When Grief Pushes People Away

Sunday, November 1, 2026

Scriptures: Ruth 1:6-22

• Sermon Summary

  In part two of our current sermon series on Ruth, Jeremy explores how grief and survival intersect in the movement of Naomi and her daughters-in-law. Following the rumours of bread returning to Bethlehem, Naomi prepares to leave Moab, yet her profound loss leads her to push her daughters-in-law away, Jeremy sees it as her moving toward isolation under the guise of logical kindness. As Orpah makes the reasonable choice to return home, Ruth makes an extraordinary, poetic vow of lifelong solidarity with Naomi.
  Ruth 1 closes with an exploration of visibility of hope and what we are not ready to see just yet. An exhausted Naomi returns home blaming God for her emptiness, blind to the divine kindness embodied in Ruth beside her and the harvest quietly beginning around them.

• Discussion Guide

  Community is shaped by the conversations we share. These questions and reflections are a tool to help you meaningfully engage with the themes of this week's teaching.

  Connect: When life feels overwhelming or depleted, or when you’re hurting, do you tend to pull people closer or push them away?

  Share: Share about how you approach life and potential opportunities.
  How often are you looking for new, hopeful, more exciting options and how often you say, what I have is good, I just need to work on it. Basically, how do you discern when to stay put and carve out life where you are versus when to follow a glimmer/a rumour of hope of something better (for your life, career, well-being)?

  Reflect: Reflect on Jeremy's observation that Orpah is not the villain of the story for turning back. He noted that she only did what Naomi suggested and what made the most practical sense, reminding us that "we can't be everything to everyone who enters our lives" and "drowning people rarely make good lifeguards”. Jeremy made a point that "Sometimes reading the story in front of us well means assuming the best about the stories we don't get to follow home."
  

  How does this perspective challenge the way you read Biblical stories or see people in your own lives who choose to step away from something?

  Engage: When Naomi arrives in Bethlehem, she openly protests her situation: "Call me Mara now, because the Almighty has made my life bitter... the LORD brought me back empty”.

  Engage with this reflection from the sermon:

  "Naomi has accused God of everything that's happened, despite the fact she has an almost literal angel standing beside her.
  And the narrator just lets it hang... Is this kind of isolating grief (that stops her from seeing the truth around her) good for Naomi? No. Does it disqualify her from the goodness of God? Also no... Judgement is not meant for those isolated slices of our lives, because moments don't tell stories, and this story—like yours—isn't finished yet.”

  How does it resonate with you that Scripture makes room for Naomi’s raw anger and silence toward God without immediately correcting her?

  Ruth is standing by Naomi, unseen.
  What does it look like for you to stay present with someone when your love or care isn't immediately received, celebrated, or returned?

  Take away: What is one thing that you're taking with you into your week, either from the sermon or our conversation?

  Prayer from the sermon:
  God who visits with us,
  We come in today carrying different stories into this room
  Some of us feel full, some empty,
  Some of us still not sure which.

  And we confess that sometimes your goodness only seems to be rumour,
  something happening somewhere else, to someone not us—

  And so for those of us who grieve,
  Would you keep us from feeling like we walk that road alone.

  For those of us walking beside someone who doesn’t seem to see us right now
  Would you grant us the patience to stay on the journey with them.

  And for all of us,
  open our eyes to the grace that is already be standing beside us,
  in the friend, and the neighbour, in the one we didn’t expect to come near.

  As we return to this story of journey again today
  may we find ourselves somewhere inside it once more,

  And may that help us take the next step toward each other in kindness.

  In the strong name of the risen Christ
  We pray
  Amen.

• Service Songs & Prayers

  CALL TO WORSHIP Psalm 98

  MUSIC Curated by Curt Muller
  
  John Mark McMillan - Ancient Love
  Brooke Ligertwood - Ancient Gates
  Hillsong Worship - O Praise the Name
  Chris Tomlin - Holy Forever

  
  EUCHARIST INVITATION
  Written by Ben Hsu-Chan
  

  SERIES BUMPER
  The Story of Ruth