_JPG.jpg)
Sermon 363 St. Martin’s 119 (Riverway) 9/22/24
St. John’s Academy
Today, as part of our ongoing series on the Book of Ruth, I want us to talk about the Providence of God and how we see that at work in Chapter 3. But first, a story.
Back in May, I had the chance to go to Cape Town, South Africa with my mom and a few people from her church. Over ten days we met with different church groups to learn about their ministry in Cape Town.
South Africa is in a fragile social, political, and economic state right now. The effects of apartheid are still evident everywhere, though it officially ended 30 years ago.
Some of the Anglican churches we visited have found ways to minister to disadvantaged communities, but the problems are complex, and the church’s response is just one part of the multilayered issues that plague the country.
But when talking to some young adults, they were skeptical of the church's supposed role in their lives. It was as if they felt the larger church was just playing church and not thinking much about the daily concerns of those in the pew.
A number of these 20 to 30-year-olds had stopped worshiping on Sunday mornings because the church’s message didn’t connect to their lived experience. (As a preacher, that was a wake-up call.)
One ministry that we saw combating the discontent of young Christians was the St. John’s Leadership Academy. Many of the same young adults who wouldn’t walk into a church on a Sunday morning have found a home in this once-a-week program that is sponsored by a few Anglican churches in Cape Town.
It has become their defacto church where they have formed a genuine Christian community.
And the impact has been significant. Not only have more young adults uniquely engaged with the church, but each graduate of the program feels empowered to go into their community and be a Christian leader in whatever form that looks like for them. Some may go work in a church, but most are incorporating their theological formation into their 9-to-5 jobs. It has completely changed people’s lives.
We got to sit down with the founder of Leadership Academy, Duncan McLea, who was the Rector of St. John’s Parish at the time. We wanted to know what made this program so successful. What was the magic behind it? Where did he get this brilliant idea?
He said that he happened to find himself at a one-day training on how to cultivate leaders. He wasn’t sure if he had the skills, or if the church was ready to start a ministry like this.
Everyone was asking at this event: when do you start? When do you know you're ready? And the presenter simply said, “Put a date in your calendar.” Or as they say, “Put a date in your diary.”
Pretty simple. Put a date in your calendar. Just start. Look around and invite people you think have some gifts that need to be nurtured and go for it!
That got Duncan thinking. If we never think we’re ready, or we’re waiting for the right resources to perfectly fall in our lap, then will be waiting FOREVER. We’ll constantly push it off to next month or next year.
But Duncan saw a need for the church to train up the next generation of Christians—not to go into ordained ministry per se—but to raise up disciples who would take their Christian vocation into all walks of life.
And so, he looked around and started asking folks who seemed to have a clear gift but needed a bit of encouragement and guidance. They started meeting once a month in the Parish Hall, and then once a week, and next thing you know, there was the St. John’s Leadership Academy with staff and a whole lot of students.
Duncan didn’t have a three-year plan or ten-year plan. He just put a date on his calendar and started doing the thing he felt God calling him to do.
When do you know it’s time to do something new or bold in your life? Are you a detailed planner (or a little bit more like Duncan) and just jump into the deep end and learn how to swim?
We have these moments in our lives when we are discerning our next step and not always certain what it is or how to get there. You may even say something like, “I know God has a plan for my life, but I honestly don’t know which door God wants me to walk through?”
Ruth 3 There’s some of that in our reading from Ruth Chapter 3. Naomi has a plan. Is it her plan or God’s? Cause it sure sounds like hers. But Ruth trusts Naomi with her life, and so she goes with it; she puts on some perfume and heads to the threshing floor.
Neither this chapter nor the book in general talks much about God. That is the critique some people will give this book. There’s not a clear, “God said this…and he commanded that.”
But as we see in this chapter (and more clearly next week), God is working quietly behind the scenes. He is working through a very fraught human situation. For Ruth and Naomi, this is about having food on the table and a roof over their heads.
While Ruth may be reflecting on how God is present in all this, Naomi straps a parachute to Ruth and pushes her out of the plane. The time is now!
Whether it’s Ruth Chapter 3 or Duncan in Cape Town or us here in Houston, the question of God’s Providence is a big one.
And by Providence, I mean that God is actively at work in the world he has made. There is freedom and choice to live according to God’s will or our own, but either way, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost have not caught the last train for the coast. God is actively involved in the world he has made.
But how? Our guest preacher from two weeks ago, Michael Lloyd says in his book that God works “historically and demographically… within the patterns of human interaction, habitation and migration to bring about his purposes.”[i] Meaning, he’s in it all—there’s not a part of human life where God is absent or ambivalent.
And what’s God’s goal? Why does he do it? So that we can know him and be in a relationship with him. God works in the muddled mess of human circumstances to draw us closer to him.
In all things, Lloyd says, God will not “dispense with our response, nor compel it, but he will move heaven and earth to try to elicit [a desire for us to follow him]…his purposes are thus relational.”[ii]
God looks at humans—in their complicated state—and says, “I can do something with that. I can redeem that. I can raise them up.” And sometimes unbeknownst to us, we get caught up in the flow of what God is doing. The actions we do end up reflecting God’s actions in the situation. And I think that’s what we see in this chapter.
Over the past three weeks, we are beginning to see people like Ruth and Boaz acting as agents of God’s love, whether they realize it or not. The word “kindness” in Hebrew (hesed) is sprinkled throughout this book.
Ruth showed kindness to Naomi and her grief, and in Verse 10 Boaz recognizes that Ruth has shown kindness to him, and that same hesed will be reciprocated in Chapter 4.
I say this to wedding couples all the time, but I think it applies to everyone. When there is an opportunity to forgive someone, and we do it, we are reflecting how God has forgiven us – we are sharing that divine gift with others.
When we show love, mercy, or grace to another person, we are reflecting the same love and mercy that was first given to us by God. We don’t hold onto it for ourselves; we are overflowing with the very characteristics of our Maker. We bless others with the gift we’ve been given.
And the more we align ourselves with the characteristics of God, the more likely it’ll become intuitive for us.
I think that may be a reason why the author of Ruth isn’t so focused on citing every moment that God is involved in these people's lives because God’s involved in all of it.
It’s not that Naomi is simply orchestrating something on her own, but it’s a path that leads to restoration and redemption in a very earthly sense.
They understand God cares about those things too, and they reflect his values in a way that leads to their restoration. This divine kindness links everyone in this story to each other and to God.
And I say that because it may not be today that you’re thinking about what God has next for you; you may be exactly where God wants you to be, and praise God for that.
For all of us though, there are seasons in our life where we are discerning what is next. Maybe the best thing that we can do is to be faithful in the small things, to build the habits of God’s kingdom, so that when something major comes, we are already in the rhythm and the flow of God and his purposes for our life.
I think Duncan could start training leaders because he was already moving in that direction. He put a date in his calendar, and God took care of the rest. That one faithful action has multiplied into many. And I think the same is true for us.
God is faithful and his purposes for us are good—that’s what God’s Providence reminds us. God can do a whole lot with a little bit of faith.
So put a date on your calendar, grab a parachute if you dare, and don’t be surprised when God tells you to jump into something new. He’ll be right there with you.
[i] Café Theology p. 97
[ii] Café Theology p. 97
Comments