Ascension Sunday
Donna Joy’s Retirement
Norman Collier

I speak to you in the name of God: risen, ascended, glorified. Amen.

First of all, I want to thank Donna for the invitation to preach this morning. As she mentioned earlier, and on Friday night, I had the honour of preaching at the celebration of her new ministry at St. Peter’s 11 years ago (and I’m sure you all remember absolutely everything I said at that service), and so I am doubly honoured to be invited back. Donna has been a pastor to me many times when I needed it over the years – a source of encouragement, wisdom, and insight - and I’m sure many, if not most, of you have benefited like I have from her faithful care and concern. So when she asked me to take part this morning, how could I say no? What a gift it is to be with you as you say goodbye to your faithful priest, and this blessed pastoral relationship.

The word goodbye is an interesting word. We say it quickly, glibly, unthinkingly day in, day out – but as many of you probably already know, goodbye is filled with spiritual significance. The word traces its origins to the phrase, God be with you, and through the twisted corridors of history and language, that phrase was whittled down to the word we all know and use today: goodbye. But originally that word was a prayer. When we part, and I say goodbye, I am actually blessing you, praying that God will be with you in our separation. Now, that insight led me to think about some other words that you might know from other languages, words that they use to say goodbye. When I lived in Brazil many years ago, and spent a year trying to learn Portuguese, I discovered that their word for goodbye is adeus, which literally means to God. It’s the same sort of word as adios in Spanish, which also means to God. They say goodbye with a prayer. And my Ojibway-speaking colleague at work was telling me that technically, Ojibway has no word for goodbye, because in their understanding, we never leave, even when we are apart. We will always see each other again, even if that future reunion has to wait until the spirit world. So the common word they use, eegahwahbamim (egawabamim), is more akin to see you, see you soon, see you later, see you again, much like the French au revoir and the German auf wiedersehen. Saying see you again in Ojibway is actually a grand declaration of eternal faith.

I find it so interesting and so helpful to place these words in their spiritual context. When we say goodbye, we are blessing one another with a prayer. God be with you. I give you to God. We will see each other again, even if it’s not until heaven. We are literally praying our goodbyes.

And perhaps that’s because goodbyes are never easy, and so we naturally call on God to be a part of them, and we surround our goodbyes with prayer. There’s something deep down in us that resists this 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 loss, separation, silence – sometimes a lonely and gaping silence.

In the reading today from Luke for the Ascension, we see the risen Christ appearing one last time to his disciples. Jesus takes his friends to Bethany, a place which probably meant a great deal to him, since it was the home of Lazarus and Mary and Martha. And from this place, Jesus leaves, blessing the disciples as he ascends. It‘s as if Jesus recognizes the time is right – his teaching is complete, his resurrection is accepted, the disciples’ eyes are opened, they’re in a good frame of mind, his work here is done. It took 40 days after the resurrection, but by the time of the Ascension, Jesus had all the confidence, all the faith, in his disciples, that he knew they could handle the crisis of his absence, his leaving. When he leaves he blesses them – he gives them to God – and he promises that his absence will lead to a presence. They will not be bereft. His very spirit, the power and presence of God itself, will be given to them in a new way at Pentecost.

After the Ascension, I think we could say that the disciples become most like Jesus (in his absence) when they remember and talk about and live into the things that Jesus represented (in other words, when they infuse their daily living with his presence). This is what the Holy Spirit does. It allows all of us to make Jesus’s absence an actual presence. It’s really pretty simple. When we offer freedom; when we bring healing; when we stand up for what is right; when we choose forgiveness; when we share our burdens and expose our shame; when we give what other’s need; when we laugh and cry and pray and worship and sing and bless and dig deep into our faith; when we live love, bring love, generate love – then Jesus’ absence becomes a presence. God becomes present in those very things. The goodbye is transformed into a new hello, because the story for those disciples doesn’t end.

Is today about absence, or is it about presence? Perhaps understandably at the top of our minds, we might feel that today is about absence. Today is a difficult day of goodbyes for you, the people of St. Peter’s, and your incumbent, Donna. It is a day of sadness – you might already have felt that nervous ache in your heart - as we stand like the disciples watching our trusted and much-loved teacher, pastor, shepherd, leader, friend leave us. What’s next? What are we going to do? You will all miss this relationship. Of course, it feels so much like an absence.

But as hard as today may be, it really is – I believe - as much about presence as it is about absence. We are not just recognizing an end, but we are celebrating a gift of presence over the past 11 years – of Donna’s presence in your life, of your presence in hers, and of God’s unchanging presence in it all. So my word to you this morning is a word of encouragement – do not forget to remember and welcome the times of presence. When today’s service ends, I’m betting there will be a blessing. Every goodbye is a prayer that God will be with you, and that’s exactly what that ending will do. The Bishop will bless you, and speak the words that are in Donna’s heart, that God will be with you. And in that blessing is a presence that is richer and deeper and more real and transcendent than anything we can hope for or imagine. And for another thing, you will bless her as you say your goodbyes, praying that she will be held in God’s hands, giving her to God, entrusting her to God’s protection with thankful and loving hearts. Such a beautiful presence in the warmth of God’s embrace.

And so goodbye. Adeus. Adios. Eegahwahbamim. Donna, as you leave today, you will take with you many things: memories, gifts, cards, food, good wishes, satisfaction, accomplishment, love. But above all else, what you take, and what we give, is our prayer that God will go with you. We give you to God. That is all we can do, and it is everything. Thank you so much.