Stained Glass Windows of Trinity Lutheran Church

Story: Ruth and Naomi
Text: Book of Ruth
“Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return
from following you. For where you go I will go, and where
you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and
your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there
will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also
if anything but death parts me from you.” Ruth 1:16-18
Description:
This window depicts two women having a conversation.
Naomi, on the left, is speaking with her daughter-in-law
Ruth. Ten years before this moment Naomi
saw her two sons get married to foreign Moabite women.
The two women were named Orpah and Ruth. Tragedy
then struck Naomi’s entire family. Naomi’s husband
Elimelech died, and then Naomi’s two sons, Mahlon and
Chilion, died soon after that. Naomi was left as a widow
with her two daughters-in-law in a foreign land. Naomi
decided that she would go back to her home country of
Judah, and she urged Orpah and Ruth to return to their
mother’s households. Naomi saw her situation as dire for
she had no husband to provide sons for Orpah and Ruth.
Naomi insisted that the two young women abandon
her to find new husbands. Orpah kissed Naomi and
left, but Ruth remained. Ruth is known for her amazing
statement of commitment to her mother-in-law. Naomi
saw that Ruth was determined to stay with her, so she
said no more and they returned to Bethlehem.
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