Week Four

The complexity of kindness

The complexity of kindness, that is able to dig deep and respond generously and creatively in the midst of heartache and disaster. In literature we often celebrate complicated baddies with cruel mischievous plans but in real life the baddies are often all too predictable and dull in their greed and arrogance whereas the people who are managing somehow to do good and be kind in the midst of crisis are richly complex. They’re not superheroes, they’re real people like you and I but who manage to find wells of kindness within them.

This week we delve into Ruth to see how Ruth and Naomi, two complex women with complex motivations, respond to heartache with compassion. The pressures we face as a result of climate change now and over the coming years will require us to respond with great determination and resourcefulness but also great kindness.

Read Ruth 1

Land and loss. Upheaval, turmoil and sorrow. Naomi and Ruth stick together in the face of disaster and calamity.

Why do you think Ruth was so determined to stick with Naomi?

Read Ruth 2

Boaz is moved and impressed by Ruth’s story, by her care and loyalty. Her kind actions going above and beyond what was expected of her has begun a chain reaction with Boaz going above and beyond simply allowing her to glean in the field. Despite the differences between them their is recognition and mutual respect between Boaz and Ruth.

The process of gleaning, going through the harvest for what has been left behind and that can still be of use, is an interesting way of thinking about the challenges we face as a shared humanity dealing with climate change. We will have to be resourceful and determined like Ruth to overcome the challenges ahead of us, but also kind and caring like her too.

How can we be diligent and kind like Ruth and alert and generous like Boaz and go above and beyond as we seek solutions to solve the problems that face us? And in so doing perhaps start a chain reaction of kindness? How can we go above and beyond for one another and for the earth?

Read Ruth 4: 1-12

What is going through Ruth’s mind this day? Boaz’s mind? And what about the next-of-kin’s mind? As we conclude this series on complex characters let’s get into the mindset of these complex characters in a complex situation.