Sermon for 7/4/10: "Risking It All" (Ruth 1:1-19-Favorite Things Summer Worship Series)

"Risking It All" 

Sermon for 7/4/10

Favorite Things Summer Worship Series

John Hus Communion

Ruth 1:1-19a; Mark 8:34-38

Let us prepare our hearts and pause in prayer from a hymn from Hus's time:

The Word of God, which ne're shall cease,

Proclaims free pardon, grace and peace,

Salvation shows in Christ alone,

The perfect will of God makes known.[1]

Life is full of choices, and many of our choices involve risks.  Big risks, small risks--risk comes in different shapes and sizes.  As I spent time this week thinking about the book of Ruth, the Independence day celebrations, and the celebration of John Hus, I was struck by the connections around risk.  They differ on many parts of the stories, but the connections are certainly there.  All three stories from our history have taken on a fairy tale or mythic quality, and these stories live on as we look at them again and again through the years.

The book of Ruth, like Jonah we touched on a few weeks ago, is short and deserves to be viewed as a whole story.  Due to space constraints and copyright laws, I couldn't print the whole thing in the bulletin today, but I invite you to re-read it sometime soon to relive the tale of widows trying to survive in a patriarchal society.  A story of food and family, gleaning and goodness from others and from God.  Naomi and her husband had left Bethlehem years before in search of food--ironic since Bethlehem means "House of Bread," and they ended up in Moab.  Ruth and Orpah married Naomi's sons, and all three men died.  The famine was over, and so Naomi is heading back home. Ruth and Orpah reached a fork in the road and had to make a choice. Go home to their families, or follow their Mother-in-law and take a risk.  Orpah followed directions.  Ruth took a risk.

Journeying as women without men around in that culture was unheard of, and for Ruth to leave behind her culture, her family, and her old life to follow Naomi back to Bethlehem was a huge risk.  She likely had to learn a new language, new customs, new traditions, new holidays, new foods, new everything.  She was willing to take the risk and set out on the journey with Naomi. We can't overlook or belittle Orpah as we praise Ruth for journeying with Naomi.  After all, most of us probably can relate to Orpah more closely.  We choose to stay where things are easy, or at least where things make sense.  The culture isn't foreign, we don't have to learn a new language, and our family is in the area.  It looks like Orpah made the right decision, or at least the easy decision. Scripture doesn't tell us what happened to Orpah.

For Ruth and Naomi, the risk worked out well for them. Ruth decides to follow not only Naomi, but believe in Naomi's God--Yahweh--The Lord Almighty. For Ruth and Naomi, we do know details about their story.  Spoiler Alert--Ruth ended up meeting Boaz, having a child, and becoming Great-Grandmother to King David and thus a distant relative of Jesus.  In fact, Ruth is one of only 4 women named in Matthew's Gospel in Jesus' lineage-a high honor indeed.  A stranger in a strange land ended up being in a royal family and relative to the Messiah.  For Ruth, the risk paid off.

With today being July 4th, I can't help but think of another group whose risk paid off.  The 4th of July now days is about food, fireworks, and fun.  The writers of the Declaration of Independence took a huge risk in trying to break away from England.  These renegade colonies were not seen favorably, and England was willing to fight for what they felt was their rightful land.  The men who signed the Declaration of Independence were committing treason, and were not making friends with the government at the time. I heard folks talking on the radio the other day about the early signers and the risk they took.  I don't often stop and think about that risk, because we know how the ending works out.  But they could not benefit from our 20/20 Hindsight, so they were risking their lives, their careers, and their families to stand up for what they thought was right.  They had to follow their conscience, and the risk paid off. 

For John Hus, or Jan Hus as he is also known, he took a risk as well, but whether it paid off for him comes with your perspective.  Hus grew up in what is today the Czech Republic, and though he was from a peasant family, was able to attend Charles University in Prague.  He ended up becoming a lecturer at the University, and later Rector.  He developed an interest in theology and was ordained to the Priesthood.  The church was fraught with controversy in the early 1400s, and Hus spoke out against the problems like the selling of indulgences.  He also preached in Czech, the language of the people, instead of Latin, the language of the church.  He believed that all church members should be allowed to receive both the cup and the bread during Communion instead of the cup only for the priests--a practice that was common at that time.  He felt that he could help bring reforms to the church and was willing to stand up for what he believed was what God wanted. 

Hus preached and spoke out against the church and leadership, and the church got more and more upset with him.  In 1415 he was invited to the Council of Constance, and was promised safe passage and return for his journey.  He took the risk and journeyed to Constance, where he was thrown in jail, convicted of heresy, and burned at the stake on July 6th, 1415 after he refused to recant on his beliefs.  Hus became a martyr for his beliefs, and his followers founded the Unity of the Brethren church in 1457, from which we trace our history as Moravians.  July 6th is a major holiday in the Czech Republic today.  It is a date Moravians remember by celebrating Communion--partaking both the bread and cup all these 500+ years later.  Hus' risk resulted in his untimely death, but it also resulted in a denomination that has spread throughout the world and he helped bring about reforms in the Catholic church as well.  Was his risk worth it?  I believe so.  But here again, our 20/20 Hindsight provides a viewpoint he didn't have. 

As we prepare to receive Communion today, we think back to all the saints--these spiritual forefathers and foremothers who came before us, paving the way and forging the paths for us to follow today.  They took risks to stand up for what they believed in, and we have what we have today thanks to their choices.  We also ultimately give thanks to Christ for the risks he took.  We hear his call to follow in the path he set forward through his life, death, and resurrection.  We hear his call to step out in faith and be his disciples, even when the road we travel calls us to take up our cross and follow-to take the risk. We think of Ruth who risked learning a new language and culture to follow the God that she had come to know and love.  We think of the early patriots who risked livelihood and family to live where they could practice their faith and life as they felt led to do.  We think of John Hus who choose death over recanting his beliefs, and his followers, the early Unity of the Brethren, who hid in forests and risked death to receive the cup and bread, and share their faith in their own language. 

We think about our own lives where God is calling us to follow as disciples, to risk the tough choices, and to stand up for what we believe is right.  We don't know where our journey will lead, but we know God goes before us and with us, and sustains us along the path.  Our Lord risked it all, and invites us to do the same.  May we all be willing to stand up for what we believe is right and follow wherever God leads.  Will you take the risk?  Amen.

[1] Allen W. Schattschneider and Albert H. Frank, Through Five Hundred Years and Beyond: A Popular History of the Moravian Church (Bethlehem, PA: IBOC, 2009) 13. This hymn was a rebel song from the 15th Century.