Placed, Present, Positioned.

If you're wondering why that was so short, it's because we did cut two minutes from our greeting time today. Boo, everyone can be sad. But it's because we're celebrating Hannah's baptism today. So we had to make a little space somewhere.

There'll be more time afterward to socialize and hang out. We're so excited that you're here today. Over the past few weeks we have been walking through the book of Esther. Esther is one of those stories that's hard to just pick up in one chapter and figure out what's going on. It's also hard to read the entire book and be like, what is going on?

Esther is a story we might know of. We may have heard her name. Maybe you've witnessed the great resource of Veggie Tales in your lifetime and learned about Esther there. But here's where we're picking up today in the story. We've talked about how Esther was put in a situation where the queen at the time in Susa was not willing to be obedient to the king anymore, to King Xerxes. This was no small empire. It covered so much territory, so much land, so many nations we know today. When he found out that his queen was not willing to obey anymore, he thought, this cannot be, because if people see that this is how I allow her to act, what else is going to happen? So he said, you're done, you're gone, I need a new queen.

This is where we see Esther come into the scene. Essentially, to put it lightly and paint a prettier picture, it was a beauty pageant that she participated in. If you've been following along in the reading plan, you know the details, that this was not a glamorous experience for her. There would have been a year of preparation, of beauty treatments, and we don't know to what level she wanted to participate or didn't want to participate. Yet there she was.

The king was well pleased with her and appointed her the new queen. There was one piece of the puzzle that was hard, though: she was a Jewish girl, and she wanted to hide that identity. So much of the story up to this point is her hiding that identity. But that identity is a very strategic thing the Lord is going to use.

Recap: Esther, Mordecai, and Haman

Last week we talked about the different people in this story. We talked about Esther, who God is starting to position for greatness. We talked about Mordecai, the cousin of Esther, who is helping her from the outside to advocate for her people. We talked about Haman, who is out to destroy the Jewish people. He dislikes Mordecai so much that he is pleading with the king to have Mordecai killed.

We talked last week about what happens, especially with Haman, knowing that his story did not have to end the way it did, but he made choices, over and over again, not to choose to change, not to choose transformation. What we've read so far is that Haman wanted all the people to bow down to him, and Mordecai would not. Because of that one person, he became so obsessed and so bitter that it completely blinded him. He continued on this evil, destructive path. Now Mordecai has come to Esther, though not face to face. He's sending letters to other people. She's been in the palace now for five years, not five days, not five weeks, five years in the palace. We have no idea what she endured. Mordecai comes to her and says, this is the moment, this is the time, because a decree has been made that the Jewish people are going to be destroyed. Mordecai is saying, you have to do something.

At first she's like, what are you talking about, what am I supposed to do? He says, you need to do something. And we come to this:

Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish. So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther's instructions.

Esther 4:15-17

After the famous moment, in chapter four, of Mordecai saying, maybe this is your moment, you were born for such a time as this, Esther says, okay, I'm in, I'm going to do this. Now I want to pause before we keep reading into chapter five today, because I think many of us can relate to Esther in this moment, where we might not feel like the unique ways God has made us qualify us for the positions we're in. We may be in a place where we've been waiting five days, five weeks, fifteen years, feeling like, God, is this it? There must be more.

We don't know what was happening behind the scenes for Esther. But every step of the way, God was positioning her in her place. Here's what I want us to catch today. Each and every one of us has been placed. We then get the opportunity to say, will we be present to notice God, where he is moving, where he is working. And will we, like Esther, position ourselves to respond with risk, with faith, with boldness?

Because that's what we're about to witness today. We have all been placed. Whether it's your job, your family, your neighborhood, welcome back to all the students we're seeing. If it's your campus, we're so excited that they're back.

Can we say welcome back to some of our college students? It's exciting to see your faces, and I know you're excited for classes in a couple of weeks. But you have been placed. There is a purpose there. Like the book of Esther, it doesn't mention the name of God.

There are a lot of things in our lives where the name of God might not be mentioned. And we have to choose to lean in, to listen, and to notice: God, where are you right now? Because he is present. He's present in this story.

Esther approaches the king

When Esther is saying, go and fast, we know that meant they were praying too. He's present, he's moving, even when we don't see it. So we're going to pick up in chapter five today.

On the third day, Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the palace, in front of the king's hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the hall, facing the entrance. When he saw Queen Esther standing in the court, he was pleased with her and held out to her the gold scepter that was in his hand. So Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter. Then the king asked, what is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be given to you. If it pleases the king, Esther replied, let the king together with Haman come today to a banquet I have prepared for him. Bring Haman at once, the king said, so that we may do what Esther asks. So the king and Haman went to the banquet Esther had prepared. As they were drinking wine, the king again asked Esther, now what is your petition? It will be given to you. And what is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted. Esther replied, my petition and my request is this. If the king regards me with favor, and if it pleases the king to grant and fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet I will prepare for them. Then I will answer the king's question.

Esther 5:1-8

I'm going to pause again. A few things to notice here. In the first couple of verses, it says she approached the king, and then he held out this gold scepter. Just picture that, a very royal moment.

Now this is significant, because if you were to approach a king without being invited, they could snap their fingers and you're dead. That's it, you're done. So this in itself was risky behavior for her, to go in uninvited and approach the king. Instantly we see that favor, saying, okay, you're accepted.

You're welcome. Now here's the thing: Esther isn't just beauty. She's got brains too. She's got both going on when she starts to act with strategy. At first you might think, was she nervous, did she need more time to really ask the king what she wanted to ask him? Maybe. But here's some other things that might have been going on.

Typically a king wouldn't have been alone, there would have been a royal court, people waiting on him, serving him. So when she appears to him, it's likely there were other people around, and if she was going to make such a personal request, one that was so risky, she wanted to make sure she had him alone. Then we see the second strategic part: she says, let's get Haman here.

Haman is the one who has been out to kill the Jews. He is the one who has been so against Mordecai, her cousin, who is a Jew. So she wants him there for this too. Now we pick up the second half of it.

Haman's pride, and the gallows

It says that Haman, in verse nine, went out that day happy and in high spirits. He's excited, because he's been invited to a royal banquet with just the king and the queen. But once again, walking out and about, Mordecai is still not bowing. There are threats on his life, people are really out against him, but he's just growing in his confidence: I'm not bowing, God is going to move.

Haman calls together his friends and his wife, boasting to them about his vast wealth, his many sons, and all the ways the king had honored him and elevated him above the other nobles.

I'm the only person Queen Esther invited to accompany the king to the banquet she gave. And she has invited me along with the king tomorrow. But all this gives me no satisfaction as long as I see that Jew Mordecai sitting at the king's gate.

Esther 5:12-13

So we see again, he is so blinded by bitterness. Where in our lives does the enemy blind us with bitterness, with unforgiveness? God is pouring out his many blessings, giving us above and beyond, but there's maybe one thing we want that we haven't seen yet. All of a sudden it's like the enemy highlights that thing above everything else.

All of a sudden, even though we're flowing in riches of abundance, there's one thing we lack, and that's all we can see. That lack of trust starts to blind us from what's right in front of us. Haman becomes obsessed with the one thing he still can't have: Mordecai bowing down.

Have a gallows built, seventy-five feet tall, his wife and friends suggested, and in the morning ask the king to hang Mordecai on it. Then you can go to the banquet with the king in a happy frame of mind. This suggestion delighted Haman, and he had the gallows built.

Esther 5:14

We don't know if it was a pole on top of something or a giant pole, some people think it might have been a spear you could put a body on, but essentially they're building something to say, we're going to get rid of Mordecai. And he's delighted by this idea.

The king's sleepless night

Here's where things get interesting. Up to this point, Esther has been placed, and Esther has been present and listening to Mordecai, and she's being positioned to go make this request to the king.

That night the king could not sleep, so he ordered the book of the chronicles, the record of his reign, to be brought in and read to him. It was found recorded there that Mordecai had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's officers who guarded the doorway, who had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.

Esther 6:1-2

This had happened earlier in the chapters we read and talked about, that Mordecai had discovered this. So the king looks around and asks, who's in the court? They say, well, Haman's in the court. So Haman comes forward, and the king says, how did we forget about this? This person saved my life. What should be done to honor such a person? He's asking Haman how to honor someone who saved the life of the king.

When Haman entered, the king asked him what should be done for the man the king delights to honor. And Haman instantly goes back to himself. He's thinking, of course the king's probably talking about me. It's got to be me. I'm so powerful, I'm so wonderful, it's me.

So he tells the king what should be done to honor such a worthy person. And joke's on him, who are they going to honor? Mordecai. So the king says, okay, let's do this. Everything Haman suggested, get the robe and the horse and do just as you've suggested for Mordecai.

Can you imagine the look on Haman's face? Can you imagine that moment, yes, and who, say that again, Mordecai? So now Haman has to go and honor him. Haman gets the robe and the horse, robes Mordecai, and leads him on horseback through the city streets. This is hilarious when you think about what's happening here.

Afterward Mordecai returned to the king's gate. But Haman rushed home, with his head covered in grief, and told his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him. His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has started, is of Jewish origin, you cannot stand against him, you will surely come to ruin. While they were still talking with him, the king's eunuchs arrived and hurried Haman away to the banquet Esther had prepared.

Esther 6:12-14

I want you to notice so many pieces again of this story, where Esther was placed, and Mordecai was also placed. He just happened to be roaming the court at that moment when the king asked who else was around. And Mordecai's like, me, take me. He's there. And it's in that moment that all of this comes to be. But I want to talk about not just being placed, but also being present. There's a lot in this story we can look back on and just say, what a coincidence, what a coincidence, that's kind of funny. But when you see it all in completion, make no mistake, God's presence was moving. The king just happens to not be able to sleep. The king just happens to say, let's read the chronicles, and go back, and in a way he's kind of full of himself, wanting to talk about his royal reign a little more, how awesome his kingdom is, and he's reminded of the story of Mordecai at that exact moment, right before the banquet where Esther is going to make this request to save the Jewish people. God is present in your story, because your story is a part of his story. Your story is a part of him redeeming all people, reconciling all people, delivering all people into relationship with him for all of eternity. So even right now, if you're in a place where you've been waiting, longing, feeling stuck, wondering, God, where are you, was this you, he is present with you. He is moving. We have to continue to ask God, are we looking up to notice you?

Are we taking time throughout our days to pause and notice you, and let you surprise us? There are so many moments in our lives where, if we're not careful, we credit coincidence when it was really the presence of a living God moving us, shaping us, drawing us closer to him. But we have to pay attention. Make no mistake about where you're placed right now. Be present and say, God, where are you?

Help me to notice you, and how you're moving in my midst. More than this, Esther was positioned. But what I want to talk about next is how she uses that position, and risks it. She comes to the palace. For many of us, if we end up in a place where we have the money, the food, the lavish lifestyle, it's really easy to think, I am highly favored, highly blessed, right? We can wake up and say, yes and amen, this is the day the Lord has made, I'm going to rejoice in it. And usually we say, I'm going to rejoice, I'm going to be glad in it, and keep it to myself, and hang on until I see Jesus face to face in heaven. We might not say that out loud, but if we're honest, to some degree we can all kind of live like that at different times.

Esther risks her position

We think, when we've made it to a place we wanted to get to, and we arrive, this must be it, thank you, Jesus. There's nothing wrong with saying thank you, Jesus, for roofs over our heads, clothes on our bodies, food on the table. But what's so powerful here is that we're going to watch how Esther uses her position and her power, and risks it, for the sake of all people. Keep reading with me in chapter seven now.

The king at the banquet is asking her again, what is your request? And she's saying the same things over and over: if I have found favor with you, O king, and if it pleases your majesty. But now, instead of an invitation to the banquet, she's going to get real.

O king, if it pleases your majesty, grant me my life, this is my petition, and spare my people, this is my request. For I and my people have been sold for destruction, killed, and annihilation. If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because no such distress would justify disturbing the king.

Esther 7:3-4

Esther did not stop with just safety and protection for herself. She says, spare my people.

King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, who is he? Who is the man who has dared to do such a thing? She says, your enemy, this vile Haman.

Esther 7:5-6

She's calling him out. Haman was terrified before the king and queen. Now this moment where he thought he'd arrived, just him, the king, and the queen, only to be set up here. The king got up in rage, left his wine, and went out into the palace garden. But Haman, realizing the king had already decided his fate, stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life. So now he is begging and begging, will you please save me, will you please spare me?

So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king's fury subsided.

Esther 7:10

So the very thing Haman built to destroy Mordecai, now Esther is witnessing that this is how he dies. Here's what I want to talk about today. I want us to walk away from this story of Esther noticing God in our stories. Because what we just read was a complete turn of events.

It was a complete 180. Things looked like they were headed one direction, but all of a sudden something happens, something changes, and now there is hope for the Jewish people, when all that was promised before was destruction. God is still present and moving in your story and your life in the same way today. Those very things you may be looking at right now, saying, God, there's no hope, there's only destruction.

God sees the full picture of his plan of redemption. He's saying, it's not finished. It's not over. Stay in your place. Stay present with me.

Stay positioned, not just to protect yourself, but to partner with me and what I have been doing for all of eternity, seeking and saving all people. Esther was ready for that moment when it came. She was ready, but I don't think she lacked fear. It doesn't say she didn't have a moment of, God, are you sure about this? In the same way Jesus, in the garden of Gethsemane, before his crucifixion, before his betrayal, is crying out, Lord, take this cup from me.

If Jesus himself was honest with those emotions, that fulfilling what you have for me is going to be hard, and I need your spirit, how much more do we need his spirit today? So if right now you're facing something and thinking, God, I don't know, and if I'm honest, I don't know if I want to risk my comfort, if I want to leave my palace, you are not alone in feeling that way. But we all have a choice in how we participate with God and what he is doing right here in these moments.

Whether it always screams the name of Jesus or not, he is moving in our stories. What you read in the next few chapters of Esther is so strategic. The king could not reverse a law. He had already decreed that the Jewish people were going to be attacked, killed, all because of Haman.

So he's in a predicament, and he can't go back on his word. Through some conversations, we see a new decree put in place, letting the Jewish people know what's about to happen so they can get ready to fight, so they can be prepared. Fast forwarding, chapter nine is a whole section on how the Jews triumphed over their enemies.

Mordecai's legacy

On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, the edict commanded by the king was carried out. On this day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but now the tables were turned, and the Jews got the upper hand over those who hated them. The Jews struck down all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and did what they pleased to those who hated them.

The tables were turned. What looked like death, what looked like finality, was not. The tables can turn, and we get to participate in that. Esther risked the palace. She risked her place, her position, because she recognized something so significant.

That life is so much more than just protecting our lives. We all have an invitation to participate in something even greater. This is before the life of Jesus. But we get to live on this side of a post-resurrection world, knowing that Jesus came, that he was raised back to life. Philippians 2 talks about this.

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:6-11

Esther, even though God's name isn't mentioned, is pointing us to the life Jesus came to live. She risked an earthly palace, and was willing to leave that palace for the sake of the Jewish people. Jesus left heaven and came down to earth to join us in our suffering. He did the thing.

He died on the cross to save all people. This is no small thing to look at. Esther could have looked at her life, once she got to the palace, as, I have arrived, but that was a place she was in for a time, where she was present and listening, even to Mordecai, trusting the people around her, that there was something greater happening even when she didn't understand it. She was positioned, and she participated with God in being a part of the story that then leads to Jesus on the cross, that now we get to be a part of too. So today, when we think about this, risking your comfort, risking your palace, it may not be that you're going to actually move tomorrow or go somewhere else, but it could be as simple as risking knocking on someone's office door, introducing yourself at work. It could be risking your comfort of eating dinner where you want to every night, and asking, who can I invite into my home to share a meal?

Risk is something we're all invited into, but risk can be scary. Risk can be hard. The good news is that God works in community. So we are not alone when we're following Jesus. When we start the story, it seems like Esther's the main character, and the book is named Esther.

So it's safe to say she's a pretty big deal in the story. But I want to read the last few verses of chapter ten.

King Xerxes imposed tribute throughout the empire, to its distant shores. And all his acts of power and might, together with a full account of the greatness of Mordecai, to which the king had raised him, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Media and Persia? Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Xerxes, preeminent among the Jews, and held in high esteem by his many fellow Jews, because he worked for the good of his people and spoke up for the welfare of all the Jews.

Esther 10:1-3

This story ends by highlighting Mordecai and his role. The story of Esther, yes, we have Esther, who is placed in this position in the palace. But then we have all the people she was calling on, saying, fast, pray for me. They're a part of this story too, even though their names aren't written. We have Mordecai, who was strategically placed and ready to be that prophetic voice in her life, so these things could come to pass.

God works in community

God works in community. Even today, as we celebrate baptism, one of the times we see this in scripture is in Luke chapter four, the baptism of Jesus, where we see Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Trinity, working together in such a beautiful way. When we see Jesus stepping out into the waters of baptism, even though he's Jesus, which is one of the reasons people ask, why should I get baptized in water, Jesus didn't. And if Jesus did something, we might want to consider doing it too.

Jesus steps into the water, and a voice from heaven comes, and the Father says, this is my son whom I love, with him I am well pleased. Then the Spirit descends on him like a dove. Father, Son, Spirit, working together. In creation, all throughout time, Father, Son, Spirit working in community.

When we say yes to following Jesus, we are born into this family and this community. So we are not alone. We are not the main characters of this story. We are a part of a story that has been going on for all of eternity, but we do have a role to play, and we do have to actively choose to participate. I love that in Luke chapter nine, when Jesus calls his disciples, one of the things we talk about a lot is that he says, the first time he sends them out, take nothing with you for the journey.

I think, in some ways, this teaches them dependence on God to provide. But I also think it teaches dependence on community. It teaches them that if they're going out with no food, and they're just going to be walking, that means they might have to eat food someone gives them. They might have to receive a gift from someone else, a blessing from someone else. Let somebody else be a part of your story, and be reminded that you're not alone, that it's not all about you, which is really good news for us, but we are in community, a part of God's story.

I'm going to invite Matthew, if you want to come, as we get ready to close today. Esther's story goes way beyond Esther. Esther's story goes way beyond anything she could have ever known. So many people were a part of this that we read and talk about today. And I want us to be encouraged today, wherever you're at, if you feel like from the outside it looks like you've arrived and you should feel that way.

Like Esther, getting into the palace, from the outside people are probably thinking, she's queen, who wouldn't want to be queen? And maybe you're in a place like that, where you're thinking, I don't know if where I've been placed is actually where I want to be. Can I encourage you to be present with God and trust that he's positioning you?

Ten years in Madison

I've been sharing a lot, as we've been talking about this, that it's been ten years since I came to Madison to start doing college ministry, and we planted the church. As I've been reading this, there are so many moments I'm reflecting on. When I moved here, I moved from a place where I had a lot of friends, I had family, and I thought I was going to come here for a year. I barely unpacked anything, and the first week I went back to Minneapolis, where I'd moved from, because I missed my friends already. It was probably a solid five years before I came back to Madison without crying on the way back, not because I didn't love the city, but because what I'd left was really hard. There were a lot of things, even then, that made it not quite make sense for me to leave a really good place, with really good community and all these beautiful things, to come to where I was sleeping on an air mattress for a really long time because I didn't have a bed. My nickname became Air Mattress Abbie. Some people still call me that, if they've known me for a while, and it was a lot of hard things. Fast forward through leading the church through a pandemic, there were so many painful moments where, if I was honest, sometimes I felt a little more bitter toward the places I was in than blessed.

I know all of us have versions of that. So many of you are here, and you left places of comfort. You left family. You left friends. This isn't your home city.

Whatever that looks like, we all have places God may ask us to leave, and to go into, and it doesn't make sense. But as we stay, and now, looking back over ten years, I see, God was here and God was there and he did this and he was moving, and oh my goodness, I'm so blessed that I was here to see this. What God is doing goes so far beyond what we can see, and it takes us being present with him in the moment, and having moments of reflection, looking back and saying, God, show me where you were, and then staying in position and being ready. This week I was with some pastors, and someone asked how the church is going, and all I could say was, I'm having so much fun. That wasn't something I could always say. But the more I've noticed God working, even when we don't always see it or feel it, being able to celebrate him right here in the present, and not waiting till we get to the end, growing in our discipline of noticing, which is why on Tuesday nights we gather around scripture and dwell in the word and practice noticing. God, what are you saying through scripture? What are you saying through the people around me? Knowing he's present.

It's why we are going, Tuesday, shameless plug, everyone come to the prayer walk. We're going to walk the neighborhood, just walk around and notice what we're seeing, and pray for the people in these neighborhoods, because we know God is present and God is moving. But it takes us continuing to be present with him too, choosing to look in his direction, to see what he's doing. So, our so-what today.

God is present in our place. Right here, right now, where he has you, he is present. What do we do with that? We need to learn how to embrace the place he has us. To trust, even in the hard moments, Esther's five years of, God, what are you doing?

Why am I still here? He is doing something in your life you cannot see. You may never know the fullness of it, but stay placed and stay positioned. Be ready for when God says it's time to participate. It's time to be a part of this story.

Live with a posture of, God, yeah, I surrender, everything is yours. Learn how to rely on community. Learn how to embrace the gift of receiving from people, because it's not all just about us. And be present, practice presence with God.

Closing questions

So I want to invite you to stand today. I have three questions I want us to process. If you want to take a picture of this slide, you can. Now what? What do we do with this?

The first is to ask God, where am I placed? God, would you help me start to really see the place you have me as a place that has purpose, as a place where there are people who are longing to know you and draw close to you. Ask him this, and just pray, God, help me trust you. Help me trust you where I'm placed, whether I fully understand the details or not. Then the next is to ask, how can I stay present?

How can I stay present in this place? This is hard. There's a lot that can distract us, a lot of even really good things that can distract us, a lot of ways we might be tempted to try to make sense of things, to create these stories, but instead to say, God, help me to be present. Practice those daily rhythms of listening to God's voice through scripture, pausing throughout your days to say, God, where are you? Pray the examen, and notice him. That simple prayer, God, help me notice you.

And then finally, where do you need to get positioned? What in your life, if you're honest right now, if God said, risk it, it's time, would you say, absolutely not? Because Esther's first response was, do you not realize, I don't know if I want to perish. And then she moves to this place, saying, and if I perish, I perish. God, I surrender.

Because this is not just about me arriving at the palace and being protected and safe and keeping my Jewish identity hidden. It's about me risking everything to save these people. God, help me surrender to you. So I want to pray for us today. Would you close your eyes?

God, we just thank you so much for the story of Esther today. We thank you for her bravery, for her endurance, for the things she walked through that we may or may not ever know. We thank you, God, that even though your name was not mentioned, we see you all throughout this story. We see your presence. We notice you, God. So I pray right now for everybody here today, those who feel like they understand their place and their call, we thank you, God, would you continue to encourage them and empower them in that place. And I pray for those today who maybe feel like, I don't really know what I'm doing here. Would you strengthen them to stay? God, would you begin to show them the purpose in their place? Would you, even in this moment, put people on their hearts, people around them, in the place where maybe they're thinking, I did not plan to be here this long.

God, I said a year, I said five weeks, and here's five years. Would you help them to just be refreshed. Help them to be refreshed with vision and purpose for the place you have them. God, would you help all of us today to be so present with you? We thank you for your presence with us. We thank you for the ways you continue to go before us, beside us, behind us.

We thank you that we can look to Jesus as the one who, because of his death and resurrection, we have access to the Holy Spirit, so we don't have to be far off, but we can come so close to you. So would you help us to notice you and be present, Jesus? And finally, God, would you help us to be ready to position, and to position to risk it? Lord, for those of us who need that boldness to just let go and surrender, would you empower us, Holy Spirit? Would you show us the things you have been positioning us for, at this time, at this moment?

So Lord, we thank you and we give you all the glory and all the honor. It's in your name we pray. Amen.