Pentecost +23 - Year B

Ruth 3:1-5, 4:13-17

Speaking of widows who put in all they have, Ruth follows here in
Tamar’s (both of them)footsteps and those of so many penniless women
who choose sex as an option to their current desperate state of affairs
or have it thrust upon them. Yes, much is left to innuendo here, but
the general direction of the language is toward one or more sexual
encounters. There are all too many current references to this reality.
Here is recent article about child prostitution in Atlanta/America.
Here is a recent novel, The Help

Sex still sells and might be the usual hook, but for today listen to
how The Message closes the passage - “The neighborhood women started
calling him ‘Naomi’s baby boy!’ But his real name was Obed. Obed was
the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David.”

This gives us opportunity to remember our own heritage when we have
been identified in one way but understood ourselves to be another. Do
you remember your previous nicknames? Do you remember having been put
in one box or another, categorized, stereotyped? Isn’t it good to know
your “real name.” Who are you today to yourself?

This also give opportunity to anticipate a larger future. Consider the
mentoring role you are and could be playing. Who are you setting the
stage for? Can you rejoice in who is going to stand on your shoulders?
If you are still in a congregation, what congregation are you invested
in, preparing for, and also ready to step out of the way of that it
might blossom and grow?

Out of this new constellation of your past, present, and future, may
you stand with and for marginalized women (and men) of your time.

--
Posted By Wesley White to Kairos CoMotion Lectionary Dialogue at
11/03/2009 07:49:00 AM