Program Note

Don’t urge me to leave you was composed for the wedding of my dear friends Melissa and Drew Elliot. Melissa and Drew picked this text from Ruth 1:16-17, and it was premiered at their ceremony. In the text, Ruth expresses loyalty and devotion to her mother-in-law, Naomi, with beautiful poignance. The following version is from the NIV, which most closely aligns with the song: 

“Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back on you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”