From CBE’s 2024 Conference “Tell Her Story: Women in Scripture and History” in Denver, Colorado.
Despite human frailty, God restores people and nations through the most unlikely of partnerships. Though Eli was tainted by his sons’ corruption, God was not deterred by his humanness. God knew that Eli was the best person to train and mentor Hannah’s son, Samuel. This partnership changed the nation. Naomi left the land of Judah with her family and hoped for a better future. She returned widowed, childless, and bitter. But through her foreign, widowed daughter-in-law, God restored faith, life, and hope to Naomi. And together, Naomi and Ruth paved a way for the future of Israel. This pattern of unlikely partners continues through the New Testament with Paul’s many co-workers, on to Jerome and Paula, Leoba and Boniface, and down to today. The power of partnerships that honor the differences brought by age, sex, race, and class could change families, churches, organizations, and nations.