I remember sitting in the Old Testament Biblical Studies class, and under the guidance and wisdom of O/T professor Marion Taylor, the topic of the day was the Book of Ruth. It only shows up in the Revised Common Lectionary once every three years and seldom is it used as a starting point for sermons. The Book of Ruth is, without a doubt, the greatest short story in the Old Testament, as it lays out life lessons around life’s challenges, about grappling with death and loss, and embracing life’s “new normal”. Let us take a look as to how the story of Ruth opens, (it is only four chapters in length), and then perhaps the life lessons will become clearer for us. In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were M...
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