From Ruth and Naomi, to the disciples, and today, the hallmark of faithful living has been acting together in love. God’s love is shown to the world by the way we care for one another.
Worship with Holy Communion this week:
Saturday – 5:00 p.m. in the chapel
Sunday – 8:30 a.m. Traditional Worship
9:30 a.m. – Sunday School and Adult Class
10:30 a.m. – Contemporary Worship
Acting Together October 17-18, 2015
I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. –John 13:34-35
This commandment is about community. It is about the common good. It is about our living as disciples of Jesus. He commands that we follow him together. He commands us to love one another. These are strange and foreign words in a culture that worships individualism. It is an odd concept in an economy that is based on the premise that the one who dies with the most “things” wins. It is hard to comprehend this commandment in a time where we all seek something more—more house, more car, more status, more power, more “stuff.” In this drive for “more” we find ourselves isolated and feeling alone. We fear our neighbor, we build higher fences and security systems, we live in fear of losing what we have accumulated. Jesus commands us to love one another—he calls us into relationships, he calls us into his community. His command is to love one another “as he has loved us!” In this community we move into relationship with Jesus and one another. This truly is a radical command—in our culture of individualism, none of us has enough. We all are driven to get more. But in this community of Jesus’ disciples, we begin to see that God provides us with more than enough!
Narrative Lectionary readings for the week:
Sunday, Ruth 1:1-17, Ruth
Monday, Ruth 1:18-22, Ruth and Naomi
Tuesday, Ruth 2:1-13, Ruth Meets Boaz
Wednesday, Ruth 2:14-23, Ruth Meets Boaz
Thursday, Ruth 3:1-18, Ruth and Boaz at the Threshing Floor
Friday, Ruth 4:1-12, The Marriage of Ruth and Boaz
Saturday, Ruth 4:13-22, The Genealogy of David
How do the three (Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz) rely on each other to get what they need? Tell a story of someone in your community that has done something risky for a greater good? How did it turn out?
