WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:00.719 Good morning. 00:00:00.800 --> 00:00:03.439 It is our fourth Sunday. 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:06.719 It's our fourth Sunday of Lent. 00:00:06.879 --> 00:00:10.720 So Lent is the 40 days leading up to Easter. 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:13.279 If you've been with us for the past month, you know this. 00:00:13.359 --> 00:00:29.039 We've been talking about this each week, and each week we have a passage assigned to us that's been scheduled out for us to understand and think about and contemplate the goodness of Jesus as we work our way toward the crucifixion and the resurrection. 00:00:29.199 --> 00:00:34.880 And so Lent is the 40 days leading up to Easter, and yet within Lent we have Sundays, which we've been talking about. 00:00:35.039 --> 00:00:37.439 Sundays are feast days. 00:00:37.679 --> 00:00:47.280 And so how fitting and how good it is for us that amidst what's been going on in our lives and our world, we have Sundays left for us to feast. 00:00:47.600 --> 00:00:50.719 Not on more news or more emails. 00:00:50.880 --> 00:01:01.920 I don't know about you, but I'm getting emails from every organization, company, places I bought socks from are emailing me about their feelings about COVID. 00:01:02.159 --> 00:01:30.560 How great amidst feasting on all of those emails and all of those notifications of what's canceled and what's not and what's going on, the next beat of news, all of that we get to on Sunday's feast on the thing that is stable, the thing that is secure, the goodness of God to us amidst difficulty and amidst suffering, because we can so easily, no matter what our weeks have looked like these past week or two, ten days or so. 00:01:31.519 --> 00:01:33.519 Some of us have felt very lonely. 00:01:33.920 --> 00:01:48.799 Some of us have have become teachers overnight for our children, and you never wanted to be a teacher, and now you're working from home and trying to figure out how to teach common core math, and it's not how you learned math, and so you gotta relearn even how to do math. 00:01:49.040 --> 00:01:56.959 And so so many of us are put in situations we've never been in, and yet admits that it can be easy to have busy hearts. 00:01:57.359 --> 00:02:14.800 Even while we're busy in our homes with people or we're lonely, even then we can have busy hearts, and so it's so good for us to be able to come together on Sundays and feast on the thing that is stable and on the thing that helps calm our hearts and give us rest in our hearts. 00:02:14.960 --> 00:02:18.960 And so we're gonna take a few minutes, we're gonna look at this story in John 9. 00:02:19.120 --> 00:02:27.840 We could not get a more fitting story for us to contemplate the goodness of Jesus in this story this morning for us to feast on. 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:30.400 So here's our story in John 9, verses 1 through 3. 00:02:30.479 --> 00:02:38.000 And it's a long passage, so I'm gonna read some and I'll tell some of the story a little bit, but it's a long passage, so we'll work our way through it. 00:02:38.319 --> 00:02:44.719 John 9 verses 1 through 3, as he went along, Jesus, as Jesus went along, he saw a blind man from birth. 00:02:44.879 --> 00:02:52.960 His disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned this man or his parents, that he was born blind? 00:02:53.120 --> 00:02:55.039 So they have a the presupposition here. 00:02:55.120 --> 00:02:59.680 They're just assuming, well, if he was born blind, he has suffering in his life. 00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:03.199 Well, he must have done something wrong, or his parents must have done something wrong. 00:03:03.520 --> 00:03:13.120 Verse 3, well, Jesus says, Neither this man nor his parents sinned, said Jesus, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:22.400 So the first point we get when we're thinking through the story, the first point is Jesus dismisses the moralizing of our suffering. 00:03:22.719 --> 00:03:25.599 Jesus dismisses the moralizing of our suffering. 00:03:25.759 --> 00:03:27.680 What good news this is for us. 00:03:27.919 --> 00:03:30.719 There's this ridiculous Seinfeld episode. 00:03:30.800 --> 00:03:31.840 So it's been a long time ago. 00:03:32.240 --> 00:03:33.680 Maybe you you've seen the reruns. 00:03:33.840 --> 00:03:49.919 And George Costanza, who's always a mess, Costanza, he's he's trying to apply for a great apartment, like a killer New York City apartment with, you know, with a good rent inside of his apartment building, and the tenant board is deciding between him and an older gentleman. 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:54.719 The older gentleman was a survivor of a shipwreck, the ship that sank. 00:03:54.800 --> 00:04:03.120 And so the tenant board, because of this older gentleman's suffering, they're gonna give the apartment to this older gentleman. 00:04:03.199 --> 00:04:08.159 And so George comes into Jerry's apartment and he's talking about things, oh, you know, I don't have a shot at this apartment. 00:04:08.319 --> 00:04:10.639 This guy was on a you know a ship that sank. 00:04:10.719 --> 00:04:19.279 And Jerry says, uh, you know, if this tenant board is so impressed with suffering, maybe you should tell them the astonishing tales of Costanza. 00:04:19.519 --> 00:04:21.199 And George, you know, he's interested. 00:04:21.279 --> 00:04:22.240 He's well, I should. 00:04:22.319 --> 00:04:28.079 And Jerry says, I mean, your body of work in this field is unparalleled, right? 00:04:28.160 --> 00:04:32.160 Like Jerry's saying, like, nobody has suffered like you have, George. 00:04:32.319 --> 00:04:41.600 And we know this if you've watched Seinfeld, like he's always experiencing just horrible situations, you know, most of which he's creating, but otherwise ones come toward him. 00:04:41.759 --> 00:05:00.319 And so the scene goes on, and and George goes back to the tenant board, and he's back at the tenant board, and he is going through his life just very, very matter-of-factly, not even emotionally, just going through all the suffering he has endured in his life, this ridiculous experience after ridiculous experience. 00:05:00.480 --> 00:05:02.560 And it's funny, like when you're watching, it's funny. 00:05:02.639 --> 00:05:06.079 You're laughing, you're like, this is so ridiculous, this is funny. 00:05:06.560 --> 00:05:14.000 Uh and it's funny because of all of this ridiculous suffering, but underneath it there's this thought, right? 00:05:14.079 --> 00:05:16.000 Like this whole scenes built upon it. 00:05:16.079 --> 00:05:27.120 It's the same thing that these first few verses are built upon in this story, and it's that what you've had have experienced should warrant what you get in this world. 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:31.439 Well, if you've suffered enough, you should get the apartment, right? 00:05:31.680 --> 00:05:41.920 And a similar thought, it's like a parallel thought here in this story, the disciples thinking at first, eventually the religious leaders will see later in the story, and it's this thought. 00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:47.040 What you have done, or what your parents have done. 00:05:47.920 --> 00:05:50.000 This is the cause of your suffering. 00:05:50.800 --> 00:05:52.560 So here's what's easy to think. 00:05:52.720 --> 00:05:53.920 Also, parallel thought to this. 00:05:54.000 --> 00:05:54.959 Here's what's easy to think. 00:05:55.040 --> 00:05:57.680 Well, the more devout I am, the better I am. 00:05:57.839 --> 00:06:13.120 If I'm good, I'm a good girl, I'm a good boy, I behave, I'm moral, I pray, and how much I pray, and how passionate I am, and how zealous I am for the Lord, and how much I love the Lord, then God will, and we form this equation. 00:06:14.240 --> 00:06:20.639 If only I lived good enough, and then we we sort of think, God will owe me. 00:06:20.800 --> 00:06:23.680 Like God will owe me if I live good enough. 00:06:23.920 --> 00:06:33.680 You know, I can avoid, I can avoid natural consequences, I can avoid natural suffering because God will owe me. 00:06:34.319 --> 00:06:38.160 And the problem with this is that it eventually turns on us. 00:06:38.480 --> 00:07:03.360 Like we like it because we're in control when life goes well, but eventually it turns on us and it condemns us, and we live in condemnation toward others, the equation works until a little bit of life happens, until COVID happens, until cancer happens, until you lose your job, until you can't find another job, until your significant other drops you. 00:07:04.800 --> 00:07:09.199 Till you have depression, and you've never had depression before in your life. 00:07:09.439 --> 00:07:15.279 And see, if you're living by that equation, what that means is something is wrong with you. 00:07:15.759 --> 00:07:17.199 You did something wrong. 00:07:17.360 --> 00:07:19.040 That's why you're blind. 00:07:19.600 --> 00:07:25.680 And that is such unnecessary condemnation and exhaustion. 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:32.319 And Jesus in the story, he comes up to this natural suffering, suffering in a broken world that, of course, we do not like it. 00:07:32.399 --> 00:07:39.680 And inside the sovereignty of God, we we don't understand how an almighty and unloving and an all-loving God allows it. 00:07:39.759 --> 00:07:43.360 So we we understand this with some mystery and humility. 00:07:44.720 --> 00:07:57.759 But we go, we're all experiencing suffering in this broken world, but what is unnecessary is to live by this equation that's only going to give us eventual condemnation and exhaustion. 00:07:58.319 --> 00:08:02.319 And this story, Jesus right away in this story, says, no, no, no, neither. 00:08:02.800 --> 00:08:07.519 No, not his fault, not his parents' fault. 00:08:08.480 --> 00:08:25.600 See, any punishment due to us because of our sinfulness and our rebellion toward God, our continuous rebelliousness toward God, which we have in our own selfishness and lack of faith, any punishment has already been handled inside of Jesus on the cross. 00:08:25.759 --> 00:08:30.959 That's why we always say our sin has been put upon him and his righteousness has been given to us. 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:42.399 So anything that we know of discipline in this world is inside of the loving kindness of God from a loving Abba Father, much more than any Abba Father that we've experienced inside of this world. 00:08:42.799 --> 00:09:02.000 And any suffering we've experienced in this world, whether it be natural suffering just of existing in this world, or maybe we even caused it by stabbing ourselves in the ear with a screwdriver, and we go deaf, even that can be used inside the loving kindness of God for our own good. 00:09:02.399 --> 00:09:07.600 And it's because God engages us inside of our suffering. 00:09:08.720 --> 00:09:10.240 Okay, the story moves on. 00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:11.279 Verse 6. 00:09:11.519 --> 00:09:24.960 So Jesus is in front of this blind man, he spits on the ground, he gets a spit, he gets some dirt, and he mixes up into some mud, and he he wipes it on the eyes of that blind man, and he says, Go now and wash in the pool of siloam. 00:09:25.039 --> 00:09:29.360 So the man goes and washes in the pool of siloam, he washes that mud off, and the man is healed. 00:09:29.519 --> 00:09:35.919 He was blind, and now he can see, and the whole community knows it because he they know he was the blind man. 00:09:37.679 --> 00:09:42.879 So the neighbors get this guy, you gotta go and you gotta show yourself to the religious leaders. 00:09:43.279 --> 00:09:56.480 Somebody was healed, you've got to go to the religious leaders, and so they take him to the Pharisees, who end up being much more concerned about their religious system and their religious rules than the fact that a blind man has just been healed. 00:09:56.559 --> 00:09:57.600 And how did that happen? 00:09:57.679 --> 00:10:00.000 And let's go celebrate that and celebrate with you. 00:10:00.080 --> 00:10:02.000 There's none of that joy for this man. 00:10:02.159 --> 00:10:05.200 All they say is, oh, oh, you can't heal on the Sabbath. 00:10:05.759 --> 00:10:07.279 You just broke the Sabbath. 00:10:07.679 --> 00:10:09.440 That man who healed you broke the Sabbath. 00:10:09.679 --> 00:10:14.159 And they're missing the fact that the man who broke the Sabbath is the Sabbath. 00:10:15.039 --> 00:10:16.960 He actually is our rest. 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:21.919 The actual rest we need inside of our hearts. 00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:36.080 And so we get this going on in this story where we have a blind man who was aware of his blindness and healed from it, and then we have these religious leaders that are completely unaware of their spiritual blindness. 00:10:38.879 --> 00:10:42.000 So they asked the blind man, they say, Well, who do you think he was? 00:10:42.159 --> 00:10:44.639 Like, who do you think that guy is who healed you? 00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:47.840 And the blind man says, He's a prophet. 00:10:48.720 --> 00:10:51.120 Well, not the blind man, the guy who can see now. 00:10:51.360 --> 00:10:52.639 He's a prophet. 00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:55.120 So now they go and they pull the parents in. 00:10:55.200 --> 00:10:59.759 Like, we're, you know, they got to dig deeper into this guy who was blind and now he can see. 00:10:59.840 --> 00:11:01.200 Let's figure this whole thing out. 00:11:01.360 --> 00:11:04.159 Let's make sure he really was blind, and was he blind? 00:11:04.240 --> 00:11:04.960 And now he can see. 00:11:05.039 --> 00:11:06.000 Let's get this story straight. 00:11:06.159 --> 00:11:08.080 So verse 19, is this your son? 00:11:08.240 --> 00:11:09.200 They asked the parents. 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:12.000 Is this the one you say was born blind? 00:11:12.159 --> 00:11:14.480 So they're kind of going, like, was he really blind or was he not blind? 00:11:14.639 --> 00:11:15.840 Like, what's going on here? 00:11:16.080 --> 00:11:18.159 How is it that he can now see? 00:11:19.279 --> 00:11:20.720 Verse 20. 00:11:21.279 --> 00:11:30.639 We know he's our son, the parents answered, and we know he was born blind, but how he can see now or who opened his eyes, we don't know. 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:32.159 Ask him. 00:11:33.039 --> 00:11:35.120 He is of age, he will speak for himself. 00:11:35.200 --> 00:11:37.440 The parents are going, like, I don't, we don't want to get into this. 00:11:37.519 --> 00:11:40.320 Like these Pharisees, they they run the society. 00:11:40.399 --> 00:11:42.000 They don't want to get too mixed up in this. 00:11:42.080 --> 00:11:48.159 There could be social ramifications, financial ramifications for the parents, and so they're playing it overly cool. 00:11:48.799 --> 00:11:50.240 That's what verse 22 says. 00:11:50.320 --> 00:12:01.279 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:09.200 So then verse 25, the leaders they're now talking to the blind man who can now see. 00:12:10.879 --> 00:12:14.960 And this man says, Whether he's a sinner or not, I don't know. 00:12:15.120 --> 00:12:17.039 And so he's talking back about Jesus. 00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:19.039 And he says, I don't know, but one thing I know. 00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:21.679 So the blind means that's one thing I know. 00:12:21.919 --> 00:12:25.919 I was blind, but now I can see. 00:12:26.879 --> 00:12:28.960 So the leaders don't love this. 00:12:29.200 --> 00:12:32.720 This is threatening their system, this is threatening all their rules. 00:12:33.039 --> 00:12:38.960 And so they keep firing more questions and eventually they just start firing insults to him. 00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:41.679 Because they have a system. 00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:44.960 And good people end up with a good life. 00:12:45.039 --> 00:12:49.440 And if you're not having a good life, it must mean you're not a good person. 00:12:49.919 --> 00:12:54.480 And grace interrupts and destroys all of that. 00:12:54.720 --> 00:12:59.759 Because it says, none of us, none of us are perfect. 00:12:59.919 --> 00:13:01.519 None of us have our acts together. 00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:08.480 And God actually pursues and accepts and delights in us as we're imperfect. 00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:14.480 Later on, Jesus finds the man and he says, Do you know who the Son of Man is? 00:13:14.559 --> 00:13:15.840 He's saying, Do you know who God is? 00:13:15.919 --> 00:13:19.840 And the man in verse 38, finally he says, Lord, I believe. 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:20.720 I believe. 00:13:20.799 --> 00:13:22.000 And he worshipped. 00:13:22.240 --> 00:13:29.200 Point number two is this facing and feeling your suffering is the way to move toward healing. 00:13:29.840 --> 00:13:36.320 Facing and feeling your suffering is the way to move toward healing. 00:13:36.799 --> 00:13:48.000 This past week, Jimmy Fallon started hosting the Tonight Show from his apartment in New York City with his kids, his dogs running around, his two little girls are running around, his wife's running the camera. 00:13:48.080 --> 00:13:53.440 It sort of feels like what we're doing here on Sunday mornings, except I didn't bring my dog in or my little girls in. 00:13:53.600 --> 00:13:59.440 And the only one laughing at his jokes is his wife, which is really, really endearing and maybe my favorite part of the whole thing. 00:13:59.679 --> 00:14:00.639 He even had a guest. 00:14:01.039 --> 00:14:03.840 He interviews, you know, over online video chat. 00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:13.600 He interviews Lynn Manuel, who wrote Hamilton, and within their conversation, because they're both they're both quarantined within their apartments with their families inside of New York City. 00:14:14.159 --> 00:14:21.039 And Manuel says at one point, I'm not getting any work done on learning how to teach math. 00:14:21.200 --> 00:14:28.080 And it was sort of funny, and Fallon laughs because Fallon's feeling the same thing, and they're both laughing, and like you sort of laugh along with them. 00:14:28.720 --> 00:14:30.639 And there's a practical side to this, right? 00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:35.600 Like, there's the practical side of like it can be really hard to get work done when we're stuck at home. 00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:42.480 And for some of us, that has huge ramifications upon our businesses or the business we work for and our jobs. 00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:53.200 And then underneath that, there's like this part of our heart that starts to wonder like, like, who am I if I'm not productive? 00:14:55.120 --> 00:14:57.440 Who am I if I'm not busy? 00:14:58.639 --> 00:15:00.480 Who am I if I'm not in control? 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:11.200 Who am I if if all I am is a blind man poor with nothing? 00:15:13.039 --> 00:15:14.799 But I've been healed. 00:15:16.159 --> 00:15:21.519 And though I've just been cast out of normal society, I'm a blind man who now sees. 00:15:21.679 --> 00:15:22.879 What if that's all that I am? 00:15:23.039 --> 00:15:25.919 Is that enough in the core of who I am? 00:15:26.320 --> 00:15:32.480 Is that enough for me to rest in during days where everything else has been limited? 00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:39.279 I think some of this helps us make sense of Romans 5. 00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:42.080 I started thinking about Romans 5 this week. 00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:44.879 Romans 5, the first five verses. 00:15:45.200 --> 00:15:49.600 Therefore, since we've been justified by faith, that's good news right there. 00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:57.120 That our justification with God, our being a child of God, is not by our merit, but by faith and what he's already done for us. 00:15:57.279 --> 00:15:58.960 So we're justified by faith. 00:15:59.120 --> 00:16:01.759 We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:16:01.840 --> 00:16:04.559 That's why we have peace, is because we're justified by faith. 00:16:04.879 --> 00:16:07.600 Verse 2, through Him, I love that. 00:16:07.759 --> 00:16:19.039 Through Him is not through us, it's through Him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 00:16:19.120 --> 00:16:20.879 So that's where our hope is. 00:16:21.600 --> 00:16:23.120 And then it gets even tougher. 00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:29.840 Verse 3, not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings. 00:16:31.919 --> 00:16:33.279 Why would we do that? 00:16:33.759 --> 00:16:42.480 Knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. 00:16:42.720 --> 00:16:45.840 And hope does not put us to shame. 00:16:47.360 --> 00:16:49.200 Not like that other equation. 00:16:50.159 --> 00:16:54.240 Not like do good enough and be good enough, and you'll get a good life. 00:16:55.200 --> 00:17:00.879 The path of faith and grace and hope never puts you to shame. 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:12.079 At the end of verse 5, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit has been given to us. 00:17:13.279 --> 00:17:15.200 Last point, point number three. 00:17:15.599 --> 00:17:20.079 Christian faith is not a list of how to become better. 00:17:20.319 --> 00:17:23.119 Christian faith is not a list of how to become better. 00:17:23.279 --> 00:17:30.720 Jesus is breaking that down in this story with this blind man who can now see, and with these religious leaders and his disciples asking this question. 00:17:30.880 --> 00:17:32.319 It is not what this is. 00:17:32.559 --> 00:17:38.160 Christian faith is a relationship with the healer of our souls. 00:17:39.759 --> 00:17:42.799 The blind man does not receive a list. 00:17:43.279 --> 00:17:50.880 He receives relationship with God incarnate who pursues him inside of his suffering. 00:17:52.960 --> 00:18:01.680 Who pursues him and accepts him, absolves him and delights in him, heals him. 00:18:03.279 --> 00:18:08.559 Jesus is always, he's always pursuing people to help them see they're blind. 00:18:08.720 --> 00:18:21.680 Even when he is outright ruthless with the Pharisees, he's trying to get them to see that they're blind and their eyes need to be opened for the way of faith and grace and hope. 00:18:22.240 --> 00:18:27.759 For me, all week, so evident, for me, the entire week, so evident, I've been waiting on something. 00:18:28.079 --> 00:18:29.680 That's been the feeling that I've had. 00:18:30.079 --> 00:18:31.279 I've been waiting on something. 00:18:31.359 --> 00:18:35.680 I haven't checked my phone more than I have this week in a very, very long time. 00:18:35.839 --> 00:18:44.559 I've been waiting for the next news article that would give me a little bit of information that would help resolve the anxiety in my heart. 00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:47.440 Right? 00:18:47.519 --> 00:18:59.039 It's just the next bit of news or the next, you know, Instagram post of the person who heard something from somebody and they got a text from somebody, and I got it forwarded from whoever, and it was my brother's cousin who works for the CDC. 00:18:59.119 --> 00:19:01.920 And if I can just get enough of this knowledge, all of a sudden I'll be okay. 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:05.279 I've been just like I've been waiting for some bit of information. 00:19:05.440 --> 00:19:07.119 It's just me wanting more control. 00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:09.200 I'm waiting on something. 00:19:09.440 --> 00:19:12.319 I even sneezed in public once this week. 00:19:12.559 --> 00:19:18.960 And people saw me, and I was just waiting for somebody to smile at me to be relieved of the shame of the sneeze. 00:19:19.039 --> 00:19:21.759 I was pretty sure it's just allergies, but still there's a lot of shame. 00:19:21.839 --> 00:19:22.640 I've been waiting. 00:19:22.799 --> 00:19:24.480 Last night we watched Notting Hill. 00:19:24.559 --> 00:19:34.799 We can't watch enough rom-coms this week because we're just looking, we're waiting for something to sort of help us move through this. 00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:39.039 Rescue us from the uncertainty of our day. 00:19:39.200 --> 00:19:43.759 And my point is this we're not we're not as in control as we want to be. 00:19:43.839 --> 00:19:46.079 And we're having to come to grips with that. 00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:54.000 And we have to wait upon the one who gives sight to the blind, the healer of our soul. 00:19:55.119 --> 00:20:05.440 We wait upon the one who gives hope inside of suffering that produces character and endurance and perseverance and hope inside of suffering, who he himself suffered. 00:20:08.319 --> 00:20:12.799 If you're waiting for an answer for why God allows suffering, you'll wait forever. 00:20:13.839 --> 00:20:20.960 But if you're waiting to know whether God is a God of love inside of suffering, the answer is a resounding yes. 00:20:22.400 --> 00:20:26.319 And he engages your suffering and your suffering this week. 00:20:27.279 --> 00:20:30.480 He walks with us on paths of healing. 00:20:32.640 --> 00:20:35.039 This is the one who loves you this morning. 00:20:35.279 --> 00:20:45.680 Wherever you're at, however you've been feeling this week, or however you feel this morning, this is the one we wait on. 00:20:45.920 --> 00:20:47.359 Let's pray together. 00:20:47.680 --> 00:20:50.319 God, thank you for your grace. 00:20:51.119 --> 00:20:55.759 Inside of that grace, we place our faith that you are enough. 00:20:58.240 --> 00:21:19.039 Inside of that grace, we we hope for some measure of endurance and perseverance amidst these days, and we hope for character to be born inside of us and inside of our neighbors and our community, our church and our country. 00:21:20.880 --> 00:21:31.200 God, and we we just we hope that even greater hope and more hope will be produced inside of our hearts as we wait upon you and upon you alone. 00:21:32.240 --> 00:21:55.039 Thank you that you know suffering, you know what it feels like, and that you walk with us in it, and there will be a day that you promise there will be a day where there is no more fear and there are more tears, and there will be restoration of this world, of all the brokenness. 00:21:56.160 --> 00:21:59.440 And even that we wait upon as we walk with you. 00:21:59.599 --> 00:22:01.119 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:22:01.359 --> 00:22:02.000 Amen.