4/7/2025
Leonard Sweet tells of a story that’s haunted him ever since its first telling. It was in one of his doctoral seminars . . .
The scientist ran his fingers along his desk in his lab. Thirty years had passed since he’d been in a church—thirty years chasing facts, building a life on what he could prove. Then his son died. No formula could fix it; no data could fill the gap.
When his doctoral student—a pastor—met him in his office, surrounded by tools of precision, he wasn’t after empty comfort. He was a scientist daring to face gnawing pain.
She didn’t preach or sugarcoat. She talked about the theology of the cross—how suffering wasn’t outside God’s story but part of it. How redemption wasn’t just old words on a page but something happening now.
Then she hit him with it: “This work of healing a broken world—it’s what you do every day. Your research, your teaching, your science—it’s not separate. It’s part of the same story.”
Outside, students walked by, oblivious to the clash of worlds inside—faith meeting science, loss meeting meaning.
He searched her face for a hint of a lie. Seeing life, not lies, his guarded look eased. He leaned in, voice low, tinged with the same awe he’d felt at his biggest breakthroughs.
“Does anyone else know this?” he whispered, wonder breaking through.
At Journey Church this holy season, will you share the story of redemption in a broken world that’s grieving and suffering and in need of healing?
Who will you invite to experience the wonderous love of God at work through the power of the cross but even more in the resurrection? So many people need to know there’s hope—will you share it and invite others to experience it with you?