This Week

This week at praxis...Semper Fidelis

Then Naomi started to return with her daughters-in-law from the country of Moab, 
for she had heard in the country of Moab that the LORD had considered his 
people and given them food. So she set out from the place where she had been living, 
she and her two daughters-in-law, and they went on their way to go back to the land of Judah.  
But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go back each of you to your mother's house.
May the LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me.  
The LORD grant that you may find security, each of you in the house of your husband." 
Then she kissed them, and they wept aloud.

They said to her, "No, we will return with you to your people." 
But Naomi said, "Turn back, my daughters, why will you go with me? 
Do I still have sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? 
Turn back, my daughters, go your way, for I am too old to have a husband... 
Then they wept aloud again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. 
So she said, "See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; 
return after your sister-in-law."  But Ruth said, "Do not press me to leave you 
or to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, 
I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. 
Where you die, I will die-- there will I be buried. May the LORD do thus 
and so to me, and more as well, if even death parts me from you!"  
When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.  				
----Ruth 1:6-12, 14-18




On my honor I will try to serve God, 
my country, people everywhere, 
and to live by the Girl Scout Law.  
- Girl Scout Pledge


Guess mine is not the first heart broken
My eyes are not the first to cry
I'm not the first to know
There's just no getting over you
You know I'm just a fool who's willing
To sit around and wait for you
But baby, can't you see
There's nothing else for me to do
I'm hopelessly devoted to you
But now there's nowhere to hide
Since you pushed my love aside
I'm outta my head 
Hopelessly devoted to you
Hopelessly devoted to you 
Hopelessly devoted to you
----"Hopelessly Devoted to You", 
from Grease


I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
and to the republic for which it stands: one nation under God, indivisible, 
with liberty and justice for all.

When reciting the pledge of allegiance, 
civilians should stand at attention or with 
the right hand over the heart. 
Men should remove their hats. 
Armed services personnel in uniform face the flag and give the military salute.
---- encarta.msn.com




To understand the importance of loyalty, 
and all the longing for trust, 
and the fear of betrayal that women bring 
with them into any friendship, 
all you have to do is go back into the scrapbook 
of adolescence. The memories lie there, 
as fresh as ever, in page after page filled 
with images of groups of girls, 
those girlfriends who ruled the female 
roost of school, deciding who was in and who was out. 
----I Know Just What You Mean:  The Power of Friendship in Women's Lives, 
by Ellen Goodman and Patricia O-Brien 

Questions:

• What is Ruth being faithful to in this story, to Naomi, to Naomi's God, or something else?
• To what or whom are you loyal?
• What does it mean to be faithful, or loyal?
• What is it appropriate to be faithful to, and not appropriate to be faithful to?