United Methodist Church of Bala Cynwyd
314 Levering Mill Road, Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004
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April 15, 2011
4/15/2011 7:41:29 PM
April 2011
Dear Friends;
This coming Sunday, April 17 is Palm Sunday; the day we remember Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalum. We liken this day to a parade.   Only a few days after Palm Sunday Jesus took a journey to the cross.   It is so easy to go from Palm Sunday to Easter and to forget the days inbetween. On Holy Thursday Jesus had has last meal with his disciples. On Good Friday he was crucified on the cross. We know that Easter is coming with its promise and hope. Yet before Easter happens there are the challenging days before this crucial event. 
Our lives mirror the happenings of holy week. There is triumph, but there is also tragedy. The hope is that we do not walk this path alone. The presence of Christ, the church, and the Holy Spirit surround us and uplift us.
Come join with us in worship at Bala Cynwyd on these Sundays.   You will find solace in the music, the prayers and the company of God’s people. Regardless of where your journey has taken you; you are welcome and we will be enriched by your presence.
God’s grace and peace,
Alice Cook
First Sunday of Lent
3/18/2011 11:43:26 AM
Notes on Sermon 3/13/11
Scripture: Matthew 4:1-11; First Sunday of Lent
When it comes to practicing the disciplines of Lent many of us fail. It is not easy to give up things in our consumer oriented world. In today’s text we find Jesus in the wilderness with Satan. Wilderness is a place where we are apart from God. It is in this place that Jesus is tempted by Satan. He is tempted with things that many would consider good: money, power and the ability to perform spectacular demonstrations. Jesus could have used all of these means to draw persons to him. He refused each temptation by quoting scripture.
In our lives we have the ability to resist temptation by being grounded in scripture. Scripture shapes our lives and forms our responses to the things which tempt us. We would like Jesus to be like us and to respond as we do, affirming who we are. In scripture we find a Jesus who challenges us. Though Jesus challenges us he also reaches out to us with saving grace; giving us strength to live with faith in our world.
On this particular Sunday we lift up in prayer our brothers and sisters in Japan who have been so profoundly affected by this recent disaster.   Our faith in Jesus provides us with the assurance that through life’s trials God is with us.
Amen.
After Christmas
12/30/2010 9:23:31 AM
Dear Friends,

Sometimes in the days after Christmas we reflect on the busy celebration we have just experienced. All the presents have been given, the cards have been sent (for some of us), and the celebrations have taken place. Now we are back to our jobs, routines, and responsibilities. What do we do with the Christ child whom we have prepared for? Do we wrap him up with the other decorations until next year? Or does his presence change the way we live our lives?

In Matthew 2 we read the record of what life was like for Mary and Joseph after the arrival of Jesus. They were told by messengers to flee where they were in order to protect Jesus. Challenging situations and uncertainty were part of their life. Joseph is a wonderful model for us today on how to react to the ups and downs of life. Joseph trusted God. Joseph went forward without fear. Also, Joseph exemplifies a powerful love for Mary and Jesus.

We too experience new situations after Christmas. Let us take the example of Joseph and trust God, put away fear, and love those in our midst. God so loved the world and so should we.

Grace and Peace,
Alice M. Cook
December 9, 2010
12/9/2010 10:22:40 AM
Dear Friends,
This past Sunday, December 5th, we celebrated the Second Sunday of Advent – a Sunday that focuses on Peace.   Most people would not argue or disagree with a need for peace. Peace within our country and in our own lives is something that we yearn for. As a pastor for over 25 years I have served several congregations and have had the blessing to meet persons who have shared their stories with me. I have always been moved by the persons who share their remembrances of December 7th, 1941, a day they will always remember where they were and what they were doing. A day that is still remembered in their prayers for peace. 
Peace does not come easily. Peace begins with each one of us as we seek to love those around us. The vision that the prophet Isaiah had of peace is a powerful one. Painter Edward Hicks depicted the scene of unlikely animals gathering together in the painting, the Peaceable Kingdom. “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.” As we come closer to Christmas may this vision of a new world draw us to the little child of Bethlehem; the one who will lead us to peace.
Grace and Peace,
Alice M. Cook
Luke 18
11/5/2010 6:20:16 PM

(Excerpts from Sermon) Luke 18:9-14
October 24, 2010

Jesus continually shocks us. No wonder the people of his own day killed him. He wouldn’t be too popular in our community. At least, not among the better folks in town. It is almost as though he preferred to associate with the disreputable, the rejects, the rubble of humanity.

 
Jesus tells a story about us. Two people went up to the temple to pray. One, a disreputable , scoundrel tax collector, the other a Bible believing upright church leader. The church person prayed, “God, I thank thee I am not like other people – thieves, swindlers, or even this tax collector over there across the row from me."
 
I know the Pharisees prayer by heart. Do you? People who find a certain satisfaction when others have had misfortune to them. We look in the paper and find some comfort that others have had difficult days; but not us. A friend’s child gets arrested for something; and we find comfort that our child did not. “Thank God, we are not like our neighbors.” That is what the Pharisee was saying. He really wasn’t praying before God – instead he was bragging to God about how good he was. But listen to the prayer of the tax collector.  “God be merciful to me a sinner.”
 
There was a woman once who would cry uncontrollably every time she received communion. The minister asked her why she sobbed. She said “I think of what Christ did for me; and I cry.”  The tax collector felt unworthy. He was ashamed of himself and of the life he lived.
 
Tax collectors were considered sinners, and the scripture says that Jesus felt that the prayer of this man who was a sinner was better than the prayer of the good man who just trusted in himself.
 
Why does Jesus like sinners so much?  Maybe it’s because they don’t look down on others – they know what it is to make mistakes and therefore they have room for compassion in their lives.

There’s a church whose members are folks whose past are a bit colorful – ex-cons, ex-hookers, etc. The people in this church have rough backgrounds.  This little broken down church gave the most money percentage wise of all the churches in that conference to missions. They made the most food baskets at Christmas for people who were in need.  Why? Because they knew what it was like to be without. They visited those who were in prison because they knew what it was like to be there.

Jesus likes sinners because sinners know what it’s like to be broken.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon  said “Only that prayer which comes from our heart can get to God’s heart.”  Spurgeon was a great preacher in the 19th century. A contemporary of his was Dwight Moody, also On the day that they met Spurgeon came to the door with a cigar in his mouth. Moody was aghast.  “How can you, a man of God smoke that?” Spurgeon took the cigar from his mouth, put his finger on Moody’s inflated stomach, smiled, and said “the same way, you a man of God could eat like that.”

Sometimes we confess other people’s sins and shortcoming, but not our own.  The tax collector came before God, aware of  who he was. The Pharisee may indeed have been superior to the tax collector in every way. Yet as soon as he looked town on the other man he was inferior.

Many years ago there was a French play about a group of persons preparing to enter the Pearly Gates. There was quite a mob of them. Some had been quite good, and others had not.  Some of those who had been morally upright were outraged that the others were going to heaven too.  These moral misfits did not belong on their way to heaven, they said. It was unfair and unjust. As the wait to get into heaven grew longer the anxiety and the anger of the righteous, the good people in the crowd grew until finally some of them began to curse those who they felt should not be allowed into the presence of the Almighty.  When they did that they lost their place within the heavenly realm. For they had failed the most important test of all ; the test of compassion.
 
How is it that God chooses us and loves us and remakes us, saves us?

I remember as a little girl going to a church service where my father, the pastor had brought in a group of teenagers from who had been drug addicts. They had been changed through a wonderful ministry. They were singing and sharing their faith. One woman came up to my mother crying. She was crying because she was so upset that these young people were in her church. She felt that they did not belong in the church.  This was the church service where I made my commitment to follow Christ. These outsiders, these sinners spoke to my heart as a child.

What do we do about people who are different from us?  Should they become like us, entering the church in the same manner? No. God’s grace comes to each one of us in different ways. Whether we came here as babies; or entered the door as an adult with a colorful past; God’s grace is for all of us.
 
A man broke into a convenience store once.  He slid down a roof air duct that served as a vent for frying equipment in the store. By the time he gained entrance by this duct he was covered with grease and powdered with a fire retardant chemical that dries the skin, throat and burns the eyes. Then to make matters worse, when he tried to leave the store he discovered that he couldn’t get out through the dead bolted doors and he couldn’t climb back up the vent.  When the owner of the store opened the doors the next morning the man raced out. The owner recognized him under the grease and powder and notified the police. Not only was the burglar caught, but he required medical attention for the effects of the powder.
 
We comfort ourselves that we are not covered with the grease and grime of thievery or adultery or murder. At the same time we ignore the more subtle powder of pride and  prejudice and the neglect of our brother or sister.
 
In this church, or any church you meet two kinds of people, saints and sinners.  All are saved by the grace to God!
The Tenth Leper
10/11/2010 9:35:13 AM
(Excerpts from Sermon) “The Tenth Leper” Luke 17:11-19 
Oct. 10, 2010 
Ten persons came begging to Jesus one day. We have seen “beggars” in our midst. Those mentioned in the scripture were lepers. They came to Jesus and cried out “Lord have mercy.”
Though our circumstance is not theirs; we understand what it is to cry out to God. 
A marriage that was once was rosy is now a battlefield across the breakfast table. A visit to the doctor informs us that we must go for tests.
Like the leper crying out, our lives too are shaped by agony.
It seems that at times all we can do is cry out to God for mercy and for help.
What did Jesus do? How did Jesus respond to the lepers? Of all things Jesus told them to go and show themselves to the priests.   Under the Old Testament law it was the temple priest, not a doctor who alone had the authority to pronounce a leper cured. It was normal to show yourself to the priest after the miracle had happened, not before you were well. Jesus told them to do it first. He wanted them to act in faith; to behave as though they were healed before they were actually healed.
They went. That is what faith is all about.  Faith is hearing God’s word, and acting upon it. We know of those who have acted in faith - Mother Teresa and Rosa Parks are examples of faith in action.
 When they arrived at the priests the spots, the sores had disappeared. All are delirious with joy. Prayers have been answered. We too should act as they did when it comes to a need to be healed. Seeking help medically for our physical and emotional ailments is important. Seeking out the priests of the priesthood of all believers in our midst is important also.
They have all been healed; but there are only nine of them present. What happened to the other one, the tenth leper? He is praising God and glowing. He is giving thanks to the Rabbi who healed him. Jesus looked disturbed. He asks, “Were not ten of you healed? What happened to the other nine?”
They were busy doing the law. They didn’t have time. We know what that is all about, don’t we?   Many times we seek God’s help. We find hope; but then we continue with our own agendas.  We have errands to do now that we are feeling better. Now that the pain is gone we have things to do. Like them we are too busy to say thank you.
There was a woman who approached her church life as a task to be completed. She said that church was a bore. It was so much easier to go to an abbreviated service in the weekend and get it over with. She had lost the meaning of worship. She was intent on “doing” church, but not on experiencing worship. She did not have time to thank God.
Have you ever found yourself in such a position? Have you ever forgotten to say thank you? Some of us have knelt before God and made all kinds of requests in hours of need. What kind of people are we if we have not been equally as eager to pour out our expressions of gratitude to God.
When we worship we are saying thank you to God.   When we are obedient to God’s command to love and serve others we are showing our gratitude to God. Worship and obedience go hand in hand. One without the other is inadequate.
While in seminary I brought a young man to church who was from a group home for the mentally disabled. He attended a Sunday School class. During the class persons began discussing things that had occurred at a recent church meeting. The young man raised his hand and said he had one thing to say. He said “I’m so glad to be here, God bless you all.” This young man understood what worship was all about – giving thanks.
Martin Luther, the great reformer said that true worship is the tenth leper returning a devotion which ends up saying thank you.
You and I are the tenth leper right here glorifying God; saying thank you for everything.
A man was on vacation with his son and family at the seashore in New England. On the first day of the vacation the man was outside digging a hole for a plant. The son was perplexed and asked his father why he would plant something at a property that they wouldn’t be returning to the next year. The father said that he knew that, and he was planting something that was called a century plant, a plant that wouldn’t be enjoyed until 20 or more years.    The son was even further perplexed. ‘Why would you plant something on a hot day in a house that’s not yours that will not even bloom for years?” The father said because years ago he had enjoyed such a plant and wished to provide enjoyment for someone else years from now.
Why are we here today? To worship and to give thanks to God. We give thanks to God for healing us as God healed the lepers. Healing is not simply a physical phenomenon. Healing comes from being obedient to God as the lepers were when they followed the commands of God. We give thanks and we worship so that we may be nurtured in our faith. As we are nurtured in our faith we will reach out to others in love and compassion. Our church will then be a haven of peace and love in the present and in years to come.
We thank God today for all that has been given to us.
A Little Faith
10/11/2010 9:33:50 AM
 
(Excerpts from a sermon) “A Little Faith “ Luke 17: 5-10
October 3, 2010
 
The man on the talk show was sharing about his life before he came to faith in God. He said he had been addicted to many things. He had lost his job. His family life had unraveled. He lost his home.
 
Then he found God and everything changed.  He now had a multi-million dollar business, a fabulous new home and a new wife!
 
1.      What a story? We would like God to fix everything. Today’s passage from Luke gives a disturbing picture of what it means to be a disciple – what it means to follow Jesus.
 
The disciples ask Jesus to increase their faith.
 
Interesting, how they’ve been with him for awhile, they’ve seen Jesus in action, and they don’t feel as though they have enough faith.
 
Jesus sees they already have some faith; they just don’t know what to do with what they have.
 
So Jesus tells them a little story – a story about a master and a servant.
 
The parable is about a small farmer who has one servant; a servant who does the field work and the household chores.
 
The servant has worked hard all day outside and now comes in to the house. He’s tired and hungry. But he doesn’t get to rest. He has to make the meal now.
 
That is what he is expected to do – make the evening meal.
 
 
Only then is he allowed to rest.
 
And the Master doesn’t even say thank you to the servant for what he has done.
 
If this parable is supposed to relate to us; then it makes us uncomfortable.  If God is the master and we are the servants, then God expects too much from us. In other parables the servants are rewarded for what they do. Not here!
 
 
2.      There’s a story about  a woman was feeling hopeless. She spoke with a friend about her feelings. The  friend invited he to go with her to visit at a nursing home. The woman felt a lot better. The friend said “Great, come with me next week." The woman said “You don’t expect me to do this all the time” We know what to do but we don’t want to do it.

A popular refrain in many churches and organizations is:  “I’m too old, I’m too tired, I can’t do anymore.”
 
God has given us all that we need.
 
 
Consider today’s scripture.
Jesus has called a small group to follow him as his disciples.  And throughout the story, they have shown that they are less than perfect disciples.
 
They have misunderstood him and disobeyed him.
 
Maybe that’s why the disciples then beg Jesus, “Increase our faith!
 
You don’t need much faith to be faithful as one of my disciples.
 
 
 
3.      This parable is about the duty of the servant. Duty is not a popular word. It is closely related to the word “doulos,” which denotes slavery.
 
Duty was once honored by Victorian moralists. Duty is not revered for us..
 
We modern people have been told how much we deserve; we have been told by the media and all the self-help books to look out for #1 and try and fulfilll our desires which are limitless. We worry about burn out.
 
 Here Jesus is challenging us to be servants. Jesus is challenging us to be slaves.
 
Even when you’ve labored and you’ve given and you’ve taught and scrubbed and prayed  and gave your tithe. It’s not over.
 
Even when the demands seem unrealistic a servant is only doing what is required and expected.
 
If this is true when the servant is told to prepare the master’s evening meal after plowing and tending the sheep all day, then it is also true when the servant is told to forgive a brother or a sister countless times. 
 
4.      All this began by the disciples asking Jesus to increase their faith
 
 
How do we learn about faith?
 
The best way to learn about faith is to be faithful to God.
 
Christian discipleship is not about getting what we deserve. We may leave this place today more refreshed, renewed. The goal is to become a more faithful follower.
 
 
A famous writer was talking about his work.
 
 
How do you get in the mood to write? How do I get in the mood?
 
Well, I have breakfast, then I sit down at my computer, and then I write. I’m a writer. That’s what I do. I write.
 
This writer is dutiful to his vocation. How can we be obedient to our calling?
 
 
There was a little girl once who happened upon an old man who was fishing in the mighty Mississippi River. Immediately the little girl began to ask the aged fisherman questions as only children can do. Patiently the man answered each one.
 
Suddenly their conversation was interrupted by the whistle of a riverboat paddling down the river. The old man and the young girl stared in awe.
 
 
Above the noise of the paddle wheel the little girl called across the water: “Let me ride! Let me ride!
 
The old man turned to the girl and tried to calm her down explaining that the riverboat was too important a ship to stop and give rides to little children.
 
 
The little girl insisted “Let me ride.”
 
Well, the great ship pulled for shore and a gangplank was lowered. In a flash the little girl was on the boat.    The old man continued to stare after the ship.
 
 
Then the little girl appeared above the rail. She said, “Mister, I knew this ship would stop for me. The Captain is my Father.”
 
 
We have a little bit of faith. We try to be faithful. And like the captain of the riverboat, God sees us, stops for us and gives us strength.
September 29, 2010
9/29/2010 7:17:11 PM

Dear Friends:

Autumn is here. As you look around you the leaves are falling and at times the air is crisp. For those of us who enjoyed a long hot summer the change can be a welcome one. Each season is an opportunity for a new beginning. One of the images of change and new beginnings for me is looking at the waves at the ocean.  There can be shells, seaweed, and the footprints on the sand, but when the waves come all is washed away. So it is with the things in our lives that interfere with new beginnings. Through the power of Christ the old is washed away and there is a new slate, a new beginning.

May God bless you in your journey.

Grace and Peace,

Alice Cook

Taking Up The Cross
9/19/2010 8:11:23 PM

The following is a sermon preached by Alice M. Cook on March 8, 2009

"Taking Up the Cross"
Mark 8: 31-38
 

The owner of a West Virginia country store adamantly refused to purchase for his shelves something the salesperson was touting as the "latest, best selling fad, that everyone wanted."

You must remember the storekeeper said “in this part of the country every want is not a need."

A young woman was working overtime weeks upon weeks to purchase a luxury for her life. She told her friend, “I want it, therefore I need it.”

Today, in the gospel Jesus challenges this philosophy and offers an alternative lifestyle. You will probably not like.

In Mark’s gospel Jesus tells us where he is going. He is moving out of Galilee, moving towards Jerusalem. This is the beginning of what some folks might call the end. He tells the disciples that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, be rejected, be killed, and then rise again.

This is not what the disciples were expecting to hear. The Jews were looking for a Messiah. Life was rough. The Romans were occupying their land. They were exacting heavy taxes. The people were living in poverty and fear. They needed help and hope. So they prayed for a Messiah—one who would free them. Jesus tells them they will have to deny themselves, take up their cross and follow him.

This is a gloomy message. Does this sound like a good way to recruit for a group? This is not the message we share with others. We do not join a church because we want to carry a cross. We like to tell people that Jesus will make their lives better. We attend church because it is socially acceptable, and we can develop a nice network of friends.

Laypersons are not the only ones who find their way into church because it is comfortable. I heard a seminary student say, “I can’t wait to graduate so I can be assigned a church and play golf all day.” We want comfort; but that is not what Jesus shows us. They were traveling through the villages and Peter identifies Jesus as the Messiah. Jesus shares that he will suffer. Peter cannot accept this. Jesus looks at Peter and says “Get behind me, Satan, you’re not on God’s side.” Jesus had to shock Peter and the rest of them. They were on the wrong track when they thought they were joining a winning team without any problems.

What does it mean to deny ourselves, take up a cross and follow Christ? I recall hearing the story of a young minister who began his ministry in a little town in Alabama. His first year he felt led to speak out on the racial situation in the town. Next year the church had him moved.

In his next church he tried to keep his head down, but there was an incident at the local mill. He tried to address it in a sermon, but the church turned against him; made life miserable for his wife and children.

Now at this third church in 6 years, he is in trouble again for his preaching. He has been told by friends, “You’re working for a tough boss, Yours is a living God. This just doesn’t happen in ministry.”

Some of you might know what it means to be verbally attacked in your job. You may be snubbed by your neighbors and friends because of what you believe and how you live your life. A couple I know has a Bible study group meet in their home on a regular basis. The neighbors chuckle and make snide remarks “Oh, I see your little friends have been over.”

A man with a good business takes two weeks off each year to be a volunteer at a church camp. His associates do not understand. It is not popular to live one’s faith. There isn’t a way to be faithful to Jesus and to avoid crosses. Jesus says it so plainly. “If anyone wants to become my follower, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” The cross is something we decide to bear. The cross is that which we take up as a part of being faithful to Jesus.

We take up crosses in our daily lives by saying no to some things and yes to others. Tithing is one way we take up a cross. Tithing is a way of saying No to the idea that all we have should be spent for our own security. Tithing is way of saying Yes to the idea that life is more than food and clothing. We take up crosses so we can share with others.

One man writes: “I believe that when I get to heaven I will be welcomed by people from Kenya because for years I have helped to support a mission there.” We take up our crosses so we can serve others.

One woman feels so grateful that she can take a vacation each year. As a way of saying thank you for what she has received she pays for a child to go to camp for a week. We take up our crosses by voluntarily respecting the Sabbath. Our ancestors in faith were commanded to say no to the pressures of work one day a week, in order to say yes to the need for worship and rest. It is a commandment of God that we stop and say thank you and worship.

The first century people knew the Cross as an electric chair, the gallows, the most cruel punishment the world had devised. If we no longer sense the pain and agony of the cross, maybe we don’t sense its glory either.

Jesus invites us to go with him to the cross. To have Jesus go with us is a wonderful thing. The cross is good news.

Bonhoeffer was born to a German family. He always had everything given to him. Yet Bonhoeffer, unlike most of his fellow German Christians knew when it was time for him to lay aside all that and to take the narrow way of the cross. Before his death he wrote: ‘The cross is laid on every Christian. When Christ calls a man, he bids them to come and die.”

Bonhoeffer’s life illustrates that Christians do not go out looking for a cross to bear. If we are faithful, the world will offer us one sooner of later. There will be crosses for us to take up each day. They will not fit into our schedule. They will be inconvenient. They will present us with an opportunity to serve Christ.

May we take up our crosses and follow him.

“Forgive us for turning our churches into private clubs, for loving the familiar, more than we love you - for covering our eyes and hearts to shut out the cry of the hungry and the hurt of the world.” Amen.

Ruth
9/19/2010 8:10:45 PM
The following is a sermon given by Pastor Alice M. Cook on May 10, 2009

Ruth
Ruth 1:1-19

The Book of Ruth is a story about a person who lived about 3000 years ago. Ruth is a story of a woman and the family she married into. The story is about a family in trouble. A father has died, leaving his wife and sons poorly provided for. His two sons went to marry women of another religion. The two sons die, and the mother-in-law is left with two daughters-in-law whom she does not understand.

Our story is set in the time of the Judges in Israel, when according to the last verse of the Book of Judges, there was an ineffective administration in the government, and everyone did what was right in their own eyes. There was violence in the streets, and corruption in high places. It was a time when it was difficult to be a family.

There is economic disaster as well. Famine in the land, older persons dying in the street, and wanderings of beggars were part of the landscape. It is in this setting that Naomi and her husband leave their home in Bethlehem and travel to Moab. They have heard that things are better in Moab. Things are not so good in Moab as they discover later. Naomi�s husband dies in Moab, and she is left to raise her two sons alone. They end up dating girls whose background is dissimilar from Naomi�s sons. Naomi is on her own and tries to do what is best.

A few months later, Naomi has herself two Moabite daughters-in-law; Orpah and Ruth. She tries to make the best of it, but it gets a great deal tougher. Both of Naomi's sons die and Naomi is left with two daughters-in-law. Naomi decides to leave the land of Moab and go to Judah where her family and other Jews reside. Naomi urges her daughters-in-law to stay in Moab. Orpah stays and Ruth adamantly decides to go with her mother-in-law.

We have trouble understanding this story not just because it is 3000 years old . We have trouble because we have constructed a society which acts as if it were possible to be a full human being with no attachments, no claims, no bonds between people.

We like our choices. We choose where we will live. We choose which profession we will enter. We choose our religion. We choose whether to marry, or have children. We choose our friends. For us, the individual is everything. We even come to church choosing what makes us comfortable and what we will do. So the story of Ruth makes us uncomfortable. Two women are bound together in the face of a hostile world.

The story says that family, parents, and children are an invitation to become vulnerable to one another. We are invited to link our future to some project greater than ourselves. To be in any family, any relationship is to venture forth like Ruth and Naomi without a guarantee for the future. The only confidence we have is that the future is more bearable when we bear it together.

In the church we link ourselves with others who are different from us. The story of Ruth became a part of the Hebrew scripture to remind us that God does not leave us when life is difficult. When we are as desperate as a widow, God is committed to us because that is the way God is.

Ruth went to Bethlehem and she found a husband. Through her children and grandchildren and further generations we find Joseph the carpenter. Joseph became the earthly father of Jesus. Jesus is the one who saves; who came for us. God worked through an ordinary person like Ruth to bring hope to us.
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