The Long Goodbye Before The Next Beginning
Graduate Sunday is May 17, and this year it feels especially personal.
It will be the first of several public and private celebrations we will participate in with our oldest, Grace, before they leave for college in August. There will be worship, graduation ceremonies, family gatherings, pictures, probably some shopping, and a lot of conversations that begin with practical details and end with me wondering how time moved this fast.
In August, Grace will move over 2,000 miles away to attend college. I am still not sure I have fully processed that sentence. I am filled with so many emotions. Joy. Excitement. Pride. Gratitude. And also sadness, nervousness, and a fair amount of, “How is this even possible?”
Wasn’t she just in preschool? Wasn’t she just learning to read, losing teeth, carrying a backpack almost bigger than she was, and asking questions from the backseat? And now we are talking about dorm rooms, class schedules, flights, and what can actually fit into a suitcase.
I am ready. And I am not ready.
Maybe that is what love often feels like in seasons of transition. We spend years helping our children grow, learn, mature, discover their gifts, and become the people God created them to be. Then the moment comes when growth means they begin stepping into a life that is no longer centered around our daily presence.
That is beautiful. It is also hard.
Graduation has a way of reminding us that love is not about holding people in place. Love blesses people forward. That is true for parents. It is true for grandparents. It is true for teachers, coaches, mentors, youth leaders, and church families. When we celebrate graduates, we are not only celebrating what they have accomplished. We are celebrating the people they are becoming.
We are also remembering that God is not finished with them. Paul writes in Philippians 1:6, “I am sure about this: the one who started a good work in you will stay with you to complete the job by the day of Christ Jesus.”
I love that promise.
The good work God begins in someone does not end at graduation. It does not end when they walk across a stage, pack a car, move into a dorm, start a job, join the military, or step into whatever comes next. God keeps working. Even when they are far from home. Even when we cannot see every step. Even when we are proud and sad at the same time.
This Sunday, May 17, we will celebrate our graduates in worship. We will name their accomplishments, give thanks for their lives, and bless them as they step into what is next.
And our job as the church in this season is simple: to bless them forward. With joy. With tears. With prayers. And with trust in God’s promises.
Because the same God who has been with them here will be with them there.
Join us for worship as we surround our graduates with God’s love once again, trusting that this love will continue to shape them and echo in their lives.
With Gratitude,
Rev. Rodney Whitfield
Senior Pastor
Aldersgate UMC