It's a Wonderful Life: Ruth
Advent 2022
Not Left Without
December 18, 2022 • Gerrit Dawson • Ruth 4:13–17
The story of Ruth is a Christmas story. Blessed be the LORD I Am, who has not left you this day without a redeemer. He will be to you’re a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age. Into Naomi’s life of famine, loss, grief and bitterness, God sent a redeemer. She was no longer to identify her life as left without. God began to restore her with the love of Ruth. Then he sent a redeemer in Boaz and then in Obed. That’s a great story. But it points to an even better one. Into this dark, lost, shattered world, God sent a Redeemer named Jesus, a descendent of Ruth. It is still the This Day of his arrival. He has come to redeem his people. We are the community who belongs to Christ. We don’t let people get lost and stuck in the despair that evil and bitterness and grief have the last word. They do not. The Redeemer has come and will come again. Will I, can I, trust this news? Will I trust myself to him? Will I embrace the identity that matters: I do not belong to myself but to my faithful savior born this day! That makes for a truly wonder-filled life.
I Will Redeem You!
December 11, 2022 • Gerrit Dawson • Ruth 3:6–13
Jesus has already established the grounds for redeeming us. He became our kinsman in the flesh. He shed his blood in an offering for our sin. He rose still joined to our humanity. He created reconciliation between God and man. He is the redeemer who has given his life for us. Now everything depends on the question, “Will I give my life to Christ?” Perhaps for the first time. Perhaps after a long season of wandering and disobedience. Perhaps by giving a secret, cherished sin that I have long held back from him. Perhaps by trusting and releasing to him at a new level. There is a redeemer. Can I say as Ruth did, “All that you say, I will do?” Can I say, in this present moment, as Mary did to Gabriel, “Let it be to me according to your Word.”
Under His Wings
December 4, 2022 • Ruth 2:5–13
We are but gleaners after scraps, if the truth be known. But when we come to shelter under the wings of the God of Israel, we discover the startling transformation. He does not give us scraps. He gives us himself. For his very nature is steadfast love and kindness. The echoes of the Christmas story in Ruth resound all around us. Boaz acts like Joseph, protecting and providing for a vulnerable woman. Ruth acts like Mary, giving herself completely into God’s care. Loving with an open heart. I can hear Ruth saying Mary’s words, “Behold the handmaiden of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word.” And everywhere the sovereign God is weaving the surprises of his extraordinary grace reaching the world through ordinary people. So come to the table, dear ones, in great expectation that the sovereign God will bless you today. Discover anew that in Christ, it’s a wonder-filled life.
Don't Ask Me to Leave You
November 27, 2022 • Gerrit Dawson • Ruth 1:1–18
Jesus is no stranger to anything you are going through. He has been all the way to the far, foreign country of our lives. He did not turn back from us then. He does not turn away from us now. He still wants to go with you every step of the way. He still clings to you. He will not be shaken off. He will not be dissuaded. He will not stop loving you. He has already paid the ultimate price, getting skin in the game all the way to death on a cross. Now he calls to you through his Spirit from heaven, “Do you see me coming to you? Do you hear me pledging myself to you? Turn to me! Answer me! Embrace me.” This, dear ones, is the heart of Christmas. When we welcome his arrival and accept his love, everything changes. Even our sorrows and sufferings become woven into what can only be called a wonderful life.