There is not much from tonight that I can summarize.
Review
We began with a review of the notion of hesed. Hesed is the love of God, the faithfulness of God, that you cannot drive away. That’s because God’s faithfulness is not dependent upon anything you do or do not do. God’s unyielding commitment to human beings is based in His faithfulness to Himself.
Because God created humans to be His creatures, we cannot stop being His creatures. God is always with us – not because we have done something to deserve God’s grace, but because God is true to His own word. God will not break faith with Himself, therefore He will not break His word.
So God’s faithfulness toward human beings is not dependent upon our faithfulness. It is completely independent of what we might deserve. That is why it is grace: it is unearned, unmerited. There is nothing we can do to drive it away, and nothing we can do to draw it to us. All we can do is accept that God loves us and will never abandon us.
Discussion
That review led to a question about how God’s faithfulness can be seen by someone in deep distress, or suffering disaster. And from there the conversation moved into sacred ground. We had a powerful, spiritual discussion about faith and suffering and needs in the church and surrounding community.
The Holy Spirit joined our gathering and we were blessed for it.
We actually experienced God’s hesed tonight.
