This past Sunday, AA&S resumed teaching and discussion through the Book of Ruth with Jon Courtney. Jon will continue guiding us through the Book of Ruth for the next three weeks.

Among other things, I appreciated the challenge Jon gave us to ‘hesed’ love one another as Ruth loved Naomi. Years ago I heard David Hansen, a small-town pastor from Montana, teach on ‘hesed’ love at Regent College in Vancouver BC. ‘Hesed’ is a Hebrew word defined as ‘covenant love’ or the ‘ability to bond’. In his book “The Power of Loving Your Church”, David Hansen writes: “Mercy, kindness, and lovingkindness communicate the upshot of hesed, but they don’t really pin down its meaning. … the wonderful phrase steadfast love expresses hesed as ‘promise-keeping love’. …God loves bonding himself to a people, and he loves knowing that his steadfast love makes his people feel secure in their relationship with him. … Hesed is love that will not separate. It is the love Ruth showed Naomi.”

Let us bond together in committed love for one another,

Kathy