Redefine. Family.

Text: Ruth 1:1-18

I once was in a room where Nigaan Sinclair, Anishinaabe and professor at University of Manitoba, talked about an Anishinaabe creation story. I can’t remember all the details, but I can share what I can remember. In the creation story human beings come last after all the animals and plants on earth are created. That’s pretty similar to the creation story in Genesis chapter 1, where it says God created everything, including humankind, in seven days. What makes the Anishinaabe creation story different is how each creation takes place. In order for a new creature comes into play, other existing creatures must make space for it. All creatures participate in creation by making space! They do this until a human being joins them. It’s the hospitality of other creatures that make the existence of humans possible. I thought that was pretty cool. Understanding different creation stories led me to dig deeper into different worldviews and different ways of living. 

The creation story in Genesis chapter 1 is like a solo performance. God does it all. God creates with words alone, by speaking creation into existence. Although human beings arrive at the last minute, they are the only ones who resemble God’s image. Moreover, the youngest, the humans, are granted a permission to have dominion over other creatures, their big brothers, and sisters. Of course, the creation story itself is not the problem. It’s how we humans have interpreted it for our own benefits, without thinking about the well-being of the whole. In fact, God commands the first human being to look after the Garden of Eden - to cultivate it and to keep it. (Genesis 2:15) God also sets an example of how to care for each other by resting on the seventh day so all creation can follow. No more work is needed. No development or growth is allowed. Everyone is supposed to rest, and while doing so they remember where they came from and recognize each other’s presence more fully. After all, there are life-giving messages in our creation story. The world would have been different if we, Christians took those messages seriously instead of using them for exploitation or colonization. 

I wonder what kind of worldview the early settlers had when they first arrived in this land. They must have been informed by their version of the creation story. What made them think that the land was empty and that Indigenous peoples, who had been here for thousands of years before their arrival, were not civilized. Conflicts between the early European settlers and Indigenous peoples were just the tip of the iceberg – the differences between Indigenous worldviews and Western worldviews. Whether the government used the church, or the church used the government, we can’t deny the role we the church played in establishing the residential school system, and in keeping it for a long time. Regardless of who we are and where we came from, we all have been influenced by certain worldviews that have contributed to the crisis facing our planet such as colonialism, consumerism, and individualism. We have a responsibility as Christians not only to unpack our ways of thinking but also to construct new ways of living so all can thrive on this planet earth. 

Nigaan Sinclair pointed out the different understandings when it comes to the treaty relationship. In general, treaties provide a framework for living together in peace and harmony and sharing the land. But there is a huge difference in terms of how it has been interpreted according to their own worldviews. In the light of the Indigenous creation story, treaty was a way to live up to the hospitality that made the existence of humans in this land possible. Treaty making was more than making new friends. It was a way of living as a family. Just like other creatures welcomed humans into their family by sharing their space, we, humans extend the welcome by making space available for each other. However, to the early European settlers the treaty relationship didn’t go deeper than making new friends. 

Sinclair emphasized the fundamental difference between family and friend. Friendship, no matter how much it appears to be authentic, can change over time. Our life circumstances, like moving, immigration and aging, also affect our relationship with friends. Often, friendship exists as long as there is a mutual benefit. Family, on the other hand, lasts forever, no matter how much we disagree with each other. Of course, there are times when we have to say goodbye to certain relationships. Nevertheless, it seems to me that we can’t be totally free from the impact of our family relationship especially if it reminds us of any pain. It’s harder to be a family than to be a friend. Family demands more. Family is built on our commitment and devotion. There is no such thing as a perfect family or even a normal family. Every family has its own story only its members know – and there are stories that only some family members know and hide from other family members. We are all learning to become a family as long as we live. A family is not a fixed thing. We are always in the process of becoming family by choosing what unites us instead of what divides us and choosing to love over fear. If there is any hope for the work of reconciliation between Indigenous peoples and setters in this land, it’s up to each of us to choose to become one family, or at least relatives, honouring the spirit and intent of the treaty. 

Ruth shows us how. The book of Ruth is one of the most beautifully written literatures in the Bible. It’s one of my favorite stories in the Bible. There is one thing, however, always bothers me when it comes to Ruth. Throughout the book, Ruth is described as a foreigner by her mother-in-law, Naomi, and by the people in Judea, and by her future husband. Even though Ruth was married to one of Naomi’s sons in her own land, Moab, the label as a Moabite woman constantly followed everywhere she went. “Go back to your mother’s house”, said Naomi to her daughters-in-law. “She is the Moabite who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab”, said the servant to Boaz. Every time the name Ruth is mentioned, the author of the book makes sure to put the origin, “Ruth, the Moabite”. It’s as if she doesn’t belong – no matter what she does and how long she lives with them, she is a perpetual foreigner. The irony is that it is because of the commitment and devotion of Ruth that not only the family is saved but also the entire nation of Israel is saved. Ruth bore a child who became a grandparent of the King David. 

Looking deeply, I see how different understandings of what family is come in play. For Naomi and her community, a family is made by blood. But for Ruth it’s loyalty that makes family. Long before she even meets Boaz, Ruth chooses to become a family to Naomi. By doing so, Ruth redefines family as a circle of accompaniment. Thus, her name, Ruth is given, meaning “companion.” If a family is made of those who are willing to accompany each other, there is no limit to how big, wide, and deep a family can be. A family not as a mechanism to keep things as they are, but as an agent of change and transformation, a life-giving community for all. And I wonder what our world will look like if we, Christians start taking this concept of family seriously.