's infinite grace, acceptance, and love.

See our Web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

Our Rule of Life: 

We aspire to...

    worship weekly

    pray daily

    learn constantly

    serve joyfully 

    live generously.

Lowell Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church

Fayetteville, Arkansas

Little Things

Wednesday, May 22, 2013 -- Week of Proper 2, Year One

[Go to http://www.missionstclare.com/english/ for an online version of the Daily Office including today's scripture readings.]

Today's Readings for the Daily Office
     (Book of Common Prayer, p. 966)
Psalms   119:1-24 (morning)    //    12, 13, 14 (evening
Ruth 2:14-23
1 Timothy 3:1-16
Luke 13:18-30

The kingdom of God "is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches."  (Luke 13:19)

The kingdom of God "is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened."  (Luke 13:21)

Little things can make a big difference.  Small beginnings can produce large results.  Both for good and for bad.

The parable of the mustard seed is an encouraging image.  It reminds us that though we may seem to be small or weak or insignificant, God uses the "mustard seed" to great effect.  Small courtesies, little actions of virtue may be the springs of significant goodness.  The Rule of St. Benedict speaks of the importance of "little courtesies" within the community.

The parable of the yeast is a more ambiguous and perplexing message.  In the scripture, yeast is almost always a negative metaphor -- a symbol for corruption or sin or evil.  Leaven or yeast is old, fermented dough.  It only takes a little yeast to leaven the entire measure of flour.  Before the Passover the people of Israel were commanded to remove all yeast from the household.  Jesus warned of the yeast of Herod and of the Pharisees.  Little corruptions, white lies, small indulgences and selfish habits can have great negative impacts.

What are the little habits that corrupt and break down health and relationships?

What are the little courtesies that build up and heal the whole creation?

These little things matter.

Lowell
_________

Audio podcast:  Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week.  Go to: http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id244.html

About Morning Reflections

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.

Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at http://www.missionstclare.com/english/index.html

Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location

-- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html

The Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church

is to explore and celebrate

God's infinite grace, acceptance, and love.

See our Web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

Our Rule of Life: 

We aspire to...

    worship weekly

    pray daily

    learn constantly

    serve joyfully 

    live generously.

Lowell Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church

Fayetteville, Arkansas

Naomi's Bitterness

Tuesday, May 21, 2013 -- Week of Proper 2, Year One
John Eliot, Missionary among the Algonquin, 1690

[Go to http://www.missionstclare.com/english/ for an online version of the Daily Office including today's scripture readings.]

Today's Readings for the Daily Office
     (Book of Common Prayer, p. 966)
Psalms   5, 6 (morning)    //    10, 11 (evening
Ruth 1:19 - 2:13
1 Timothy 1:18 - 2:8
Luke 13:10-17

The now childless widow Naomi, without prospects for survival, leaves the home in Edom that had shielded her from an earlier famine in her native Bethlehem.  She returns now to Bethlehem, grieved and without support, hoping to find some welcome in her former village.  The women of the town ask, "Is this Naomi?"  She answers:

"Call me no longer Naomi, (the name means 'Pleasant')
     call me Mara, ('Bitter')
     for the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me.
I went away full,
     but the Lord has brought me back empty;
     why call me Naomi
          when the Lord has dealt harshly with me,
     and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?"  Ruth 1:20-21

This morning we rise with prayer in our hearts for those affected by the terrible tornadoes yesterday and last night.  There are many who have cried bitterly at their loss.  The death toll rises.  Many helplessly cry in God's name.

Our prayers join with them.  We remember the first responders and ask God's strength for them.  We anticipate and begin to lay the foundation for sending helpers, as we did for our neighbors in Joplin so recently.  We give thanks for the Red Cross, the National Guard, and for our governmental disaster and emergency programs.  Maybe we make a contribution to Red Cross, and to Episcopal Relief and Development which is already in motion.  Maybe we even think with some gladness about whatever we paid in taxes on April 15 for the underwriting of police, firefighters, FEMA and the other structures by which we respond corporately to disaster.

And we take our concerns to God. 

One of the themes of the story of Ruth is that God works quietly behind the scenes for our good, and that God joins our hard efforts with divine blessing and support.

Naomi's widowed daughter-in-law, the Moabite Ruth, offers to go into the grain fields to glean among the ears of grain missed by the harvesters.  By chance, it seems, she ends up in the field of Boaz, a relative of her late husband.  By chance, it seems, Boaz notices her.  His servants have noticed her also, how hard she has worked, "on her feet from early this morning until now, without resting even for a moment."  Boaz offers her protection and the familial privileges of sharing water, and (we will read tomorrow) the common meal among the harvesters.

From bitter tragedy -- the death of Naomi's husband and her two sons -- God is weaving a new story.  Out of this story will come the ancestors of David, a descendant of Boaz and the Moabite widow Ruth.

Today we pray with hope that God is behind the scenes even now, quietly bringing resurrection and restoration to those who have met so bitterly with disaster.  We also embrace the hard work that faces those families and communities.  And we recognize our kinship with them, embracing our part of the recovery effort.  If God is to work effectively to help them rebuild their lives and communities, we as neighbors will have to join and incarnate God's efforts among them.

O merciful Father, who hast taught us in thy holy Word that thou dost not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men:  Look with pity upon the sorrows of thy servants for whom our prayers are offered.  Remember them, O Lord, in mercy, nourish their souls with patience, comfort them with a sense of thy goodness, lift up thy countenance upon them, and give them peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.   

For a Person in Trouble or BereavementBook of Common Prayer, p. 831

Lowell
_____________

Audio podcast:  Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week.  Go to: http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id244.html

About Morning Reflections

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.

Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at http://www.missionstclare.com/english/index.html

Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location

-- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html

The Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church

is to explore and celebrate

God's infinite grace, acceptance, and love.

See our Web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

Our Rule of Life: 

We aspire to...

    worship weekly

    pray daily

    learn constantly

    serve joyfully 

    live generously.

Lowell Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church

Fayetteville, Arkansas

 

Alcuin and the Collect for Purity

Monday, May 20, 2013 -- Week of Proper 2, Year One
Alcuin, Deacon, and Abbot of Tours, 804

[Go to http://www.missionstclare.com/english/index.html for an online version of the Daily Office including today's scripture readings.]

Today's Readings for the Daily Office
     (Book of Common Prayer, p. 966)
Psalms   1, 2, 3 (morning)    //    4, 7 (evening
Ruth 1:1-18
1 Timothy 1:1-17
Luke 13:1-9

Today is the feast of Alcuin, one of the luminaries of the great Carolingian Renaissance initiated under the reign of Charlemagne, who invited Alcuin from his home in York to serve the intellectual revival in Europe.  Alcuin was called "The most learned man anywhere to be found."  He was responsible for the collection and preservation of much ancient knowledge, including poetry, literature, liturgical texts, and mathematical treatises -- both from Christian and from pagan sources.  It is thought that he invented a form of cursive writing to speed up the copying of manuscripts.  And he is credited with convincing Charlemagne to cease forcing non-Christians to be baptized or face death.  "Faith is a free act of the will, not a forced act. We must appeal to the conscience, not compel it by violence. You can force people to be baptised, but you cannot force them to believe," Alcuin is said to have told Charlemagne.  In 797 Charlemagne abolished the death penalty for paganism.

Alcuin helped reform the liturgy and worship and the church, collecting many service books and adapting them into a more universal form of worship.  Many of the prayers that grace our liturgy and inform our devotion were preserved thanks to Alciuin's scholarship and leadership. 

Among the ancient texts passed down to us from Alcuin is the Collect for Purity which our Book of Common Prayer places at the beginning of the Holy Eucharist.  In earlier times, it was a prayer used by clergy for their preparation before worship.  But it was a prayer too good to be kept in the sacristy, and became part of our common worship in Anglican tradition.

Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid:  Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our Lord.
The Collect for Purity seems an excellent opening for any time of prayer or worship.  It beautifully sets the context for our conscious visitation with God, and invites us into prayer. 

First, we acknowledge that we are known.  Our hearts and desires and secrets are open and visible to God.  We come as we are, without pretense. 

Then we ask the Holy Spirit to cleanse and inspire us.

Finally, we turn in love and praise to God. 

I know of few better ways to begin an offering of prayer.  I like to offer the Collect for Purity in a process of three breaths.  The Three Breaths Prayer invites us to lay aside the past, to be present here and now, and to anticipate what will happen in the upcoming period of prayer or work or learning.  As a preparation for prayer, combining the Three Breaths Prayer with the Collect for Purity seems very helpful to me.

First Breath -- being known in God's presence, I lay aside everything that has gone before:  Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid.

Second Breath -- being present, here and now, with God:  Cleanse the thoughts of my heart by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Third Breath -- anticipate what will happen in the upcoming period of prayer:  that I may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our Lord.

Today as we begin the long "ordinary time" after Pentecost Sunday, this Collect invites God's Holy Spirit to breathe us into being, to inspire us toward love and praise.  It is a good prayer to start a new season, a new week, a new day, a new moment.  (With gratitude to Alcuin for his gift passed down to us.)

Lowell
__________

Audio podcast:  Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week.  Go to: http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id244.html

About Morning Reflections

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.

Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at http://www.missionstclare.com/english/index.html

Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location

-- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html

The Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church

is to explore and celebrate

God's infinite grace, acceptance, and love.

See our Web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

Our Rule of Life: 

We aspire to...

    worship weekly

    pray daily

    learn constantly

    serve joyfully 

    live generously.

Lowell Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church

Fayetteville, Arkansas