This is Good Friday, and it comes at a time when in Nashville we have had a school shooting and a legislative session in which two legislators were expelled.  Rev. Erin Racine delivers the message, and in the midst of all of this heaviness, she heard the familiar line from the Christmas carol, “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.”  That carol celebrates the birth of the redeemer, of course, but that is what happens with the crucifixion and resurrection, too – that Jesus was crucified might have seemed to have been a horrid end, but, in fact, it is the place where the outstretched arms of Jesus reach out to us all.  In the Gospel of John, most things that happen to Jesus are fulfillments of things.  When Jesus, on the cross, says, “It is finished,” it does mean the end of what everyone thought was his life, but it was also that his ministry was finished – he had shown his followers and us the posture of love.  On the cross we are unburdened but also beckoned.   (NOTE: Reflecting the importance of the Word, the video begins with the scripture, but once it starts you can scroll back to the beginning of the service if you want.  The entire service is videoed.)