For Lent 2021, I am following the Daily Reflections on Hope and Change, from the book “Faith on the Move”. At the end of each week, I will share stories which I hope will be inspirational for your own journey.
Ruth 1:16-20 NIV
16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go, I will go, and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. 19 So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?” 20 “Don’t call me Naomi” she told them. “Call me Mara because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.
Naomi had suffered the death of many loved ones, leading her to change her name to Mara (which means bitter). She urged her daughter-in-law to let her travel to her homeland alone, but Ruth would not let her go. And so, Ruth and Naomi travelled together to Bethlehem, fleeing famine and death. This pilgrimage started not as an adventure into a new life together, but as a journey filled with pain and loss. A pilgrimage of solidarity.
Whether our journeys are physical or emotional, we go together, with the love of God, even and maybe especially when our hearts are heavy with fear.
Each Lenten journey, we travel with Jesus to the cross. We go knowing it isn’t easy but recognizing that we are not alone, that Jesus was not alone. We move in solidarity amidst pain and loss, trusting that hope will break through and (we) as well as our world, will be transformed.
Let’s Pray:
God of Ruth and Naomi
God of pilgrimage to the cross
God of solidarity, we pray
For your hope to enter our hearts amidst our fear,
For your love to enter our hearts amidst our grief,
For your courage to enter our hearts amidst our pain.
Move us to be in solidarity with all people searching for hope.
Move us to stay with Jesus on his journey as he stays with us.
In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen
- Story submitted by Miriam Spies