So last week I had a great opportunity, one that I will cherish forever, which was attending the Frozen Four National Championship for hockey here in St. Louis, where me and my family live. My son's a massive hockey fan, something that he's been looking forward to, but even more than that, he is a massive Boston University fan. And so when we got the opportunity to go to this hockey game, he was beyond excited. We went through the fan fest and he was high-fiving everyone that was around him, every Boston University fan that he could find. He was chest bumping and congratulating and getting the opportunity to build camaraderie and connect with.

And so as we went from this fan fest into the game, my son's excitement continued and continued to build. It got so much to the point where his smile was exploding off of his face. But what I did not know and did not plan was where we bought our tickets. I went on to Stubhub and I got the cheapest tickets I could find in the best section that I could find. But what I didn't realize was that I had placed my son and I right in the heart of the Western Michigan University fan section or student section, so the opposing section of what my son was hoping to be in.

And as we walked up, I watched the realization hit his face as we went up the stairs and he saw Broncos uniforms everywhere, not a piece of red in sight. He was terrified and he was frustrated. He was nervous about what was going to happen. His expectations shifted. And it was pretty fun - we got up there and we got to stand next to some people, and the fans did their whole chant and they did all these things. And initially, he was again taken aback. He was frustrated, he was kind of terrified of what it was. We even talked about what would happen if we went and sat somewhere else.

But what unexpected happened to me and happened to him as I watched - his fear, his trepidation, his uncertainty about how this event would go started to shift as he ingratiated himself to the community around him. He connected with Western Michigan fans. They continued to say they wanted to win him over and they wanted to become a future Bronco, even though he still clung to his BU fandom. And at the end of it again, I think they won him over. I remember he leaned over to the person next to him, a Western Michigan senior who had waited his whole life to watch them win the national championship, and eventually they won this game.

And my son, who sat with his own sadness about Boston losing, leaned over and put his shoulder on this guy, or his arm on this guy's shoulder, he said, "Hey man, I just want you to know that I am really happy for you." And that level of empathy, at least in terms of being a dad, was the most proud dad moment that I've had. But it taught me something in that moment about the importance of allowing ourselves to have shifted expectations.

And so as we think about what we're talking about today and what we're unpacking today, it kind of sits in that - like, what if things aren't what we expect? What if they don't go exactly the way we've expected them to be, or what we thought we needed them to be? And sometimes - I might argue, specifically for my son, but in terms of our faith life - that sometimes the real gift isn't in things going our way, but it's what's formed in us as they don't go our way.

And what I think is quite wonderful about this passage from Romans is that it leads perfectly into this. This is where the Apostle Paul is writing to a young and kind of struggling group of Jesus followers. The church is coming up, it's starting to thrive maybe, but still kind of stumbling along the way. And it's in the shadows of this oppressive Roman empire that is kind of lording itself over them. And these are people that are trying to hold on to a hope in a world that is full of pressure, that's full of persecution, it's full of uncertainty. That expectations maybe look different than what they thought a life following Jesus would look like in their context.

And Paul, he just spent the first four chapters of Romans laying out how grace - not rule-following or pedigree - is what puts us right with God and in relationship with God. And here in Chapter 5, Paul starts describing what life actually looks like for people who have been made right by that grace - people like us, people like you, people like me, people still living in the world where things don't always line up the way that we expect them to be, or we hope them to be. And this is the first thing he says to them: essentially, he says, it's going to be hard, but even that's not going to be the end of the story.

And when I think about this, like, we live in a world of toxic lots of things. And in my context, oftentimes I'm very positive. I have a staff of people at my church, The Well, and they often tell me that I'm overly positive. And when I look at Paul here, I don't see him trying to sell some level of toxic positivity or blind optimism. I actually think he's showing us a path through adversity that forms us - that through suffering we grow into things like endurance. And as we grow in our endurance, it leads us to develop things like character.

Character is often something that we don't see when things are going well, but we see when things are going not as we expected and not as we planned. It's one of my favorite things about the character of God, that the character of God is best displayed in some of the low moments - for certain in the high moments, but often we see God's character more clearly in the low moments. And that suffering, endurance and character development ultimately gives us what I think is unending and unwavering, and really life-changing levels of hope.

And I go back to my son at this hockey game. I don't think the game went exactly how he expected and how he wanted, or certainly he didn't. I mean, watching Boston University lose and lose handedly - I think it was six to two by the end of the match - it didn't go how he expected or how he wanted, but he got something far richer at the other side of it, which was compassion, connection and perspective.

And what I think is quite wonderful in this is like, he spent the entire game really nervous about how it was gonna go, but spent this conversation with this young college student next to him. And they spent the entire time talking about youth hockey and officiating and things outside of what his tribe of Boston University looked like, and his expectation of high-fiving his comrades would look like. And found a far different level of compassion and connection and perspective than I think he ever imagined what happened as he walked into this game, and specifically as he walked out of.

I know that because he hugged me and said it was one of the greatest moments that he had ever had - which as a dad is the thing that you always want to hear. But when I look at him in that game, like he never abandoned his love for BU, like his love for Boston University never left. He even told me, he's like, "I'm still planning to go to Boston University when I go to college." But what did shift was an expanded capacity to celebrate and empathize with others.

And I wonder, like, how much we actually try to do that in our life, to expand our capacity to empathize, to celebrate with people that are on the other side of the aisle from us, that are disagreeing with us, they don't think or look or act like us. They don't believe the things that we believe, don't root for the same teams that we root for. Like, how do we celebrate and empathize with people that we've often villainized?

And I think that is born out of a resilient kind of hope - one that doesn't collapse under the pressure of differences of opinions, doesn't collapse under the pressure of being surrounded by people that feel like they're enemies, but actually grows a bigger heart in the midst of that tension. Which I think is exactly what Paul is talking about in this passage - that these things in these tense moments, this sort of shift in expectation, in these moments that are unexpected and more tense than we thought - they don't break us, they expand us. They don't cast us to the side, but they help us become the people that God created us to be - people of hope and joy and grace in everywhere that we walk.

And this is Paul in this moment, in this passage in Romans, talking to people who lost things - control, comfort, I mean many times safety - but still reminding them that hope does not disappoint, and reminding them that as they cling to that hope, even if things don't look exactly the way that they thought they would look, that didn't go exactly the way they thought they would go - that God's hope is the common thread that is woven through the experience of not just us individually as followers of Jesus, but as the entire collection of those in the way of Jesus.

And I think when I look at this story as well, God is far more invested than we think. I think we often think that God is only invested in the moments of mountaintops, in the moments of winning, in the moments of success. And I go back to that moment with Knox sitting with the senior in the Western Michigan student section. Like, that's what I think love looks like when it's poured out, when people step out of their comfort zone and out of their space into a moment and story with someone else to connect through love and grace and empathy.

And I think, like, if a kid can hold on to learn that kind of joy that transforms their own understanding of tribalism as much as it sets in at 10 years old - like, how much more important is that for us to understand that? That's a part of what it means to be a follower of Jesus, to be a part of God's family, and to believe that God is forming us into something that's far bigger than ourselves - that often compels us to sit in uncomfortable seats for an opportunity to grow and experience, and to be in community, in relationship with people that we never imagined we could.

Because I think of my son's bingo card for that day was not sitting in the Western Michigan student section. I would say certainly that - I mean, the look on his face was not just shocked, but it was like, "Dad, why did you do this to me?" But as we walked down from the 300 level and out of the arena and to our car, like, his face continued to grow in joy. His memories that he recalled, even days and weeks later, have continued to grow into memories that I think will be core ones for him moving forward, and core memories that I think teach him what it means to grow through adversity, to find endurance in uncomfortable situations.

And for us, as we do this in our own life - even coming off Palm Sunday in my own church - I think Jesus reminds us that a journey towards the cross is not one where followers expected it to go, how they planned. It didn't go exactly what they thought it was gonna look like. But through their disappointment, and through their own suffering, and through Jesus' suffering and even his death, God was forming a hope that, at its core, would not quit - a hope that cannot be put to death, a hope that could not be silenced, but hope that would endure forever in the hearts, minds, souls of everyone that would allow it to.

So, if you're not where you expected to be in your journey, I would say you're in good company. From first century Christians to now, we have been people that have not been where we've expected to be. Whether that's wandering through the wilderness, or being with Paul in first century oppressed Christianity under Roman rule, or being in 21st century Christianity here in America or abroad - it doesn't always look like what we want it to look like. We're not always sitting where we expected to sit. But in that seat, we are not alone because we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses who have sat in the same places that we have sat, that have journeyed the same journey we've sat. And God continues to pour out and will continue to pour out the same level of love to form us into something deeper than we could ever imagine possible as this community of faith is grown and deepened together.

So, with that in mind, would you pray with me?

God, I do thank you so much that you are a God that doesn't quit. You have a grace that doesn't give up, a grace that doesn't leave us alone, a grace that meets us even in places that feel awkward or uncomfortable, and that are ultimately unexpected. And so God, for those of us that are in places that we never expected to be, I just ask that you would give us eyes to see the people you have put around us - maybe people we didn't expect to be allies and friends, but the people you have positioned in places to help us connect more fully with you and with others, and to grow into the people you were creating us to be.

And so God, be with us as we continue to worship you through the moments of our week - whether that's on a walk or listening to this message, or being in community, in relationship with the people we expected and those we didn't expect. We know all of those are equally Holy moments, and we just ask that you would draw us closer to you in all that we do. Praise in the name of your Son Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.