Discuss Together
- Friend can be a pretty broad term these days. So, take a moment to define it. If someone is your friend, what are some general expectations you have for that relationship?
Read Ruth 1:1-8. In verse 8, the author uses a Hebrew word, hesed, as a way to describe what Ruth and Orpah had shown Naomi. It is sometimes translated as kindness, loving devotion, or loyal love. They use different words because the concept is so rich it can’t be adequately reflected by one word in English.
- Not only is hesed a rich word, it’s also a rare quality in life and friendship. What do you think makes it so uncommon, especially in our culture today?
- Has someone in your life ever shown you hesed? Who was it and how did they show it?
- One of the uncommon ways Ruth showed hesed to Naomi was to journey with her instead of trying to connect from afar. Ryan shared how the problems we’re furthest from seem like the easiest ones to fix. Have you ever had someone from a distance try to marginalize a problem you were facing? How?
- It’s easy to simplify problems from afar and make quick statements like, “Why don’t they just…” But hesed means doing something uncommon by trying to understand and empathize through a friend who isn’t like you. What have you learned about developing friends with people from different races, ethnicities, backgrounds, and perspectives?
- How easy is it for you to let people into your inner circle? How have past friendship experiences shaped you?
- If someone doesn’t have an inner circle, how could they go about building one? What have you learned?
- Who is someone you can show hesed to this week? What would that look like?
Next Steps
Ryan mentioned that a great way to develop a diverse friendship is through Unity Table. The mission of this opportunity is to create intentional conversations and meaningful relationships from a broad range of perspectives. To find out more, go to chaseoaks.org/unity-table.