Many of you might know this is one of my favorite books in the Bible, I love the story of Ruth. This story is found in the middle of the time period of the Judges. A time when there is continued fighting, famine, disobedience, idolatry, oppression, repentance, and heroes raised up in the land. A time when God still wants the people to be faithful to him, but where they continue to choose other ways and things and where God is asking for repentance and forgiveness will be given.

This is the situation we find today in the story. And the characters we meet at Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz. It?s a story that is placed in famine, heartache, death, felt abandonment by God, and isolation. In addition, Naomi?s family, left Bethlehem and went to another country, where God was not worshiped. In this foreign land, her sons married foreign women. I don?t know if you remember, but in other books of the bible, the punishment for marrying foreign women could be death. The whole story of the book of Ruth is one that is very fuzzy. And as we continue to walk through the bible, you will begin to see that when things get a little fuzzy, that means God is usually up to something. And I think the true is same for our lives and the life of this congregation.

When I think about the three main characters of this story: Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz, I am very intrigued by how they represent many of us in this congregation, as well as our congregation as a whole.

As I think about Naomi; Naomi is a person who left her homeland, and in doing that, lost her sense of livelihood when her husband died and eventually when her sons died. Naomi was a person who was surrounded by death, a widow, disappointment, full of bitterness, anger, fear?she had lost everything and was expected to figure out her life. Naomi would have felt deserted by God, helpless, hopeless about the future, and forgotten by God. Have you ever been felt that way? Have you ever been in any of those places?

And then we have Ruth, the foreigner, a widow, living in her homeland, but with foreigners?who made the decision out of love to stay with her mother-in-law and move back to her hometown. Ruth left everything she knew to take a huge risk in moving forward in her life, she is being faithful. She was willing to try new things, explore new ways to live, gather information about what could happen, and listened to those around her. Ruth made a choice to not live in the disappointment and loss, but to see what else could happen in her life. Have you ever been in that place? Have you ever thought about trying new and different things because something awful has happened? Are you a risk taker, or do you allow life to just happen to you?

Finally, there is Boaz. He is well-established, professional man. He is in awe of what he hears, he learns more about the situation, and decides to make a difference in a person?s life. Boaz decides to offer protection, food, and care for a long distant family member and her foreign daughter in law. He takes a risk to welcome someone into his life that is ?not from around here? and truly changes the course of history. This man, who is the son of Rahab-the prostitute from the stories of Joshua who hid the spies and in return her family was welcomed into the house of Israel-knows something about being a looked at differently from those on the inside. Boaz stepped up to be the guardian redeemer and care for the widow who was poor and an outcast to society. I wonder, have you ever found yourself in a situation where you could be a ?Boaz? and provide care for someone else? Have you ever taken a risk to see what could happen in a relationship with someone? Have you stepped outside of your comfort zone and asked questions to learn more about a person and their situation?

I bet we can all find ourselves in the different people of this story. There are aspects of these three people that we can all relate too. Yet, one is a typical way we lean towards. Take a minute and write down on your bulletin who it is you find yourself identifying with today.

But here is the next step to this exercise?where are we as a congregation? If we look around, do we see a lot of people like Naomi, Ruth, or Boaz? Do we see a good blend of folks or are more of us in the same place in life? As God was up to something in the lives of these three people, even when it seemed fuzzy, are we willing to see that God is up to something here at Wintergarden? So take a moment, and write down on your bulletin who our congregation is most like?Naomi, Ruth, or Boaz.

Because we will always be surrounded by folks like the three main characters in this story. But just like God used the three of them in a way that wasn?t typical in that day, God was able to do something amazing. God made it clear that all people are welcomed into God?s story. God said no matter who you are, where you are from, where you go, or what has happened in your life, I want to be in your life and I want to have a relationship with you. In addition, God wants us to be in relationship with other people to share this story with them all. As a Naomi, Ruth, or Boaz, we all have a different part of the story to tell. And we are all integral to that story. Let us continue to make God?s story vital to our story and live out our lives accordingly. Amen.