Alright, well listen, what's up, venture man. Good morning. And uh, man, I want you to know we're so glad to be with you today. I wanna catch you up just real quick because last week, uh, we were ending a two week series called Be Generous and we asked you guys to give above and beyond, and you did. We're gonna catch you up on that next Sunday where we've had time to kind of figure all that out.

Um, but the good news is we're gonna be able to give to some of our community missions partners, uh, literally like we never have before because so many of you gave last week. So we've got a lot to celebrate with that. Gimme one more week and we'll come back with it and kind of give you the specifics of, of what you gave yesterday. You've heard at all of our campuses, everything about the Christmas store and it has just blown our minds. So many of you stopped me even just this morning and said, Hey, this is my new tradition.

We're gonna be here to serve on the Christmas store. We wanna be a part every year. And so, uh, man, thank you for letting us do that at all of our campuses. Really, really special weekend. Now, today we're starting a brand new four week series and it's on Advent.

And when I say that, I wanna be honest with you. I, I've learned a lot about Advent. Like my first impression of Advent is you walk in Hobby Lobby and you see the weird wreaths. Uh, or you go in Michael's and you see all the candles. But I, I I, I really have begun to learn a little bit more about advent.

And advent comes from a Latin word and it simply means the arrival or the coming. And we celebrate it in this season because we're celebrating the arrival or the coming of Jesus. Now, advent is typically built around four big themes. Many of you know this. It's built around hope, built around joy.

It's built around love and it's built around peace. So for the next four weeks, those are the topics that we're gonna tackle. Now, this week we're starting with hope. And I just wanna be honest with you guys this morning. Um, as a preacher, it's a little weird to preach on hope when there's been seasons of my life that I have felt hopeless.

And so I, I wanna start today off a little bit different than we do every week, okay? Lots of times we'll have a fun introductory story that kind of hopefully gets you in and you start leaning in 'cause you wanna know more. But this week the message is really not like that. This week, this message is built for the person that is listening today and you feel hopeless. And I don't know any better way to start a message like that than to simply pray for you.

And I'm gonna ask you to think about the details of kinda where you've been that have led you to this place. And so maybe you want to answer this question just in your mind. Um, we had hoped, we had hoped, we had hoped the depression and anxiety would be gone by now. We had hoped we had kicked the addiction and we were done. We had hoped that he would not have passed.

We had hoped that she was gonna be the one we had hoped that we were gonna make it. We had hoped that we would not have lost a child. We had hoped that we would be pregnant. Listen, if that's you today, man, I, I don't, I don't really have three points to, to make you smile, but I I do want you to know that you're not without hope. And today I just wanna pray for you.

Let's pray together. God, I thank you that on a day and in a moment where so many things around us are full of joy and we've sung songs about joy, and it's a holiday season where the movies end perfectly and the hot chocolate is always hot and the family always seems together that sometimes that's not our story. And God, today I pray for the one that's watching, that's driving down the road, listening to this message that's sitting at one of our campuses or that is sitting in Lincoln Road and they feel without hope. God help us today. Encourage them, help us see them, help them know that you are close.

God, I pray that they would know that despite the way that they feel in this moment, that you see them, that you love them, that you have come so that we may still have hope. So God, it's, it's, we know this hope can be a dangerous thing without it, it feels really dark and we begin to feel isolated. And so today, God, I pray that you would renew and you would build this muscle in us called hope. It's in your name we pray. Amen.

Amen. All right, listen, y'all, I want you to join me, uh, in Luke 24. Alright? Now, Luke 24 is the last chapter in Luke. If you know much about the gospels, uh, Luke is just the story of Jesus.

And so if you join in this book at any point, you're gonna hear about miracles and you're gonna hear about teaching. If you get to the very first of Luke, obviously you're gonna hear about the birth of Jesus and his arrival, his coming. But today we're gonna join in the last chapter, the very end of Luke, because we're gonna pick up the story in what is really a, feels like a hopeless moment. We're gonna join the story of Jesus in the last chapter where things just don't look so good. And in doing that on purpose, because maybe that's where you are, you're gonna find two parties here.

You're gonna find disciples. And I hope we got a lot of disciples today, right? A disciple, someone who's following Jesus. Second party, you're gonna find is a disciple that is without hope. And man, I just know in my heart that we've got some of those that are listening today as well, that you feel hopeless, you're gonna connect with this story.

So here we go, Luke 24, we're gonna start right outta the gate with verse one. Here we go. On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the woman took the spices that they had prepared and they went to the tomb. Now, they had found that the stone was rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men, enclos, glean like lightning stood beside them in their fright.

The women bowed down with their faces to the ground. But the men said to them, why do you look for the living amongst the dead? He's not here. He has risen. And this is a really powerful word, and it's one we're gonna talk about.

Remember, remember how he told you while he was still in Galilee, the son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified on the third day and be raised again. And then they remembered his words. Listen for a minute this morning, I, I wanna be honest, because when you walk through crisis and when you're discouraged and when you've lost hope, it's like you, you can't remember the things that God has said. And sometimes it's really hard to remember what God says in the light when you're in a season of darkness. And the, these were these ladies, I mean, it was, this was, this was day three.

It was like death at one. Where is Jesus? He had told us that he was gonna be raised from the dead, but yet it hadn't happened. And they were discouraged, man. They were at the lowest point in their lives.

And they walk in and then there's the angel and there's all the things. But the word is the moment that they listen, they hear, you need to remember what Jesus has told you. And listen for just a second today, I want to interrupt wherever you are in this season of question and wonder. And I want you to remember what he has told you. John six, I believe it's 1633 in this world, you will have trouble.

Well, that's encouraging, right? But sometimes it helps to remember that this really may, maybe it's not catching God by surprise, the fact that this is reality, that we're gonna face trouble. And then he says, in the midst of that trouble, here's what I want you to do. I want you to take heart because I have overcome the world. Now, that's the idea of advent.

It's a moment that in the midst of our season where maybe we feel like we have lost hope, and maybe we have because of the circumstances that are around us, we get to remember that he has come. That the arrival of Jesus changes the circumstances that you and I are facing. Now let me, let me kinda summarize what happens next because, uh, these two women, they re they remember and, and then they go find the disciples, right? Finally, they've got good news to share. And so man, they've got a message there on purpose.

These two ladies are running up. They find the disciples, they bang on the door because they're hiding. The disciples are at the lowest of lows. Where is Jesus? This is day three.

He hasn't risen. All the things that we did must have been in vain. They're just throwing a pity party. They can't hear the message, they can't hear the good news. But the ladies just got the message from the angel.

They know firsthand the tomb is empty. They've got this urgent message to share. Now, this is men. This is not our best moment in Scripture. I mean, they're telling the two ladies, I mean, they've got the good news, they've got the answer.

They've got the thing that these men have been waiting for, but the men couldn't hear it from these ladies. Now, listen, this message isn't on this, but I do think it's a worthy note. We don't wanna let gender or education or color prevent us from hearing the good news. And I just gotta wonder if Peter and John would've been the ones telling the other disciples that Jesus had risen, you think they could have heard it? So man, that's just a challenge to you, that God's put some people in your life that you need to be willing to hear.

Now, let's, let's drop on them 'cause that's way too sensitive for today. Uh, let's go down to Luke 24. We're gonna go to verse 13. Okay? Verse 13.

So you, you, you got it. Like the ladies, they see that Jesus has risen. They go tell the disciples can't hear it. Well, now we find two more disciples. And again, these guys are without hope.

Let's just watch this interaction. Verse 13. Now that same day, two of them were going from a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them, but they were kept from recognizing him.

Now, now these two guys are exact example of what not to do, not to do. And sometimes you need that because sometimes it's easier to see what not to do when you have disappointment. And, and so the first thing is, these, these guys were talking about everything that they wished Jesus would've done, right? Why didn't he take over the Romans, right? Why didn't he lower the taxes, right?

Why didn't he preach more on politics and less on love? Why didn't Jesus do this? This, this is a whole conversation. It's just the two of them wrapped up in it. And here they are.

They're just talking each other's ear off. And all the while Jesus is right there, but they're so focused on the size of their problem that they can't see the size of their God that's literally walking down the street with them. They're just encompassed. They're lost in it. Their perspective is gone.

And sometimes we can't help it because it's so real. And so we're not preaching this at you to make you feel guilty. We're just helping you see a picture. Because these two guys, the other things that they did that was so bad was they're walking down the road to Jerusalem. This the two disciples, well, where are the other disciples?

They're all gathered together, comforting each other, encouraging each other, waiting for the good news. But yet these two got isolated and they pushed away from everybody. And man, they got weird here. Here's, here's what I'm challenging you to do over the holidays, because the holidays can be really hard and you can lose perspective just like these two. I mean, right?

Family shows up, but they came an hour late, but you're, you're bitter or you got one of your kids that comes, but the other two didn't come. And so you're upset. You can't enjoy the one. And and I'm just telling you, these guys, their perspective was lost in the midst of it. I saw something yesterday at the Christmas store that, that made me think about this because it was, it was so called, I met one of our college students that comes to the gathering.

She goes, she's from, uh, Ridgeland. And I noticed she was up here serving all day. I thought about it like, you know, two, three weeks before Christmas. And yet she stays on campus and she doesn't just stay in the dorm by herself. Instead, she brought two friends and they came together to serve and to meet you and to be around family, to be around friends.

They could have stayed isolated. They could have used this season in their life for so many things. Yet here they were giving up of their time and seeing other people and connecting with people. The greatest moment in history has just happened. Jesus has been raised from the dead, but yet these two can't see it.

Man, I don't want you to miss it. And and I understand it's so hard, but I don't want you to walk away from people and I don't want you to get alone. Instead, I want you to lean in. You may be leaking hope, but we have a hopeful message. Amen.

And God never leaves you. Let's keep going. 'Cause I want you to see his reaction because this is really good. This is Luke 24, 17 and 18 now, and we're just watching the way Jesus responds to these two guys. All right?

So in verse 17, he asks them, what are you discussing together as you walk along? Now, this is a really weird interaction by the way, right? I mean, here these two guys are, and now this is Jesus. And he's asking them, Hey, well what are you guys talking about? What are you, what are you discussing as you walk along?

Well, they stood still. Their face is downcast. One of them named pus. Maybe you wanna name your next child Cle puss. It's an option.

Wouldn't advise it, but it's an option. Well, they asked him, are you only a visitor to Jerusalem? And you do not know the things that have happened over these past few days. This is these two guys saying, how did you miss it? Everybody knows what's happened.

Everybody's talking about it. Like, are you, you really haven't heard This Is that moment that you're asking that question, like, why? Like the puzzle pieces of life, and here's this one that I don't understand why it's happened and then I just, I don't have any perspective why I'm still battling cancer. And I I just, I don't have the answer for it. I don't have the solution for it.

And I'm just, this is this moment on the road to Emmaus that these guys are asking the same questions that we're asking. Like, what do I do with the trauma that I've been given? Because this is hard. It's not the light in life that I wanted, but yet I'm holding this puzzle piece and I don't know what to do. Now, watch verse 21, because this is, this explains a lot of things because this is where me and you get, this is where sometimes it, maybe this is just where you are, verse 21.

But we had hoped, we had hoped he was gonna redeem Israel. We had hoped he was gonna cure the cancer. We had hoped we were gonna stay together. We had hoped we wouldn't have lost him or her. Golly man, I I, I just, I just point that out to you so you can see you're not alone.

I mean, these are people in Scripture that we're talking about that things didn't go the way they wanted them to either. And so sometimes it can feel like, hey, I'm the only one that hasn't found a cure. Like I'm the only one that doesn't have that story that they're gonna play adventure about how I'm no longer depressed. I no longer have her eating disorder. We made it and, and, but that just doesn't like it.

It's just not happening yet. Listen, I wanna give you hope. You're not the only one. We're looking at Scripture right here, where these two disciples are literally looking at Jesus. Like, have you not heard about the disaster that we're facing?

Man, we had hoped that it worked out different. Sometimes it's strangely comforting when life doesn't make sense to realize, man in this world you can expect trouble. Like you're not alone. Now watch Jesus' response, because this is, this is powerful 25, uh, and through 27, we're almost there. And he said to them, how foolish you are and how slow of heart to believe all of these things that the prophets have spoken.

Why are you slow, slow and heart to believe these things? Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory? And beginning with Moses, this is how he responds. This is, this is, watch him. He's gonna walk 'em all back through Scripture.

He's so gracious in his response, the way that he walks these through to these two, through their disbelief, ha 27. And he began with Moses and all the prophets. And he explained to them what was said in all of the scriptures concerning himself, man Jesus, he didn't leave them there in their struggle. He didn't walk away so disappointed. He just began to open up God's word with them.

And he went all the way back through to the beginning and walked them through the truth that they could hold onto in the midst of their crisis. It's exactly what I wanna do today. I wanna give you four things that you can hold onto if you feel hopeless. Here's the first one. You ready?

God never gives up on us. Now, lemme give you some Scripture because you need that in the midst of those long, difficult nights. Here it is, it's Philippians one, six being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion. Boy, that is good to hear until the day of Christ Jesus. What he's saying is, listen, he's not gonna put this little recipe together about halfway, take a take taste test.

And if it doesn't taste good, start over. No, no, no, no. He's not gonna leave a little project kinda half baked. No, no, no. He's gonna see it all the way through, like, you know, hey, I made it, I made it nine days without drinking.

But on day 10, man, I slipped and I fell and I feel full ashamed. I bet God's done with me. No, he's gonna see this thing all the way through to completion. He is a relentless redeemer. I love that term.

Relentless. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah. He started a good work in me. Is he still gonna complete it? You know, my, I I, I said a prayer when I was 11.

Do you think God still sees me? Yeah. He still sees you all the way through until completion. He never leaves you until it is perfectly finished. Take heart.

You were worth it. You mean the cross to Christ that is bold. I mean, I'm just telling you right? He went on the cross for you because he sees you and he loves you and he never gives up on you. He's patient with us to redeem us.

Number two, Jesus is with us in our suffering. I mean, there they are on the road and they're just wondering and they're asking all these questions, yet there's Jesus right there. The paradox of this moment is huge. They're so frustrated with Jesus and they don't understand him yet. Yet Jesus did the one thing that provides a way for them to have peace and to have hope.

And he's right there. Yet their circumstances just didn't allow them to see it in that moment. Cali, he is so close to us, even in the midst of our suffering, he's close to us when he gets dark at 4 45 and the depression is heavy, yet your appetite is light. He's close to us in the holiday season when it's not so magical. He's close to us.

When you are alone for the very first time. I mentioned to you last week that uh, my family's gotten a new puppy. We've got a little golden retriever and uh, Luna and I spend a lot of early mornings together just kind of hanging out, looking at each other. And when we're tired of talking to each other, uh, it's time for my kids to get up. And I'm scared of my wife to wake her up with my dog.

So I wake my kids up with my dog. And so they both get to wake up. When they wake up. They've got Luna like right here. And, and Luna's in that stage where she'll like bite your nose.

It's just a great way to wake up in the mornings. Don't you wanna come spend the night? Yeah, but my point is, in, in that little illustration, you can see my little dog just all upon you. But when you wake up and you're in a season of suffering, I want you to wake up looking at God, looking at you because he's that close. And when you hear that, you think, I just, God doesn't, I don't want God looking at me because of what I've done or what I did.

But that's not the picture of the Heavenly Father that Scripture paints. The, the word most associated with God is compassion. Like he, he wants to reign down his love on you. Like He, he, he sees you through the righteousness of the cross. It's the great exchange of your sin.

He doesn't see that anymore. He says in Scripture that you're a new creation. That that's what I want you waking up to. I want you waking up not to just puppy breath and little puppy just biting your nose. I want you to wake up with God looking at you and you looking back at him.

He's gazing at you. And man, if you can begin to see God that way, it opens up a whole new thing. His grace, his hope, his glory. I'm just telling you, I'm gonna pick on you a little bit because if you think about your Christian walk and you describe it as, Hey, I said a prayer when I was 12, and that was the moment, that was the apex, that was the big moment of my spiritual life. That's, that's not the journey that I want you to go on.

I, I want you going on a journey with Christ that's still unfolding, that is new every day with his faithfulness and his righteousness and his love, that the fruits of the spirit are coming out of you. That his grace is raining down on you, that his glory is shining through you. It's real different than a one time prayer. That's a, that's a story, it's a journey. It's a relationship that you're walking in.

Number three, God will recycle our pain to form us into people of love. And I'm gonna share with you a verse that everybody knows and nobody likes. Alright? There's several of these, but this is a really tough one. James one, two through four.

It says, consider it pure joy. My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, I mean, could probably stop right there because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. That's something that you and I need. Let perseverance finish this work so that you may be mature. That's something you and I want and complete, not lacking anything.

I said I, I watch you walk through these trials and, and man who, who wants a diagnosis of, of, of cancer. But then I see you at the end of it. And I see the way that you've, you've changed, and I saw it yesterday. This was such a powerful moment. Yesterday at the Christmas store, we had one of our shoppers you could sign up to serve in different places.

And uh, we had one, one partner here at Lincoln Road that signed up to serve us a rapper. She was gonna wrap up, up, no, she was gonna wrap presents and uh, we were full. We didn't need any more rappers. So a little bit just discouraged, but walked in anyway. And, and we ended up putting her on the shopping team.

So when, when, when one of our families came to, to venture to get to shop for their kids, she was assigned one of these ladies to get to walk her through shopping. Now, now my shopper, the the one, the volunteer from Venture, one of our partners, is just coming off a battle with breast cancer. It's been brutal. It's been life altering. Who do you think the first shopper that she got to walk through, would you think maybe this was her second time to have a treatment for breast cancer?

And the person that God put in her life when she came to our campus yesterday was a person that just finished breast cancer treatment. She was on the other side of the struggle. She got to recycle her pain. She got to have empathy like you and I, I'll be honest with you, we can't have that kind of empathy. I mean, if you have that story, you can, but I'm just telling you, she looked at her with eyes that were different than the way I would look at her.

She understood, she had the scars to recognize, she had the stories to tell. The question is just, are we willing to recycle and open up our lives in that way? Because that's not easy. Those are journeys you really don't wanna talk about a lot. But man, when we see each other differently and we're willing to open up our lives and let God work through some of that pain, he will recycle it in other people's lives.

This is self-giving. And self-giving is hard. It's hard at the holidays like you just wanna be your for and know more, but maybe the self-giving that you need to do is open up your home to somebody. I mean, self-giving is the picture that you know when the baby cries and you get back up again. I mean, self-giving is giving of your time.

We just finished two weeks of being generous and you have been so generous. But this is a season to not stop because it's in that, that we grow. It's in that, that we understand how much God has given to us. Sharing your story with others who need it, opening up your life to others, allowing someone else to benefit from the pain that you've walked through. Now here's the last one.

You're almost there. Thank you. We can anchor our hope that Jesus will return and make things new. Now, as soon as I share that you, you're like, I was just kinda waiting on that to come. I knew you were gonna say that.

Of course you say that, but, but we don't think about that enough. Like we, we think about, we pray about, I mean honest like we do, you know, like, hey, the game, the, the, the National championship. I mean if Ole Miss just could have made it to be one of the top 12 teams, if Mississippi State would ever have a winning football team, if USM can get the right, we think about these things. We think about it a lot. We talk about it a lot.

I mean, you come on, come on. Football fans, we dream about it. We dream about what it would be like. Believers today. Don't think about enough the second coming of Christ.

'Cause it's gonna be a powerful moment. You know, you know when Jesus came Christmas, you know this, he came as a baby and a manger. When he comes back, he comes back as a warrior. When he comes back, he comes back to redeem and to get us. When he comes back, he comes back to interrupt this world and to stop the pain and the suffering and to take us home with him.

It's something we need to think about. Like when we are hopeless, it's okay to think about that because that's where we find hope. Listen to some of these verses. You, you've heard some of these, but you, we just need to be reminded Isaiah 40 31. But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, man, they'll soar on wings like eagles.

They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not be faint. Man, I talked to a lady yesterday that spends four nights with her dad and he's walking through just a difficult disease. But can't you just see this passage as I read it? Can't you see him walking again?

Oh, what about this one? Isaiah 51 11, those the Lord has rescued will return, they'll enter Zion with singing everlasting joy will crown their heads. Boy, I love that everlasting joy. Man. You may be in a season where it's hard to find joy.

There's a promise right here that you can be hopeful for everlasting joy, gladness and joy will overtake them. I mean, this is the picture of being drunk, hammered with everlasting joy, sorrow and sign will flee away. Revelation 21, 4, he will wipe every tear from their eye. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the older order of things. And it has passed away.

Man. We're, we're hopeful for so many things that are less than that. And what CS Lewis says, I think for three weeks straight, we've quoted CS Lewis. He said the lion, he said, Aslan is on the move. And that's what I want you to hear today is that man hope is on the move.

It is coming around because Jesus sees you. He hasn't given up on you that muscle. The muscle of hope is built around three little things. It's built around believing and you're going, all right, I believe I'm there. It's built around trust, right?

I'm trusting for something more. Here's the hard one. The third thing is built around is patience. That's where I dropped the ball. This is a great term for you.

Ready? The waiting room is the hardest room. And this whole thing, this whole message is built around the people that you're sitting in the waiting room. And I want to give you one last verse today. And you've hung women.

We've, we've looked at a lot of Scripture, but I I just, I wanna read this one over you maybe differently. Uh, like this is, this is, this is, this is kind of that moment where I just, I want you to receive this because I know what you've done in your low. Like you, you've had nights where you just open up and like, God, show me something. I need something like somebody give me an email signature that's got a verse. Like, here's a message.

Maybe this one's for me. This verse is for you. This is your verse to hold onto. Alright, here it is. I'm just gonna read it over you and I want you to have it.

It's second Corinthians 12. It starts in verse nine. It says, my grace is sufficient for you. And those words are really powerful because you are trying and you feel shame and you feel guilt for not being better. My grace is sufficient for you.

Here you go. You ready for my power? Not yours, but my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I'll boast all the more gladly about my weakness. This is so different than way we think.

So that Christ power may rest on me. Boy, don't you want that so bad right now? That is why for Christ's sake. Now, I I'm not here yet, but you ready? I'm delight in weakness.

This is Paul talking because he was so frustrated about this thorn in his side that never went away. And this is the only explanation he could come up with why he had this struggle in life. That is why for Christ's sake, I delight in weakness in insults and hardship and persecution, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. That's, that's my prayer is, man, you may be in a season where you are weak, but he says, when you're weak, yet I am strong, man.

I see you when that pornography addiction is just too much and you failed again. And the enemy just wants to replay that scene in your mind and make you go lower and lower in shame. He says, no, no, I see you differently. I haven't given up on you. Sometimes our disappointments, sometimes our hopelessness is simply an invitation to recenter our hope.

So today, if that's where you are, if you're in that low moment, and man, it feels like hope is so far away, that may be an invitation to recenter your hope. 'Cause you may be without hope, but you are not hopeless. And so here's what we're gonna do. I'm gonna pray for you one more time, but I, I don't want it to stop there. I've got a prayer team.

I love my prayer team at every one of our campuses. And it would do nothing. Nothing would make us happier. Today is if we got a moment to pray for you in person. And so in just a second, when I pray over you, you're gonna have a song.

And this is a chance for you to come down. And I'm just telling you, this is not the kind of church that judges you for coming down. This is the kind of church that wants to carry your burdens and pray for each other because we have been hopeless before as well. So that's where you are today, man. We'd love to pray for you.

You could come down, leave something on the cross, you can come down and be prayed for. You can come down and take communion to remember all that Jesus has done or you can sit and worship. But before we get there, let me pray for you. God, I thank you that despite a world that offers hope and so many things, there's a reality that sometimes we find ourselves just running on empty. And then there's the season.

There's this moment that's called advent that is really so much more than weird wreaths and white candles. God, it's a season where we remember that you've come that there's hope. And so God, today I just pray and I intercede for the one that's hopeless. God, I pray and ask that you would redeem them, that you would bring images and light, that you would bring hope, that you would bring people, that you would bring worship, that you would bring your word alive in them, that even when they're weak, you are strong. That God, you're gazing on them and you see them through the lens of the cross.

That's a new creation. That God, you're so hopeful for them, you want your glory to reside in and through them. You have plans for them. You're not through with them. So God, today in anticipation, in a spirit of hope that you came for us, God, we put all of these things to the side and we choose to see you.

So God, open up our eyes to your love and to your grace, allow us to experience the hope of the cross. It's in your name we pray. Amen.