The Story - Chapter 9

Some of the best movie lines make us laugh, some make us think, or some give us a lump in the throat. But among the countless lines that have been captured on film, a few have actually changed the way we talk.

In The Wizard of Oz, released in 1939, Dorothy says to her dog, “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” People quote that line whenever they feel like the world around them has changed. In 1948, the movie Casablanca gave us one of the most romantic phrases of all time, “Here’s looking at you, kid.” It works best if you imitate Humphrey Bogart when you say it. Cool Hand Luke, released in 1967, gave us the words, “What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.” You’ll hear that one when people are struggling to connect. What's a movie line or phrase that's made in your daily vernacular?

The Bible is also full of great phrases that are remembered and quoted in a variety of situations. Psalm 23 gives us the comforting verse, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want” (v. 1). From Jeremiah we get the assurance, “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope” (29:11). First Corinthians offers the insight, “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude” (13:4-5). In Paul’s letter to the Philippians, we find the uplifting words, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (4:13). And in his letter to the Romans, we are promised, “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (8:28).

Another classic comes from our text in the book of Ruth - Chapter 9 from The Story - “Where you go, I will go; where you stay, I will stay; your people shall be my people and your God my God” (Ruth 1:16, pg. 122 in The Story). What’s so special about these lines from the Bible? For starters, they are true - these biblical verses are concise summaries of bigger truths, in the same way that movie lines reveal something essential about their characters.

But great lines also shape us because they capture an entire story. When Dorothy says, “We’re not in Kansas anymore,” you know that she has entered the strange new world of Oz. When Ruth says, “Where you go, I will go; where you stay, I will stay; your people shall be my people and your God my God,” it captures the entire story of the book of Ruth, bringing to mind the faithfulness of Ruth to her mother-in-law Naomi which, in turn, is a picture of God’s faithfulness to us. Her comment mirrors God’s faithfulness to us. For Christians, it should reminds us of Christ’s promise to never leave us or forsake us.

Why is this important? Because this Sunday - All Saints’ Sunday - we remember and celebrate God’s faithfulness to the people we’ve lost over this last year. We celebrate God’s faithfulness in the lives of our saints. I know a pastor who made it practice in worship after infant baptisms to walk down the aisle holding the child and introducing him or her to the people with the title “saint” before the baptized name. Like, “Saint Brooklyn” or “Saint Auggie.” It was a little jarring to hear “saint” applied to the name of a baby; this pastor also routinely calls the members of his churches “saints.” But this pastor calls his people “saints” because of God’s faithfulness, not because of what they have accomplished.

Do you see the distinction? God chose us to be faithful, not the other way around: it is God’s initiative that made us holy, to make us saints, not ourselves. And because of God’s faithfulness, the saints that we celebrate at this Sunday’s service responded in their lives as best they could through their faith in Jesus Christ - just like you and I continue to do.

So I offer to you again the great line of scripture from Ruth: “Where you go, I will go; where you stay, I will stay; your people shall be my people and your God my God.” Let that line change your life this week as we give thanks for the saints who we still share life with through the always-faithful God we know in Jesus Christ our Lord!