Christmas is Coming

Hello Classmates!

I am sitting at home on this rainy day here in Clayton instead of celebrating "Christmas in Richmond" with all of Mary's and my side of the family as we've done every year for the past 20 years...You see, Richmond, Woodbridge (Va.) , Manassas (Va.), and Laurel (Md.) all had over a foot of snow, and since that is where the other members of our family were traveling from, we had to cancel the yearly celebration. Bummer.

This lack of a celebration is especially regretable for us because we were not able to see our sister, Melissa (Hartman) and her family here at Thanksgiving either. Melissa works next door to the White House for the Treasury Dept. and could not come down to Clayton to join the rest of us at Thanksgiving because she had to work the next day. These are the down sides of retiring and moving to North Carolina. The good, however, still outweighs the bad.

There, now that I've groused, it's time to comment on tomorrow's lesson about Ruth and Boaz. I was thinking about the concept of a "kinship/redeemer" and the complicated relationship Boaz had with Ruth through Naomi. The society of the time provided for widows, orphans and the poor very effectively, if not efficiently, don't you think?

I think of Boaz as a sort of "patron" or "sponsor" for Ruth. He paid for her redemption from her dire situation by allowing her and her mother-in-law to glean in his fields. I like this idea so much better than today's system wherein we "hand-over the goods" to those in need through a disinterested third party, i.e., the Government through our taxes.

The biblical way seems to allow the person being "redeemed" to take some pride in their part of the bargain because they do some of the work. It is a system that elevates the person's self-respect, instead of stealing it away. I like that. There is also accountability there, which is lacking today. We think we're so smart today with "this program and that program", but really the people of the Bible had the better idea.

You know, it kind of reminded me of the dinner one of the Sunday Night Bible Study classes recently had in the fellowship hall for the families receiving the "Angel Tree" Gifts. It put a face on both the givers and the recipients of God's mercy and grace, and I liked that. I hope we do more of that this season!

Marthann