Rev. Michael Holmen's Sermons

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:The book of Ruth is about poor people. Being poor can lead to desperate actions. The book begins with a desperate action. A poor family leaves their homeland when they can no longer make ends meet. A famine struck the land. Naomi and her husband Elimelech have to leave their land behind in search of better conditions. They went to the land of Moab where the people worshipped other gods besides the Lord God. Naomi and Elimelech had two sons who married Moabite women. But one bad thing happened after another for this family. Elimelech, Naomi’s husband died. Then both of Naomi’s sons died. The family that was left was made up only of widows—three widows, three in-laws. Naomi was the mother-in-law. She had two daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth. Being a widow is bad enough regardless of whether we are talking about modern times or ancient times. Being a widow carries with it sorrow and loneliness. But in ancient times being a widow also brought about impoverishment and vuln