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Week two
Restorer of life. Nourisher of love. Created families as God’s gift.
Then the women said to
Naomi, “Blessed be the LORD, who has not left
you this day without next-of-kin; and may his name be renowned in
Israel! He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of
your old age; for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to
you than seven sons, has borne him.”
Ruth 4:14
Perhaps the most difficult
thing about this season is expectations. On one hand, Advent is all
about expecting — waiting for the One who is coming, the reign of
God bursting in among us. But there are also all those other
expectations created by a culture that tells us not only what things
we should want but what they mean. If he really loves you, he will
get you this jewelry. If she really loves you, she will cook you
this fabulous dinner. If they really love you, they will come home
for Christmas. And so we have a picture of the family we are
supposed to be, the children we are supposed to have, the happy
holiday we are supposed to have, with all our grief brushed away.
Enter Naomi — who lost
everyone and everything in such a dramatic way that she renamed
herself, “Bitter.” She lost her husband, her sons, her hopes for the
future —everything except her daughter-in-law, Ruth. Ruth was a
foreigner but had an unwavering love and loyalty that crossed all
the usual boundaries and borders. In time, she proved
to be a daughter-in-law who
restored her mother-in-law’s hope, her future — really, her whole
life. Because of Ruth’s choice to be family across lines of race,
faith, even common sense, both women experienced firsthand God’s
promise and presence.
2. Who are the people who
are "family" to you because they've chosen you — taking the bitter
with the sweet? What are some of the relationships in your life that
cross borders?
Week one
Giver of gifts. Giver of plants and seeds. Food as God’s gift.
God said, “See, I have
given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the
earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them
for food.” Genesis 1:29
I heard a story this week
of a workplace conversation about office treats for the holidays.
“Should we have only healthy treats this December?” one well-meaning
employee asked her colleagues. “Definitely not” was the clear
response — and one person even emphasized her vote with a big
bag of chocolates placed on the desk of the staff wellness leader.
We don’t want to — and no one can make us — give up our sweets this
Advent!
But there is something to
sharing the gift of real food — to remem-bering the giver of the
seeds, of the land, of the grower, of the fruit. There is something
about eating food that leaves you feeling gifted and grateful. When
I peel back the skin of a pomegranate and see those bright red,
juicy seeds, I not only think about how delicious they will be in my
mouth but of the whole life of that plant. Back through its history,
forward into the future, I am grateful for the gift of this
beautiful food. When I bake a pumpkin pie from scratch (which I
recently learned how to do) I save and roast the abundance of seeds.
It helps me to focus on the future: a garden in my urban backyard
full of twisting vines and leaves and a pumpkin. All, gifts from
God.
1. What are the foods that
help you taste and see that God is good? What is it about those
foods that makes them special?
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