See You Later

 

I said goodbye to a friend today. My buddy Orlando is moving back to the east coast after a year out here in Oregon. I am going to miss him. We had a lot of laughter over the last year that is going to be missing from my life now. As we ate lunch today and talked about his plans for going back and the trip I was excited for what the future holds for him. I don’t mind leave takings like this one, where a person is heading off to do life somewhere else and is excited about it.

 

Tomorrow I am doing a memorial service for a family. Talking with families about their loved ones who have just passed away is a hard thing. You see the sorrow in their eyes as they recall stories of the good times and the laughter they shared. You are a part of their grief and mourning. You offer hope and prayer for comfort to them. You try to honor the individual and the family in the best way possible, by pointing to Jesus’ goodness.

 

As I sit in my office and think about saying goodbye to Orlando and prep for helping this family mourn I can’t help but compare the experiences. In one case it is leaving by choice, in another it is the inevitable leave taking we all face as fragile human beings. Both have elements of sorrow and joy, personal and communal. We celebrate and send off. We mourn and let go.  For my part, it helps to remember that goodbye is really “see you later.” As Christians our hope in in Christ that we will partake of the resurrection. When we say goodbye to those we love it isn’t final. We could honestly say, “see you later.” Even to those we have lost to the grave. I, for one, am grateful for that hope today. 


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