You
say hello, I say goodbye,
Acts 1:6-14,
Jn 17:20-26,
Schaefer/ Hall
...We've said good byes in our
life and none of them were easy. We wonder where the years went. But there
he is--a kid who one moment was fighting with his brother and the next going off
to Penn State. So stand bravely in the driveway. She raises her hand and
says, "you'll be home next week-end, right?" And they both say good bye.
Somewhere else two people come to say good bye. Their relationship just isn't
going anywhere. They go our on some dates, but as the weeks are swallowed by
seasons, they realize it's over. Time to say good bye. Not just
farewell to the movies and lunches and shopping and games. But
really good bye to a presence and a quality that will never completely be
recovered. Saying good bye is hard.
Something deep down in us resists the move from presence to absence. When
someone is present to us, our space is filled, we are not alone. There is
conversation and communion. When someone leaves us, there is crisis. Absence means
silence--lonely, gaping silence. One thing is for sure--we had better get accustomed to bidding farewell. Life is a
series of leave-takings, movement from presence to absence. Carly Simon sings,
"Nobody ever stays in one place anymore. You say hello, but I say good-bye." . . click for full manuscript
