Day 99: The Foundation of God’s Loving Kindness

DAY 99

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

WEEK FIFTEEN: SUNDAY 21 JUNE 2020

The Foundation of God’s Loving Kindness

O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your loving-kindness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. - The Book of Common Prayer – Prayer for the Sunday closest to June 22             

‘Hesed’ – every seminarian encounters this Hebrew word early on and often in graduate school, for it conveys a fundamental stance of God in a covenant relationship with His people Israel. A central attribute of God more often than not translated ‘loving kindness,’ it is also considered a core virtue required of those who follow the God of ‘hesed,’  lovingkindness reflecting who He is in who we are.  Pandemic time calls for an experience of this loving kindness.

‘Hesed’ has been and remains a difficult word to translate precisely into English, ‘loving kindness’ being a word Miles Coverdale invented for use in his English version of the Bible published in 1539, and various English versions since then have translated it as loving kindness, mercy, grace, steadfast love, and occasionally as covenant loyalty. Luther used ‘.Gnade’ or grace, for both the Old Testament ‘hesed’ and the New Testament ‘charis’ in his translation of the Bible.  Psalm 63:3 reads, “… your lovingkindness is better than life.” The Spanish translates ‘lovingkindness’ as ‘misericordia,’ mercy. Thus we are reminded that we read God’s Word in translation as well, a Word subject to the nuances of various languages and cultures.  

Two relational exercises can assist us in gaining a measure of insight into the meaning of this word, a listing of responses to both that will offer surprising similarities:

1. In what ways do we experience loving kindness, however we define it, in our relationship with the Triune God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit?
2. In what ways do we experience loving kindness, however we define it, in our relationships with others who love us?

Reflective question: Experientially, how would you explain God’s loving-kindness to a non Christian?

Reflective Scripture: Jeremiah 31:3 – “… I have drawn you with lovingkindness.”

Reflective hymn:

“Awake, my Soul” – Samuel Medley

Awake, my soul, in joyful lays, and sing thy great Redeemer’s praise;

He justly claims a song from me, His loving-kindness, oh, how free!

Though numerous hosts of mighty foes, though earth and hell my way oppose,

He safely leads my soul along, His loving-kindness, oh, how strong!