Pastor Hector Garfias-Toledo + December 8, 2024
Second Sunday of Advent
Words for the Beginning: We Can't Go Alone
In his sermon for the Second Sunday of Advent, Pastor Hector explores the transformative power of relationships rooted in trust and mutual commitment, as seen in the story of Ruth and Naomi. Their journey reminds us that faith and life flourish when we embrace interconnectedness and community over isolation. Pastor Hector challenges us to move beyond rigid, black-and-white thinking and into the rich, shared experience of communitas, where lives are shaped and strengthened by God’s presence through one another. This is an invitation to embody the church as it already exists—a life-giving community of grace, ready to journey together.
Sermon Transcript
From automatically generated captions, and lightly edited for readability by AI chatbots
Grace to you and peace from God, our Abba—Father, Mother, and Creator—and the Lord Jesus Christ, our sibling, our friend, and our Savior.
I would like to ask you for forgiveness. If you see me start coughing—you saw me wearing a mask earlier—the reason is that, um, my wife, Jade, and I seem like we caught a bug as we were coming back from Taiwan. I was okay last Sunday, but by Tuesday or Wednesday, we started with this. We have been coughing and sneezing, and, well, you know the whole drill. So forgive me if, um, I start coughing. I already told the tech team, “If I start coughing, just mute me, okay?” And probably that will be the end of it.
So, the Book of Ruth—what does this reading or the whole book of Ruth evoke in you? Remember, my questions are real questions: togetherness, aspiration, commitment, love. How about loyalty? Resilience, right?
It is interesting that if you pay attention—and you go back home and read the whole book—you will notice that the name of God is not mentioned in this book. So why in the world are we reading this book today? Why do you think? Real question.
I believe that this book reflects the cultural spirituality of a God who is loyal, present, and part of our struggles, joys, and hopes. Would you agree with me?
This book contains one of the most famous and well-known phrases or verses that a Christian knows. What is that? What verse would that be?
Right: “Wherever you go, I’ll go; your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Where you die, I will die.”
It’s very interesting to hear this. I believe this verse talks about the importance, in a relationship, of location, identity, and belonging. One of the parts that is many times left out—or a little bit put aside—is when Ruth tells Naomi, “Your God will be my God.” I think this is very important because it basically talks about and challenges us to think about what a central relationship is about.
We are talking about something deep. It is not just like, “I’ll follow you, and we’re a happy family. We are together.” No, this is requesting—and in some way demanding—from a relationship an intentionality to be open to the transformation that happens when we work and walk together.
Jade and I—my wife and I—I was thinking of our initial relationship when we met. I remember, well, I know when we met... Yeah, I’m in trouble now, and she’s here. So, if you don’t see me at the end of the service, all right... But I know that when we met in Texas, we had a very short period of time to make a decision because we were students.
We were together, and if we had to make a further decision about our relationship, well, we had only like one and a half years left. Because if not, we would need to go to Mexico and Taiwan, right? So, we had to make a decision about a mutual commitment. If we wanted to continue together, we needed to make this decision.
At that time, Jade was new to the Christian faith, but she was not fully involved in the life of the church, even though she was baptized and went to church with me when we were in Texas. But one of the things is that she decided to follow me even when she was not fully aware of the implications of being the wife of a pastor—a missionary pastor—in Mexico.
For me, I followed her, knowing that in my culture and what I had shared with my congregation, she may not have been the ideal person to be the wife of a pastor in Mexico.
The point is not to talk about ourselves and how great we are. My point with this is that trust is extremely important. Openness to be and to experience mutual transformation is what makes our relationship strong and helps us walk the journey together for a longer time.
Eventually, as you know, she became a pastor. Not only that, she served with us here, and she has been serving all over the synod with other siblings in Christ. For me, I had to learn that the Christian faith that has been passed on to us is broader than the dogmas, ideas, or beliefs that are rigid and exclusive of others.
Why do I say this? Because in our journey, I remember that one time she asked me about her mom. At that time, her mom was not a Christian. She told me one day—Jade told me—and said, “So, my mom doesn’t believe in Jesus. Will my mother go to hell?”
And, of course, as a Christian person who was going to become a pastor—rigid and forgetting the broader view of a God of grace and mercy—I answered... What did I answer? “Yes.”
I remember that she said, “Really?”
I think that we tend to look for black-and-white answers to complex questions or aspects of life. When we answer in these ways, they provide us with a certain certainty and control. Not only that, but when we answer spiritual questions in black-and-white—just one side or the other—I think that, in some way, we also believe that God is adjusting to what we want and believe.
But God's, God's grand story of redemption for all creation can be found in seemingly mundane events—in tragedy, in integrity in the face of opposition, but also in generosity. And we know about that because of the current state of things around us right now in our country.
Naomi and Ruth's story has been, as I said earlier, romanticized; it has become almost like a world Disney movie where they are happy ever after. And they become a mellow, mellow story of love and self-achievement and determination, and the strong will that reminds us of our culture that tells us, "If you want, you can." But I think that this story goes deeper and challenges in a deeper way in our spirituality, in our relationship with God, with Jesus, and with one another.
Because this story tells us that silos are not the way that we need to go as community—this idea that we are our own congregation and we have nothing to do with anybody else, that this is my ministry, and sorry, but you don't have to do anything with me, and I don't have anything to do with you because it's my ministry within a congregation or my own personal life.
The story that we read today is about women that portray the human experience of loneliness and the high call to trust God and to trust others. As you said earlier, Ruth's words, "Wherever you go, I will go with you," and a step further, "Your God will be my God." Think of a woman who has resigned to life and embraced loneliness and destiny to the point that she doesn't want to be called Naomi but Mara—bitter.
A woman who is willing and open to new possibilities that may challenge her very identity. She reflects what some missionaries call communitas. Communitas is that relationship where a community is not just a group of individuals with independent agendas that are in the same place. Communitas is the group of people who are working together, willing to be open to the transformation of each other's lives, where both—all of them—work together with a common and shared purpose and call, in order to make a change and to reflect the transforming power of God in Jesus Christ.
Both lives, Naomi and Ruth in this book that we read, begin in the darkness of loss, of tragedy, of death, of grief, and despair. And we know about that because, again, many of us are going through that right now in our country, in our communities, in our families, in our churches.
These women were in an in-between, marginal state, and the story goes on because it talks about the three widows—the three widows in a liminal space, a liminal space that creates interconnectedness and, in some way, makes the group stronger.
One of the things that I have learned, living in different countries and different cultures, is that there are some cultures where God is directly involved, working in and through the lives of the people in a close relationship. And in some ways, that is the culture where I grew up. We talk about God; we talk about God constantly. We feel that God is, in fact, making decisions with us. It is no shameful to talk about a God that is here, even though when we don't see that God.
And there are some other cultures where God is somehow distant—God is an entity to be studied, an entity to be theologized. And to be honest, that is a lonely experience of God.
Just think in your relationship—your loved one, your significant one—what would it be for you to study the person that you love, and every time that you see the person, you study, you know, the physiological aspects, the physical-chemical aspects of this body who is a living body next to you? And you talk to them: "I really appreciate the different chemical compounds that are running right now through your body, making you and creating some emotions that make me feel significant toward you."
Can you imagine? "Let me study—I think I need to learn more about that physical chemistry that is going inside you to learn to love you more." Can you imagine?
Ruth and Naomi remind us that this relationship is deeper. It's transformative; it's life-giving.
I don't think that you—we—need to imagine because imagine, to me, means that we don't have it, and we need to kind of just wish that something is going to happen. This book is telling us that you and I already have that gift, and the only thing that we need to do is to unleash that Spirit in us to be able to live out this relationship—this intimate relationship with one another—to strengthen one another, to encourage one another.
Let us not imagine that one day we will be like that. I told you that the hymn that says, "I dream of a church," some ways I like it, but at the same time, I said, "No, I don't want to dream about that."
The church is already here; it has been given to us. And guess what? You and I are already part of it, and the only thing that you and I need to do is to live it out—to make a change in the lives of others, in my own life, and in the life in the community where God has called us to be.
The light that shines in the darkness, the life of a God who said yes to us, the life of a God who says, "I will be with you wherever you go. You will be my people, and I will be your God forever."
Imagine that. Well, I said, "No, imagine—know that." See, I already contradict myself; it must be the cold—the head cold—that I have.
There is a difference between being alone and being lonely. Alone is a fact; if nobody else is around you, you are alone. But lonely is more about perception. And I think that this book is inviting us—you and I—to remember that we are called to be that presence in the life of one another and to remind that we are not lonely, that we have a God who loves us in such a way that nothing, absolutely nothing, can separate us from God's love.
One of the values of Trinity Lutheran Church and Schools is impactful relationships with one another that provide support for life's journey, where you and I are promised and commit—and with Ruth and with one another—commit to live a life of mutuality, of trust, of accompaniment, to live a relationship for a covenant community in which you and I are committed that, if we fail or we fall short, we will not be ashamed of one another but will try and practice the forgiveness that Jesus has shown us in his life, in his resurrection, in his ministry.
The ultimate goal of divine judgment, which is emphasized in this Advent, is about bringing justice, peace, and a renewed relationship between God and God's people.
This season of Advent sometimes is superficially understood as a time to get ready for Christmas, but in truth, it is the season for contemplating the commitment of a God that says, "I am with you always."
And with that, I just want to leave you with an African proverb that has been instrumental for me in my life. This African proverb—you probably know it—says, "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."
Amen.
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