In Covenant (Ruth 1)

Earlier this year, two Disciples pastors—Michael Kinnamon and Jan Linn—published a book on our identity as a church. Both of them are former seminary professors, and Kinnamon is the current General Secretary of the National Council of Churches in Christ, and it is no coincidence that their book came out in this bicentennial year, when we are celebrating the 200th anniversary of Thomas Campbell’s Declaration and Address.

Now, in 2009, we as Disciples are restating and reaffirming our identity as a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world. Along with that identity statement, we have been presented with 12 principles of identity that build upon our historical understanding of who we are and who God is calling us to be.

(I see you about to faint at the thought of a 12-point sermon; don’t worry, I’m only going to talk about one of those points today.)

On that list of twelve principles, number five states that “we structure our community around the biblical idea of covenant, emphasizing not obedience to human authority, but accountability to one another because of our shared obedience to Christ.”

Covenant is a key term in scripture. We’ve heard that word often enough. But what does it mean? What is meant by covenant?

The relationship between Ruth and Naomi was a covenantal relationship. Ruth had married Naomi’s son, but he died, which left Ruth a widow. Naomi, who was already a widow, told Ruth to return to her homeland. After all, Ruth was still young, and Naomi had little to offer Ruth; perhaps, back home, ruth could find another man to marry and support her, and avoid the poverty and despair that widows were subject to in ancient times.

But Ruth would not go.

“Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you,” she said. “Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God will be my God. Where you die, I will die—there will I be buried, so help me God. Not even death is going to come between us!”

Ruth did not have to do that. It was quite a sacrifice she was making, and there was no requirement, legal or otherwise, for her to do so. She could have gone her own way, started her life all over again, and no one would have thought any worse of her.

Yet Ruth believed that she and Naomi were bound by covenant. Through marriage, Ruth and Naomi had become part of one family, and in Ruth’s eyes, not even the death of her husband could do away with that bond. A covenantal relationship involves commitment, loyalty, and the deepest form of steadfast lost. It is not something to be taken lightly.

To Ruth’s way of thinking, the covenant was still valid, and she knew in her heart that, no matter how difficult the circumstances, there was no way she could break that covenant.

Now imagine, if you will, what it must have felt like for Naomi. Through a series of tragedies she was left without husband or child; left without anyone to support her. Naomi had nothing to offer Ruth, so she told Ruth to go her own way, to go have a life. But Ruth would not go. Naomi insisted, but still Ruth clung to her.

Finally it became apparent to Naomi that Ruth was determined to stay with her … which meant that she—Naomi—would not be alone in her old age as she had expected. Scripture does not say how Naomi responded to that, how she reacted. Maybe she said nothing, perhaps still wishing that Ruth, at least, could go live a life of happiness. But even if she kept quiet, I am sure that there were tears of great joy in Naomi’s eyes, and tremendous gratitude, as she realized that she would not be abandoned and left to grow old alone in an unforgiving world.

What a great ending that would make for a special Hallmark TV presentation.

It’s so much better to have a friend or a partner in life than it is to go it alone. that is, in fact, what the writer of Ecclesiastes says: share the work, share the wealth. If one falls down, the other helps; but if there’s no one to help, too bad! By yourself, you’re unprotected. With a friend, you can face the worst. Three is even better; a three-stranded rope is not easily broken.

Through the church, we are in covenant with one another. This is not something to take lightly. There are many aspects to baptism, but one of the most important is entry into a covenantal relationship. Your membership in the church, which began when you were baptized, involves covenantal responsibility.

Covenant is not simply an agreement among humans. It has both a vertical and a horizontal dimension, because God is always a participant. This is one of the things that Kinnamon and Linn point out in their book. In covenant, members of the community are accountable to one another because they are accountable to Jesus Christ.

Covenant is not legalistic. Instead, it involves a commitment to “walk together.” I just love that image of “walking together,” and you can clearly see that aspect of covenant in the story of Naomi and Ruth.

Covenant involves walking together, even when it is difficult. Covenant involves walking together, even when we disagree. Perhaps at one point you had a disagreement with some members in the church, or some leaders in the church—it’s been known to happen—and you were tempted to leave. But you didn’t. What kept you here? Probably, it was “covenant,” our commitment to walk together.

In many ways, the idea of covenant is a counter-cultural idea. We live in an individualistic society—perhaps the most individualistic society in the history of humanity—and the message we receive from society is: go your own way; do your own thing.

Even in the church, it’s difficult to escape this influence. In their book, Kinnamon and Linn quote Gary Dorrien, who wrote that modern “mainline churchgoers generally lack a deep or coherent faith, expect to be catered to, do not expect to be asked to do much, feel little commitment to each other as participants in something greater than themselves, and consider social mission activities to be optional.” In other words, we have a very weak sense of covenant.

It seems fitting that today, the last day of our stewardship campaign, we renew our commitment to our covenant with God and with one another. Presenting our pledges for the coming year is, of course, one way that we reaffirm our covenant and our commitment, but even stewardship itself is about so much more than just dollars and cents.

How blessed we are to be in covenant with God and with one another. How blessed we are to share in Christ’s vision of a kingdom of heaven, and to represent that kingdom and live out that kingdom on earth. How blessed we are that our covenant extends even beyond our walls, to Christians of other congregations in other places.

One way our covenant extends beyond our walls is to the other 140 or so congregations of our regional church, which extends from Bakersfield to San Diego, from Las Vegas to Honolulu. We have covenanted with these other congregations to “walk together” in ministry. One way we do this is through our camping ministry at Loch Leven, the camp and conference center that we, as a region, own and operate.

Another way we “walk together” in ministry will become evident next summer. As a region, we are in covenant with several congregations in Hawaii—congregations that have certainly seen better days. Congregations that cannot afford to some desperately needed maintenance and renovation on their buildings and property; work that must be done in order for their ministry to continue.
Another difficulty these congregations face is feeling connected and in covenant to a region that is, for the most part, several thousand miles away.

As a region, we have decided to do something about this. Next summer, we will spend a week doing the work that needs to be done. Some of us will do this work by traveling to Hawaii next summer to lay concrete, paint walls, and do other tasks of building restoration. Others of us will do this work by supporting and praying for those who are able to go. All of us will walk together.

I’m told that when one of the elderly church members in Hawaii heard this news, she broke down crying. She was so touched by a region that takes seriously its covenant, its commitment to “walk together,” that the tears of joy began to flow; tears that, I suspect, flowed for the same reason Naomi’s tears flowed all those years ago.

This is what it means to be in covenant. We at Bixby Knolls Christian Church are in covenant with God and with one another.