This week in church we said goodbye.
One of our co-founding head pastors is moving on to something new (an unknown something new! It's very adventurous.) and last Sunday was his final service. We did a full goodbye where people shared what his presence has meant to them, gave him gifts, and we even performed a little liturgy of release into his new adventures. It was a proper goodbye.
There are few opportunities in life to say a meaningful goodbye to someone. To let them know what they really mean to you and what you have appreciated about them and send them off into their new life. Usually, when people leave, it's sort of a slow fade and then one day we realize they are, in effect, gone. Even when it is a hard exit, like moving away, how many goodbye parties have you been to that involve genuine expressions of love or a ritual of releasing the person into their new life?
I am not good at telling someone to their face all the things they mean to me, so it felt nice to be a part of an overall farewell event. I could contribute to the goodbye without being on the spot for any specifics.
It made me think about endings and how, generally, when things end we are supposed to just let them be over and move on and how much a meaningful goodbye really helps with that.
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