Persevering Love – Today is Good Friday, the time of solemn remembrance of Christ’s crucifixion.  The Rev. Aimee Baxter is delivering the Good Friday Meditation, and the scripture reading is the Fourth Gospel’s account of the trial, crucifixion, and burial of Jesus.  Rev. Baxter first referred to the series from several years ago, “WandaVision,” that built on the grief Wanda experienced in the death of Vision.  Rev. Baxter said that many of us sit in loss and sadness, too, and she pointed out how much of that is demonstrated in the narrative of the trial of Jesus, then his crucifixion.  Even Judas grieved his betrayal of Jesus and ended his own life.  Peter, who denied even knowing Jesus, reacted in grief and rage in cutting off the ear of a soldier.  And well beyond that, we can imagine the grief of the closest disciples of Jesus, and certainly of his mother who stood at the foot of the cross.  But throughout the narrative, Jesus asserts the presence of the love of God and demonstrates it in his own acceptance of what he deemed must be.  Here we are on Good Friday, participating together in a very solemn and disturbing remembrance, and yet we know that through it all there is God’s beckoning love, and Easter is on the horizon.  It is persevering love that will support us through our grief. 

(NOTE:  Emphasizing the importance of the Word, the videos begin with the scripture reading, but if you want, you can scroll back to the beginning of the service in each video – the entire service is available.)