# 2026-06-21 St John's UCC — Ruth: Daring to Act Week 3 of St. John's UCC's summer preaching series on Ruth. Rev. Caroline Saxton preaches Ruth 3:1-18 (Naomi's plan and Ruth at the threshing floor), paired with Matthew 7:7-12 ("ask, and it will be given you"). This is a prep stub built from the bulletin; the sermon body fields in the notes file are empty pending the recording. (Source: `Sermon Notes/2026-06-21.md`) --- ## Liturgical context - **Day:** Fourth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 7 / Ordinary 12), Year C; liturgical color green. The Ruth series runs off-lectionary; the program-year Narrative Lectionary (Year 4 — John) concluded at Pentecost (24 May 2026). - **Civic/global frame the bulletin holds together:** Father's Day, World Refugee Day (20 June), Juneteenth (19 June), the June solstice. The preacher's framing leans toward kinship and the welcome of the migrant rather than biological fatherhood — fitting for a text about Ruth the Moabite, a foreign woman seeking welfare in a strange land. (Source: `Sermon Notes/2026-06-21.md`) --- ## Key claims and frame (from the bulletin's own setup) 1. **Ruth 3 is the hinge of the book.** Naomi devises a daring, risky plan; Ruth acts on it at the threshing floor, asking Boaz to "spread your cloak over your servant" — claiming the kinship-redemption owed her. The series title, "Daring to Act," reads Ruth's agency as faithful boldness, not impropriety. (Source: `Sermon Notes/2026-06-21.md`) 2. **The Matthew 7 pairing frames bold asking as the shape of faithful action.** "Ask … seek … knock," capped by the Golden Rule, sets reciprocal care alongside Ruth's request. (Source: `Sermon Notes/2026-06-21.md`) 3. **The responsive reading extends the agency theme.** "Reclaiming My Time" (Kentina Washington-Leapheart, a remix of Psalm 127, from *The Words of Her Mouth: Psalms for the Struggle*) puts rest, help-seeking, and trust-over-fear in the congregation's mouth — a womanist liturgical frame that resonates with the Juneteenth observance. (Source: `Sermon Notes/2026-06-21.md`) This continues the series' progressive-mainline reading of Ruth: economic justice and immigrant welcome in [[2026-06-14-st-johns-ucc-ruth-gleaning-and-hope|St. John's UCC — Ruth: Gleaning and Hope (June 14, 2026)]] (Ruth 2 / gleaning), *hesed* and welcome-of-the-stranger in [[2026-06-07 St John's UCC — Ruth: Loss and Loyalty]] (Ruth 1). Week 3 adds women's agency and bold initiative. --- ## Worship-music vetting note The special music was **"Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)"** — Chris Tomlin / Louie Giglio's 2006 refrain and tune over John Newton's public-domain 1779 stanzas. Tomlin (Passion/Sixstepsrecords) is mainstream evangelical, not part of the [[New Apostolic Reformation]]–adjacent Bethel/Hillsong/Elevation catalog the [[worship-song-vetting-rubric-st-johns-ucc|Worship Song Vetting Rubric — St. John's UCC]] flags most sharply, so the song does not carry the same source-network concern. The remaining hymns are public-domain (Standing on the Promises, 1886; Gloria Patri; OLD HUNDREDTH doxology) or a mainline-publisher sending hymn (Dufner, OCP, 1993). No vetting flags. See [[Worship Songs Evaluated]]. > [!note] Stub status > Sermon notes (introduction, main points, illustrations, quotes, reflections) are blank in the bulletin file. Re-ingest after the recording or filled notes to capture Saxton's actual reading of the threshing-floor scene and the score on the St. John's sermon rubric.