TOPIC: I Don’t Know Why You Say “Goodbye,” I say “Hello”
TEXTS IS 43:19-21; PS 95; ROM 5:1-11; JN 16:12-15
DATE: FEBRUARY 24, 2008
OCCASION: HOPE
SEASON: THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT A
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INTRODUCTION TO THE GOSPEL LESSON
Today I’ve exercised the pastor’s prerogative to deviate from the lectionary for this Sunday. The Psalm and the Epistle text are for the Third Sunday in Lent; however, I’ve taken the liberty to use the verses from Isaiah 43 and from the sixteenth chapter of John’s gospel as our primary texts, and they don’t correspond with today’s lectionary.
Isaiah 43 is a profound word of promise and hope that’s based upon God’s redemptive activity on behalf of Israel. God is going to do something new that will transform their very existence. In its reading, today, God offers promise and hope of transformation to Hope Presbyterian Church.
Our lesson from the Gospel of John is a portion of Jesus’ farewell address to his disciples before his trial and crucifixion. He’s preparing them for their future ministry, which will take place in his absence, but will be empowered by the Holy Spirit. What is an ending is really a new beginning for his disciples and the church.
John reminds us, here, that saying “goodbye” is an important part of preparing us for a promising future. Listen to the reading of our Gospel Lesson as the Holy Spirit gives us a new word of promise.
12“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
I. I don’t know why you say “goodbye,” I say “hello.”
A. You remember that light-hearted Beatles’ song about, what I assume to be, two lovers who are destined to never agree:
1. You say yes, I say no
2. You say stop, I say go, go, go
3. I say high, you say low
4. You say why, I say I don’t know
5. You say goodbye, I say hello
B. Sometimes saying “hello” doesn’t anticipate the emotions of the impending “goodbye.”
1. Back in 1990, I took my two older children, Bart and Alison, to Disney World in Orlando.
a. Bart was 12 and Alison was 10, and were at great ages to really enjoy Disney.
b. Anna was less than three years old and wouldn’t fully benefit from the spectacles of Disney, so she and Diane didn’t go with us.
c. I had a couple of free airline tickets with the soon-to-be defunct Eastern Airlines, would be staying with my brother in St. Cloud, who also had contacts to get us free admission into the park.
d. My costs: a rental car, meals, and souvenirs—what a deal!
2. To make the trip even a greater pleasure, we were able to visit my 90 year old grandmother, whom we hadn’t seen in about three years.
a. We had several great visits with Granny, which thrilled both us and her.
b. It wasn’t until we were getting ready to leave that it dawned on me that at her age this could very well be the last time we would see Granny.
c. Bart, Alison, and I celebrated our great time with Granny, but we became sad when we thought about this possibly being our final goodbye to her.
d. After we got out of her sight, we drove away with tears in our eyes.
3. Both God’s grace and Granny are amazing.
a. We didn’t know that we would be moving to Sarasota, Florida, just a few years later, where we could visit Granny frequently, and Anna got to meet her for the first time.
b. Then, when we moved to Huntsville, Granny moved back with us to be close to my Dad in her last years.
c. She lived another two years, and had she lived another three weeks, she would’ve been 98 years old—her mind as sharp as a tack.
4. You never know what hellos your goodbyes will bring your way.
5. You say “goodbye,” and I say “hello.” I don’t know why you say “goodbye,” I say “hello.”
II. Saying “goodbye” is inevitable in all relationships.
A. We sometimes take for granted that relationships are fleeting.
1. Even those that last a lifetime are limited to just that, our lifetime.
a. When we experience the death of a grandparent, and when we reflect upon it, most of us have only experienced a small fraction of the grandparent’s life.
b. It’s a clear signal that our parents won’t be with us forever, either.
c. Then, when we lose our parents, we become acutely aware of our own mortality, especially if their passing happens after we’ve reached mid-life.
2. Then there are marriages.
a. For some the goodbye comes prematurely, ending in divorce or an untimely death.
b. Even those that last until “death do us part,” usually cover only our adult life span, as milestone anniversaries quickly become past events.
3. Our children grow up, go to college, and are out on their own in no time.
a. It’s not a permanent goodbye.
b. It is, instead, a goodbye from one type of relationship and a hello to another type altogether.
4. Most of us have several places of employment over our working years, and some transition from one vocation to another that’s completely different from the previous.
a. This move from Hope Presbyterian Church and Huntsville to First Presbyterian Church in Charleston has opened my eyes to the fact that I’ve become more of a creature of habit,
i. enjoying stability,
ii. appreciating familiarity.
b. Saying this “goodbye” has become a much more complex dynamic.
c. I find myself not wanting to do it, even though it is inevitable—
i. at some point I would have to retire,
ii. and, hopefully much later, I would eventually die,
iii. but even though we call it a permanent call, a pastoral relationship is always temporary.
d. The other side of the coin is what a wonderful blessing to have served as your pastor for over 12 years!
i. As much as that makes leaving more painful, it also makes it more fulfilling.
ii. It also holds much promise for both us and you.
5. Saying “goodbye” is important to me, and to you.
a. It’s important to me so that I can move on to where God is calling me to serve and to be able to do so single-mindedly.
b. It’s important to you so that you can focus on God’s future for Hope Presbyterian Church, preparing you for your next pastor and a new life together—doing things new and exciting as you add new people to the Hope family.
III. Just as important as saying “goodbye” is how we say “goodbye.”
A. As one commentator says, “Jesus knows how to say goodbye!”
1. He does so in such a way as to leave his disciples hopeful.
a. You can imagine how distraught they were at his words about his death and leaving them.
b. They try to avoid the subject all together, and just not talk about it, but Jesus insists on preparing them for what’s ahead.
c. Jesus assures them that they will neither be left alone nor on their own.
i. The Spirit of truth, the Advocate, will come to be their companion.
ii. The Holy Spirit will guide them along the way of all truth and prove the world wrong about sin, justice, and judgment (13).
2. Healthy goodbyes are said in such a way as to get us through the night by teasing us with exciting discoveries awaiting us in the morning.
a. What the disciples had thought to be the end is turning out to be the prelude to a new beginning.
b. New truths await them around the corner.
c. Instead of being finished with life, they’re about to begin again.
3. In his farewell address to his disciples, Jesus manages to turn his goodbye into a hello.
a. That’s what I want us to do here.
b. I want us to listen to God saying: “You say ‘goodbye,’ and I say ‘hello.’ I don’t know why you say ‘goodbye,’ I say ‘hello.’
B. That’s exactly what God is saying in Isaiah 43.
1. Every goodbye is an opportunity for something new.
a. God promises Israel a goodbye to their exile in Babylon.
b. Now, they can say hello to something new that God is doing with and among them.
2. God promises to do a new thing.
a. The dry, parched land, which can hardly sustain life, will become well-watered and life-giving for the exiles to make their way across the desert en route back home to Jerusalem.
b. The past, whether it be their preoccupation with the old saving acts under the leadership of Moses or with their struggles in captivity, is to be scuttled and forgotten.
c. God is ready to overwhelm Israel with God’s generous, gracious, decisive newness, which opens the way for the future.
IV. God says to Hope Presbyterian Church: “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”
A. Saying goodbye, I want to leave you alive with flourishing hope, ready to embrace the next chapter in your story with uncontaminated joy!
1. I want to remind you that your story is more than “your story.”
2. It’s God’s story.
a. I’m entrusting you to God’s care and keeping, to the nurturing companionship of the Holy Spirit.
b. This is the same Advocate that Jesus promised his disciples, who will guide you along the way of all truth.
B. When I think about leaving Hope, I think of Moses in Deuteronomy 34.
1. He served God by leading the Israelites for forty years (my 12 years aren’t quite 40, but it’s still a biblical number!).
a. He led them in the wilderness until the proper time for them to enter the promised land, the land promised to Abraham and Sarah and their descendents.
b. There in the wilderness they learned God’s ways and built a foundation for becoming God’s people, a great nation.
2. I feel like Moses, in a sense, not getting to enter the promised land with you.
a. I’m not fussing.
b. At least God’s not burying me on the mountain overlooking your inheritance.
c. I’m just moving to the mountains, and for that little discrepancy in the story I’m grateful.
3. I may not enter the promised land with you, but like Moses, I can see beyond the present to a not so distant future when this church is going to flourish in ministry.
a. God had me here for a purpose,
b. and kept me here for that purpose.
c. That has been fulfilled.
4. God now has a Joshua waiting in the wings until you call him/her to be your next pastor.
a. Before that person comes on board, you will have an interim pastor, let’s say like John the Baptist, who will prepare the way for your called pastor.
b. Your next pastor will be a totally different person than I am.
c. He/she will lead you to do new things and to do things differently.
5. It’s easy to get in a rut and to think that there’s only one way to do things, but you and I both know that’s not true.
a. When that person says, “We’re not doing it that way anymore,” don’t even think of saying, “But that’s not the way Jim did it.”
b. You have to remember, God is doing a new thing.
i. It doesn’t mean the old way was wrong; at least, I hope it wasn’t.
ii. It simply means that God wants to do something new, and is inviting you to be a part of it.
c. Test the spirits, but make sure you don’t resist the Spirit, the Advocate, who will guide you along the way of all truth.
6. Remember, as we say “goodbye,” God says “hello.”
a. Be prepared to greet God with a smile and an open heart and mind,
b. and an excited “Hello!”