Vincent McCann's Hymn of the Week
The Song of Ruth; "I will go wherever you go..."

My name is Vincent McCann and my favourite hymn is “Wherever you go, I will go” based on the Book of Ruth from the Old Testament. I have loved this for years but it was surprisingly eliminated from the latest hymnbook in St John Vianney’s.

The book of Ruth in the Old Testament relates that Ruth, a woman from Moab, a pagan country east of Judea, had married one of the two sons of Naomi who was from Judea and had settled in Moab to escape from a famine in Judea.

The husbands of both women die. Broken and empty, Naomi plans to return to her native Bethlehem and urges her daughter-in-law Ruth to return to her own kinsmen and not join her, as Ruth would be classed as a refugee in a strange land.

However, Ruth refuses to abandon her mother-in-law Naomi and said, “Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.”

This was an amazing example of loyalty, compassion, friendship and putting the needs of others before oneself. Few saw Ruth as an important person: a poor widow living in a foreign land, away from her birth family, and who existed by the back-breaking work of gleaning the crops in the fields and supporting Naomi.

God, however, had a plan for her and Ruth eventually married and had children. After very many generations one of these descendants became King David.

Footnote. We can learn several lessons from this story as follows:

·       God is concerned about all people, regardless of race, nationality or status

·       Men and women are equally important to God

·       There is no such thing as an unimportant person in God’s eyes.”