Day One – New birth
The Christmas story reminds us that the coming of God to us in the person of Jesus Christ went almost unnoticed. The cast of characters invited to be witnesses to his birth is small in number. As with his birth, so with his public ministry: Jesus went unrecognised and unreceived. But there were, from the …
Day One – Angel
Sit down together and say something encouraging to each person who is with you. What words would let them know that they are very important? In today’s Bible reading, Mary is told that she is “Highly favoured!” Elizabeth was Mary’s cousin. She was already expecting her baby when the angel, called Gabriel, came to visit …
Day Seven – Favour and Blessing
Today’s reading is the culmination of a day that began with Ruth going out looking for food and “favour”. Ruth found both these things in Boaz’s field. Ruth returns to Naomi with an abundance of barley. Yesterday we noted that Boaz is a source of hope and blessing. This is picked up in part of Ruth 2 which we …
Day Six – Hope and blessing
The story of Ruth turns again with the introduction of Boaz. Naomi and Ruth are not alone: they have a relative in Bethlehem, “a man of standing”. Moreover, Boaz is a landowner and farmer who runs his property according to the law of God: he left the edges of his field and any produce that fell so that the …
Day Five – What’s in a name?
Naomi and Ruth arrive back in Bethlehem. As the women call out her name, Naomi, which means “pleasant”, Naomi suggests a new name for herself: Mara, which means “bitter”. Her reasoning is that she believes God – with all his power – has made her life very bitter. It is interesting that for Naomi, as a …
