Words of Welcome

Ruth 1:1-18 You may have noticed that immigration is in the news. That’s because it’s a major political issue in this election season. Nevertheless, most of us are descendants of immigrants, whether our ancestors came in colonial days or more recently. When it comes to the Bible, there are numerous immigration stories that might speak to our situation. Consider this confession in Deuteronomy about Abraham: “A wandering Aramean was my ancestor, he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous.” (Deut. 26:5).  This morning we hear the story of Naomi, her husband Elimelech, and two sons, Mahlon and Chilion,  who migrated to Moab when famine hit their homeland in Israel. While the family resided in Moab, they added to their family two Moabite women who became the wives of Naomi’s sons. Unfortunately, all the men in her life died. Nevertheless, Naomi’s daughters-in-law remained loyal to her.  One of her daughte

Mark 10:17-31 If you’re going to invest in something, how do you determine its value? It seems like everything in life has a price, and the price depends on how much we value it. So, once upon a time, Beanie Babies were the rage and people spent lots of money on them. Now, they’re pretty worthless. I have a lot of baseball cards, but I’m not sure they have much value. Maybe if I had a Mickey Mantle Rookie card in perfect condition, things would be different. Apparently, Mantle’s 1952 rookie card is worth around twelve million dollars, surpassing the 1910 Honus Wagner card, which is valued at around seven million. Why are these pieces of cardboard with a picture on them worth so much? Again, value is determined by what we’re willing to pay. Alas, I don’t have sufficient funds to invest in rare baseball cards. But, if you’ve got lots of money to spend, then why not? Everything in life has a price! Last Sunday’s reading from Mark’s Gospel spoke of divorce, while this week Mark speaks