Who do we desire?
Though we don’t often reflect on this question enough, our desires are often disciplined and co-opted in powerful ways that we cannot see. The ban against interracial marriage across the nation and in our state lasted late into the twentieth century. Though the laws were lifted, we’ve inherited, generationally, a sense of who we should desire, and it’s often members of our own racial group.
What does our faith have to say to us about our desires? Does it move in tandem with our racialized condition? Or does it cut against the smooth grain? This Sunday we explore these dynamics through what happens when an Israelite (Boaz) and a forbidden Moabite (Ruth) spend the night together on the threshing floor.