Hope Sunday with Amirah, Inc. (John 11:28-39a)

Mary Speta is a researcher, educator, speaker, and advocate in the movement to end commercial sexual exploitation. She serves as Executive Director of Amirah, Inc., a Massachusetts-based nonprofit providing exit and aftercare services to women who have experienced prostitution, sex trafficking, and commercial sexual exploitation. The church is called to partner with Christ, believing God has a plan, even in circumstances that feel hopeless. It is in these places of darkness that the light of God’s presence shines the most. God takes time to grieve with us. Jesus identified with the sorrows of those around him, even amidst violence, death, and suffering. In the darkness of our lives and the lives of those who suffer perhaps God is not silent but God is weeping with us.