call:
The Lord be with you.
response:
And also with you.
call:
The symbol today is a head of grain. Ruth gathered grain in Boaz’s elds, and he was kind to her. God brought Ruth into his family, and she became the great- grandmother of Israel’s greatest king.
response:
Thanks be to God!
Scripture reading : Ruth 1:15-2:3 (or Ruth 1:15-2:3 and 3:14-17*)
Naomi was a woman from Israel, but she married a man from another country called Moab. Naomi had two sons, and they both married women from Moab, too. When Naomi was old, her husband died and so did both of her sons. Naomi decided to return home to Israel. She never expected Ruth, one of her daughters-in-law, to come with her! Ruth could have gone home to her own family, but she chose to stay close to Naomi instead.
They went together to Bethlehem, where Naomi had grown up. She had a relative there, a man named Boaz, who owned a grain eld. In those days, poor women often followed the workers in grain elds and picked up whatever the workers left behind, so they could have grain to make our. Ruth went to Boaz’s eld when the workers were harvesting the wheat, and picked up the grain they dropped. She placed it in her basket and took it home to Naomi. Boaz was kind to Ruth, and eventually he and Ruth were married and had a son. Although Ruth was from Moab, not Israel, now she was a part of God’s family too.
Like Rahab, Ruth is a special part of God’s family: her son Obed had his own son, named Jesse. And Jesse grew up and had a son named David. Ruth, from Moab, became the great-grandmother of Israel’s greatest king!
pray:
Kind and gracious God, thank you for bringing us into your family even when we were outsiders like Ruth. Thank you for having a place for everyone at your table. Amen.