Devotion - Thursday, December 4

During last night's Farewell Eucharist, the homily was given by Ryan.  He referred to his talk as the "Greatest Speech Ever," and it may have come close.  I wanted to reiterate one of the things he said.

He referred to Good-byes and Deaths as twin siblings. And that is what they are.

We are forced to say many good-byes in our lives.  Some are small, like giving up on a worn out pair of jeans.  Others are more profound, like moving to a new home or finishing our college years.  In each there is a good-bye which prepares us, or can prepare us, for the larger good-byes.  Death is perhaps the largest of all.

We can learn to say good-bye well, as we face the smaller instances, so that we are better prepared for the big ones.

Several of our group have been forced to say good-bye this fall.  Deaths have come to fathers, to grandfathers, to friends.  All of us are being forced to say good-bye to classmates graduating after this term.  How well are we prepared.

In John 14 Jesus tells his disciples good-bye.  And he does tell them good-bye.  There will come a new thing when the good-bye is complete, but that new thing can only come when the good-bye is done well.  Later in the story he tells Mary not to attempt to hold on to him.  When we say good-bye, we open ourselves us to what comes next.  Until we say good-bye, we are trapped in the futile attempt to re-live or re-capture the past.

The end of the semester is a good-bye.  Small in most instances; larger in other.  Use it well.  Learn from it.  And know that in our good-byes we open the door to the new thing that God is ready to do.