Carole King and Ruth 1:16
“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.’”
When I was a teenager, my mom and I would binge watch Gilmore Girls every Christmas break. Gilmore girls, for those of you who don’t know, is a show about a mother and her teenage daughter in a small town in Connecticut. It is quirky, funny, smart, and a perfect common interest for any mother/teenage daughter duos. We would pull out our couch and make it into a bed that we would fill with pillows and blankets. There we would sit, watching Gilmore Girls for hours. Covered in blankets, drinking coffee with our favorite creamer, singing along to the opening song; “Where You Lead” by Carole King.
“Where you lead, I will follow, anywhere that you tell me to, if you need, you need me to be with you, I will follow where you lead.”
Okay but what does this have to do with Ruth? I was hoping you could see where I was going with this.
Ruth 1:16 is a beloved favorite of mine. So much that it is being included in our wedding vows! I think this is where we see companionship in the darkest moments. In this text, Ruth is talking to her mother-in-law, who has just lost all her sons and is sending her daughters-in-law away to live new lives, to move on. Yet Ruth stands by her side, as her faithful companion, as her partner.
The verse begins with her saying “don’t urge me to leave you.” Typically, this line is not the star of the show when it comes to Ruth. We typically cling to the second half of the verse that reads like vows. However, could this part of the verse perhaps be the clearest example of loyalty when faced with loneliness? Before she can assure Naomi that she will not leave, Ruth says “hey girl, stop pushing me away. I’m not going anywhere.” And when Naomi sees that Ruth will not leave her, she stops encouraging her to. She accepts the company in her grief. That is the kind of wife I want to be. I want to be someone who amid the storm stays tethered to their partner’s side. No matter where you go, what happens, how isolated you feel- I am here. I would want that in return. The traditional marriage vows can seem so light as we hear them wedding after wedding, but isn’t this the loyalty we promise? Stop asking me to leave, you are not a burden to be abandoned. You are beloved.
“If you’re out on the road feeling lonely and so cold, all you have to do is call my name and I’ll be there on the next train.”
This is also the kind of Church I want to be. When someone in our community feels alone, feels scared, faces change, should we not turn to them and say what Ruth says to Naomi? Do not tell us to leave you, beloved. I will sit with you through this storm. I will go where you need me to go, or I will take you. You are my people.
Or as Carole would say “If you’re out on the road feeling lonely and so cold, all you have to do is call my name and I’ll be there on the next train.”
Ruth shows us how to be good partners, how to treat those we love and consider our family.
To those of us who are suffering. Who feel scared. Who feel overwhelmed. Who feel isolated and lonely. You are not a burden; you are our family. Where you stay, we will stay too.
To those of us who can offer care, may we never leave. When our sibling needs us, may we sit with them, stand with them, protect them, and have empathy.
I pray we can be a little more like Ruth this week. Amen.
Where you lead, I will follow