Closing Ceremonies, Part 2

Here's part two of what I would have said tonight, had we not already been running over a half hour by the time I stood up to wrap things up:

And so here we are, at the end of a crazy year.

For many of you, you’ve been on this roller coaster I just described. And what I want to say to you again tonight is this: Hope wins. Doesn’t matter what our experience is, how you’re doing right now, how you’re feeling right now.

Jesus has come and faced all our worst fears, all our worst enemies, and he has overcome them by his victory at the cross and the empty tomb.

Death is no longer the last word, life is. Sadness does not have the last word. Joy does. Conflict does not have the last word, reconciliation does.

And even in the midst of our unanswered questions, even in the midst of all our heartache and brokenness and concerns and wanderings and our own rebellion and sin and turning our backs on God—all that stuff does not have the last word.

Hope Does. Hope Wins.

There’s a joy riding this roller-coaster ride because we know that the ride has been tested already, it has been prepared for us, we are walking the paths laid out for us by a good and loving God who invites us to climb on and seek him out as we enjoy the ride, even the hard parts.

Scripture talks explicitly about this link between suffering and hope in a couple passages that I’ve been clinging to for myself and for us as a community:

James 1:2-4

2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Romans 5:2-8

And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

And this is the deal for us tonight as we wrap things up. There are literally thousands of people on this campus this year who have had up and down years. There are literally thousands of people who have struggled through the ups and downs of conflicts and questioning life direction and wondering who they are

Suffering and struggle and hardship is a reality for every single one of us. The difference for those of us who follow Christ, those of us who are under the canopy of God’s grace and mercy given to us in Christ is that we have been promised and we know that the struggles that we face must serve to bless us in the long run. All of our suffering is guaranteed to be our servant and not our master. Struggle and heartache and difficulty is always redeemed for those of us who are Christ-followers.

The tragedy on this campus is not that hardship happens or difficulties or crisis happen; the tragedy is that for so many people tragedy and hardship goes un-redeemed because they are separated from God’s love given to us in Christ.

And maybe some of you are here tonight. Maybe some of you have struggled all year long and you’re not a Christ-follower, or maybe you have been in the past but you know you’re not right now.

Maybe some of you are trying to follow Christ in some areas of your life and holding out other areas away from him.

The invitation to you tonight is simple: to repent, to follow Jesus with your whole life, to bring all of your life under this canopy of provision and blessing and redemption, where all of our pain and suffering and struggle and heartache is forced to submit to us rather than forcing us to submit to it.