All-Age Service: I choose...

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Prayer / Worship Activity

Option 1

10 mins Provide postcard-sized pieces of paper or card, and felt tip. Ask people to write some choices they have made in the last week on each side of the card, eg one side might say ‘blue socks’ and the other side, ‘red socks’. Alternatively, it might be a bit more life-changing such as ‘take the job’ or ‘stay where I am’. Once the cards are complete, people could pray in small groups thanking God for the choices he gives us, and asking that his way be made clear.

Option 2

5 mins Provide paper and pens and ask people to draw a family and friends tree to include all those who have significant places in their lives. Have a time of prayer where people can call out the names of those they want to thank God for.

Story

10 mins Today’s story covers the book of Ruth. You’ll need three actors prepared to read / tell their parts of the story. Feel free to use costume and props as available.

Naomi: Good morning, everyone! My name’s Naomi and I want to tell you my story. It’s a bit of a sad story, you might want to get your hankies out. A long time ago, when I was young, I married a lovely man by the name of Elimelech (yes, I know, it is a bit of a mouthful but he was ever so lovely and very handsome!). We were so happy together and we had two gorgeous sons - Mahlon and Kilion (he chose the names!). Anyway, in those days there was a famine in the place where we lived (it was called Bethlehem - I’m sure you’ve never heard of it, no one has) so we went to another country called Moab, to live. Here’s the first sad part, my husband died and so I watched alone as our boys grew up and found nice girls to settle down with - Ruth and Orpah (not Oprah - that’s someone completely different!). Here’s the second sad part, both my boys died and suddenly I was left alone with just the two girls. Then I got word that the famine was over at home so we decided to go back there - the three of us together.

Ruth: I’m Ruth, I was married to Naomi’s son and when she decided to go back to Bethlehem, us girls were to go with her - after all, we were still family even without the boys being alive any more. So we started out on the journey together. We weren’t very far into the journey when Naomi changed her mind and told us girls to go back to our own land and people. She said we’d have a much better chance of finding another husband there and so Orpah went back. But I loved Naomi and I couldn’t leave her. I told her that her people would be my people and her God would be my God. She kept trying to persuade me to go back but I wouldn’t, and so in the end we journeyed on together, all the way back to Bethlehem. Naomi was so sad.

Naomi: When we got back to Bethlehem the harvest was just beginning and, because we had nothing and no men to earn any money for us, I told Ruth to go to the fields where the men were bringing in the harvest. In our land, it is custom that poor people can go and pick up whatever’s left from the harvest - we call it gleaning. As it happened, Ruth went to glean in the fields of a man named Boaz who happened to be a relative of my husband Elimelech.

Boaz: I’m Boaz and I noticed this girl Ruth straight away when she started to glean in my fields. I asked around about her and found out that she was part of Naomi’s family and therefore related to me in a roundabout way. I wanted to help her and Naomi, and let her know how kind I thought she had been to Naomi. I made sure that plenty was left for her to pick up and I let her sit and eat with my own servant girls so that she would be safe.

Ruth: I couldn’t really believe my luck: the field I was gleaning in belonged to such a kind man. I couldn’t believe he was so nice to a foreign girl like me. I ended up with loads of grain to take home to Naomi and she couldn’t believe just how much I had. I told her all about Boaz and she told me that he was one of our relatives. Boaz said to me that I could glean in his fields until the harvest was finished so that’s what I did.

Naomi: I knew that Boaz was part of our family, and in our culture if a man dies someone can marry the wife that’s left so that they can be looked after. I wondered if Boaz would do that for Ruth so I told Ruth what she needed to do.

Ruth: Naomi told me to do such a weird thing - I had to go to where the men were working on the grain at night and then when Boaz went to sleep, I was to uncover his feet and lie down beside them. It seemed odd but I trusted Naomi so I did what I was told.

Boaz: I woke up in the middle of the night and wondered who was lying near my feet - it was Ruth! I knew that she was asking me to marry her - it’s one of our traditions - but I also knew that there was someone else who was a bit closer in the family who I would have to ask first. In the morning, I gave Ruth lots of grain to take home to Naomi and then I went to see this other relative to ask if I could marry Ruth.

Ruth: So Boaz talked with the other relative and he said that Boaz could marry me and that’s what happened! We got married and God gave us a lovely son - Obed (they do have some funny names in this country!).

Naomi: This story’s end made me so happy. I thought I’d lost everything but God gave me another big piece of happiness to keep me going in my old age. I think if you look into the future, you’ll find that Obed was the ancestor of the great King David who, in turn, was an ancestor of the person who would change all of history: Jesus!

Ruth: I’m so glad I made the choice I did and stayed with Naomi. I can’t believe that God would use an ordinary girl like me in such an amazing way in his story!

Reflective response to the story

Option 1

5 mins You’ll need some wooden ‘pony’ beads with a hole big enough to fit two pieces of cord through, as well as about 30cm of cord for each person. Explain that sometimes it’s useful to have a reminder of what we’ve been taught or what God has said to us. Cut a length of cord for each person – it should be long enough to fit around their wrist twice with no overlap. Tie a knot close to each end of the cord. Fold the cord in half and push the folded end through the bead – the knots should stop it from falling off the other end. Put your wrist through the loop, the bead will slide up and down the cord to make a good fit. Once everyone has finished their bracelet, have a few minutes of quiet where each person can silently talk to God about the choices they want to make for him.

Option 2

5 mins Encourage people to get into mixed age groups and learn a memory verse together: ‘I will go wherever you go and live wherever you live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God’ Ruth 1:16 (New Living Translation). This verse shows the first major choice that Ruth made, and the choice which then guided all her other decisions. This is a choice that everyone can also make for themselves. Encourage the groups to come up with actions that will help them to remember the memory verse. Don’t feel that you need an action for every word: someone linking arms with another person might be enough to remind everyone that the first part of the verse is ‘I will go wherever you go’.