Good morning,
Let's begin by finding stillness in your body.
So if you're sitting,
Begin to notice the space and the ground beneath your feet.
A small but real reminder that you are held.
Now,
Take a deep breath in through your nose and slowly out through your mouth.
Let's do that one more time.
Make this a full breath in,
Breathing from your belly and slowly releasing out through your mouth.
Breathe in,
Breathe out,
And let the breath be permission.
Permission to arrive here in this moment without pretending you're fine if you're not.
Breathe in,
Breathe out.
You know,
Some mornings are tender and some seasons of life ask us more than we feel equipped to give,
But this is a safe place to do so.
You're welcome here.
All of you.
Not just the parts that are holding it together at the moment.
Know that God is here and God is not surprised by what you brought through the door this morning.
So breathe and let go.
This morning we turn to the book of Ruth,
Chapter 1,
Verses 19 through 21.
I'll be reading slowly and then once more.
And simply let the words find you where you are.
And the word says,
So the two women went out until they came to Bethlehem.
When she arrived in Bethlehem,
The whole town was stirred because of them.
And the women exclaimed,
Can this be Naomi?
Don't call me Naomi,
She told them.
Call me Mara.
Because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.
I went away full.
But the Lord has brought me back empty.
So why call me Naomi?
The Lord has afflicted me.
The Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.
Don't call me Naomi.
Call me Mara.
Because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.
I went away full.
But the Lord has brought me back empty.
Beloved Naomi has lost everything.
Her husband.
Both of her sons.
Her home.
Her future as she had imagined it.
She had left Bethlehem full of life and family.
And she was returning as a widow with nothing.
Nothing but a daughter-in-law who refused to leave her side.
And when the women of the town recognized her.
Called out her name,
The name that meant pleasant.
She said don't.
Don't call me that.
That is not who I am anymore.
I am Mara.
Bitter.
Because this is what my life has become.
Dear friend Naomi didn't fake it.
She didn't rush to reassure everyone that God was still good and that she was fine.
She told the truth about her pain.
And she did it publicly.
Out loud.
Before the whole community.
And what's remarkable is that the Bible doesn't rebuke her for it.
God doesn't punish Naomi for her lament.
The text simply holds her honesty with dignity.
And so in a culture and sometimes church.
That seems to want to rush past grief to get to the resurrection.
Naomi stands boldly at the city gate.
And says I need you to see what I have lost.
Before you celebrate what may come next.
This is what you call profound mental and spiritual health dear friends.
Naming grief is not faithlessness.
Lament is biblical.
There is an entire book of the Bible called Lamentations.
And the Psalms are full of it.
God designed our hearts to grieve.
Not to bypass it.
So is there something in your life right now that you haven't given permission to grieve?
Maybe a relationship or maybe a version of yourself or a season.
That ended before you were ready.
Naomi teaches us that you are allowed to say it.
You are allowed to be where you are.
And God.
The one who held her in her bitterness.
And still wrote redemption into her story.
Can hold you too.
So in this time of quiet reflection.
Give it over to God.
Call him into your pain.
As you breathe.
And let go.
Now let's pray.
God of Naomi.
God of the bitter.
I come to you this morning with the full weight of who I am.
I confess that sometimes I am not pleasant.
Sometimes life has left me empty.
In ways I don't fully understand or know how to explain.
Sometimes I've lost things.
People.
Possibilities.
Seasons.
And I don't know how to talk about it without worrying that I'll upset someone or seem ungrateful for what I still have.
God I bring you my Myra.
The parts of me that have been made bitter by loss.
The grief I have tucked away because there wasn't space for it.
The sadness that sits underneath my smile.
When I show up and when I serve.
Yep you see it.
You always have.
And I understand now you're not afraid of it.
Thank you for giving us Naomi's story.
For showing us a woman who spoke the truth about her pain.
And she wasn't abandoned.
Thank you for showing us that lament is not the opposite of faith.
It is one of the forms that faith takes when it is being completely honest.
God I don't ask you to rush me past the grief.
But I ask you to be present in it with me.
To be the God who walks with me.
The way that Ruth walked with Naomi.
Refusing to leave me alone in my emptiness.
I trust that you are still writing my story.
And that emptiness is not the final word.
That you can truly bring harvest even after the hardest winter.
But for now this morning.
I simply bring you what is real.
And I trust that you receive it with the same grace.
You gave to Naomi.
In Jesus's name.
Amen.
Now receive this closing blessing.
May you be given permission today to call things what they are.
May your grief find a witness in God.
In community.
In the quiet of this morning.
May you carry Naomi's courage.
The courage to tell the truth about your pain.
Without shame.
And may you also carry her hope.
Because Naomi's story didn't end at the city gate.
And neither does yours.
In the name of the Father.
The Son.
And the Holy Ghost.
Amen.
