As the church calendar turns to the start of a new year, our word for the beginning this week is We can’t go alone! Share this message with someone who might welcome this reminder.
Between Sundays for Week of December 9, 2024
We can’t go alone!
This truth is not just for the beginning of Advent; it is one of the most fundamental truths of human existence from the beginning of creation.
Throughout Scripture, we are reminded that we can’t go alone. (If you’re anything like Pastor Hoffman, we need this reminder often! Maybe you can relate to the story she shares in Sunday’s sermon, starting at 27:40.) In the book of Ruth, we hear the story of Naomi and her husband and their two sons who move to Moab, where their sons marry. Eventually, Naomi’s husband and both sons die, leaving Naomi and her daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth, alone. Naomi starts to return home to Bethlehem and insists that Orpah and Ruth stay back to return to their families. She plans to go home alone. Orpah does as she asks, but Ruth refuses with her now-famous proclamation:
Where you go, I will go;
where you lodge, I will lodge,
your people shall be my people,
and your God my God. (Ruth 1:16)
We often hear these words at weddings, but this is their original context. These are the words spoken by a widowed daughter-in-law to her widowed mother-in-law – two women who are haunted by grief and left to forge their way in a world where widows were extremely vulnerable. Ruth understands this basic tenet of faith – we can’t go alone – and she’s not going to let Naomi try.
But God is ultimately faithful to God’s people. Ruth’s commitment to Naomi led to her to the land where she married Boaz, birthed Obed, and became a great, great (many greats) grandmother to Jesus. And Jesus – the one for whom we wait this Advent – became one of us, so we could never be alone, in any moment, in any circumstance.
Beloved, may we know deep in our beings that we are not alone on this winding journey. May the companionship of fellow sojourners reflect the love of the One who – in becoming flesh – chose to journey alongside us. May the quilt of life warm us from the chill of isolation, and may the Spirit move us to compassion as we reach towards one another in love so no one has to go alone.
P.S. If you are trying to go it alone and would welcome some company on the journey, please reach out. We can’t go alone – and we don’t want you to try.
P.P.S. Watch Sunday’s worship service as we mark the second Sunday of Advent as we await Christ’s coming. View past services on the Share in Worship page of BLC’s website!
Patty Chaffee
Family Faith Formation Coordinator
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Ponderings
It is becoming common knowledge that loneliness is bad for our mental and physical health. The U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy calls loneliness and “epidemic” and more than half of Americans report feeling lonely. While Scripture teaches that we can’t go alone, too many in our country feel alone.
Churches are uniquely positioned to foster the kind of relationships that support our need for connection. (That’s part of why BLC is committed to Building Lasting Community!)
Where and with whom do you feel seen and known and cared for? To whom might you reach out so they might feel the same?
