Ruth 3:
1-5; 4:13-17 (Proper 27B)
Baptism of Violet Rose Hickman
November 8, 2015
Good morning and grace and peace. Moving into a rich season of the year in the
wider church and here at St. Andrew’s.
The Sunday after All Saints Sunday —remembering just what a wonderful
and truly beautiful and meaningful service that was last Sunday—choir and
orchestra and our prayers remembering saints and heroes of the faith, and as
well honoring and offering prayers in memory of our loved ones. Next Sunday the Harvest Brunch and a
celebration of some of the ways we here in this corner of the East End are able
to share in some very exciting ministries in the wider world, and especially
with our focus in Bolivia. Then on the
22nd, St. Andrew’s Day, and bagpipes and our annual homecoming and
patronal festival. And then Thanksgiving
and Advent and Christmas and the New Year.
A reminder for me of what a real blessing it is to have the privilege to
be a part of this great congregation.
In the patterning of the Church Calendar we recall the two
great cycles of the year—reflecting the two great and inextricably intertwined
theological themes of Incarnation and Atonement: Advent-Christmas-Epiphany, and
Lent-Holy Week-Easter. The calendar also
charts out a transitional phase, an interlude of preparation, before each of
these cycles. We are more familiar with
what is sometimes called “Pre-Lent,” and the Sundays of Septuagesima,
Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima, as each of these in turn directs our attention
ahead to the great drama of the Cross.
Similarly there is a somewhat less emphatic but still meaningful
“Pre-Lent” that comes before Advent, the Three Sundays that begin today, and we
would begin to listen carefully to the appointed Collects and Lessons and
Psalms to hear the advancing footsteps of the Advent messenger. The Collect this morning lifting up the
Manifestation of the Blessed Son of the Father, to destroy the works of Satan
and to redeem fallen humanity—and calling us to await eagerly the day when he
shall come again, with power and great glory, lifting us forever in his
presence.
So it’s not just the department stores and radio stations
that are leaning forward into the calendar.
So too the Church and in the heart of every Christian. Eagerly rushing forward to Christmas with the
prayer of his First and Second Advent, “Come, Lord Jesus.”
And a reminder in that this morning, with the baptism of
Violet Rose, here at the same font where, wearing the same baptismal gown, her mother Kristen was baptized by my
predecessor Ralph Brooks at the end of July, 1985. Just a tad over 30 years ago. Violet’s parents and godparents standing at
the crossing here presenting her for baptism and accepting the spiritual
responsibilities of baptismal sponsors in the same place where on June 27,
1981, her grandparents exchanged their
marriage vows. A lovely image of the
life of the Christian family carrying on, one generation to another.
The Old Testament lesson appointed for this morning, from
the Book of Ruth, seems very appropriate I think for this morning’s celebration
of Violet’s baptism. For her, and for
all of us. And especially in
“Pre-Advent.”
We’ve been in this series for a couple of months now in the
lectionary of what is sometimes called the “Wisdom Literature” of the Old
Testament. Some time back we had the
reading from Proverbs 31, the portrait of the Capable Wife. And then we had the readings from Esther, and
from Job. And now this morning we would
remember the story of Ruth.
The story like so many of this part of the Bible begins in exile. Easy for us to picture these days, with the
images before us daily such great numbers streaming out of Syria and
Afghanistan and Northern Africa. Naomi
and her husband and their two sons are forced by famine to become refugees, and
they come to live in a foreign land, Moab.
Yet even so, far from home, they continue to hold on to the memory of
their homeland Israel and their worship of Israel’s God.
Time passes, and they begin to make a life where they are as
best they can. In time their sons marry
local girls and begin to settle into their adult lives. But then in a series of calamities perhaps
reminiscent of Job’s, death takes first Naomi’s husband and then both her
sons. In sorrow and bitterness and
regret Naomi gathers her two daughters-in-law together and gives them her
blessing and tells them to return to their families, so that she herself can
return in the ashes of mourning to die herself in the land of her
ancestors.
Which the first of the two daughters-in-law does. But not Ruth.
Ruth refuses to leave the side of Naomi.
The famous line: “whither thou goest, I will go. Where thou lodgest I will lodge. Thy people will be my people. Thy God, my God.” And this deep and costly gesture of love and
loyalty begins to plant a seed of transformation. Naomi and Ruth return to Israel and to the
Land of Judah, near the small country town of Bethlehem, where they find a farm
owned by Boaz, a distant relative.
Boaz welcomes them with kindness and generosity, begins to
care for them. And then, in the way now
as the story unfolds of a wonderful romantic comedy, as time passes, we come to
the scene in the reading this morning. In
the movie I would cast Tom Hanks as Boaz, Meg Ryan as Ruth! In the secret mysteries of Jewish mothers,
perhaps we would say, Naomi now knows and sees by all the intuitive signs what
is in the heart and of Cousin Boaz—perhaps understanding him better than he understands
himself. How he looks up when she is
standing across the field. How his eyes
follow her when she walks with the others to the daily chores of the farm. Naomi has Ruth prepare herself, and go to his
home, and once she arrives—well, the rest of the story. We’ve read it here. As at the end of every romantic comedy. Love and marriage. Laughter and wedding bells. Joy,
healing, and new life.
And even to conclude with this wonderful note, Ruth’s first
son Obed is embraced by Naomi, taken up into his grandmother’s loving arms—her
own husband and sons gone, but now new life and a new generation. Hope and promise. A happy ending!
And even the parting word to us readers, as the first
hearers and readers of the story of Ruth would have known already-- that this
child Obed, the first-born son of Boaz and Ruth, would be himself the father of
Jesse, who then in turn would be the father of King David. And for us today, of course, as we look ahead
through the weeks of fall and then to Advent, to know that he is the ancestor
of Mary and so of our Lord Jesus Christ.
O Little Town of Bethlehem! Not
Thanksgiving yet, but already we can hear the angels singing to the shepherds in
the fields. Perhaps these very fields,
where Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan—I mean, Boaz and Ruth, first caught sight of one
another.
God’s great plan of
salvation, the Holy Story of God, resting on this comedy of love! When Ruth makes the decision to give up
everything. Not to return to her family,
but to care for Naomi, who was lost in her bitterness, without hope for any
future. That one generous, humble,
sacrifice of love--and how God took that and used it for purposes that have
been in his heart from the beginning of time.
Anticipating the word of Ruth’s daughter Mary, who would say to the
Angel centuries later, “Let it be as you have said.” Again.
Pre-Advent.
Good to say this, for Violet on her baptismal day. As she has been now washed in Christ and
sealed in the Holy Spirit, forgiven, cleansed, lifted to new life. To have this sense of what God will use from
her, from us. We don’t know the specifics, but we know the
author of the story, and that the story continues, drawing in each of our
lives. New lives one by one, generation
after generation, here at the font of baptism and new life.
We have this rich liturgy.
Simple but deep. The service would have been the same for
Kristen in 1985 as for Violet this morning.
Parents and Godparents begin by making their particular commitments of
prayer and support to see that the child they present is “brought up in the
Christian faith and life” to the “full stature of Christ.” And then on behalf of the child being
baptized and on behalf of the whole congregation they begin what is sometimes
called the “Baptismal Covenant” with those great statements renouncing the
devil , the world, and our sinful nature.
And then so meaningfully: “Do you
turn to Jesus Christ and accept him as your savior? Do you put your whole trust in his grace and
love? Do you promise to follow and obey
him as your Lord?” Heart and soul and
mind and strength.
Like Ruth: “whither thou goest I will go.” Like Mary: “Let it be to me as you have said.” This free gift, without condition, no “Plan
B.” Like the old hymn, “O Jesus I have
promised to serve thee to the end.” Faithfulness, no matter what the cost. This is what true Wisdom is all about, again
and again through these words of the Bible as we have been hearing them over
the past few months. Proverbs and Esther
and Job and Ruth. The fear of the
Lord. To love him with all our heart and
soul and mind and strength.
It is an image, a foreshadowing also for us and most
importantly for us in “Pre Advent” of the love and sacrifice of Ruth’s
great-great-great-great-great grandson Jesus, who was the Wisdom from on high.
And an image and a foreshadowing of the life we share with Jesus in and through
these baptismal waters.
So welcome this morning to Violet Rose, and to say for her,
and for us all, “Dare to be a Ruth!” Because
that’s how Christmas happens. And with
thanks for the opportunity that we all have to be renewed and refreshed in
Christ.
Walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, an
offering and a sacrifice to God.
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