Continuity of Spiritual Care: Military Chapels "Bid Farewell Not Goodbye"
CONTINUITY OF SPIRITUAL CARE: MILITARY CHAPELS
The Six Part Series
Part 6: Bid Farewell, Not Goodbye
CONCLUSION: Don’t Let the Sun Set
A message for widespread awareness of service member and military family needs from Military Chapels called:
“Continuity of Spiritual Care”
Hello! Welcome and thank you for finding yourself here. :) For your viewing pleasure but mostly for a response to join me in this awesome ministry or consideration in lending a hand to those around you...please click on any of the above links to take you to the various sections in the series, otherwise...grab your latte or a tasty beverage and walk with me...
Bid Farewell Not Goodbye
It is that time of year again. PCS season and graduations. I tend to ugly cry around now….a LOT… When a service member and their family comes or goes we have a celebration and recognition of sorts. “Hail and Farewells” are essential to the operation of a well-functioning unit. Some because the oldies need to spot the newbies so they can concoct fun (and safe of course) ways of integrating them. We also share a little background to help people get a small awareness of the scope of the newbie’s experience or lack thereof, their hobbies, their values etc. The oldies also share a bit of the tradition and energy of the organization they are now a member of. Hails are important mostly because it is all about the PEOPLE, not the program or mission, but the team, the family that ensures the failure or success of said program/mission.
The farewell portions of these events are obviously bittersweet. We reminisce about times had, we laugh about mishaps and poke loving fun at our brethren. We impart a small gift that hopefully will hang lovingly on the wall of the next home or be treasured as a display of comradery and purpose.
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Personally, it is the graduations that are especially so tough but so exciting. The hope inside us swells to an almost palpable crescendo as the names of the graduates are called to walk across the stage. We beam, knowing how far they have come and praying that their dreams grow bigger and more tangible as the days move forward secretly aware of how “slow the days are but how fast the years go by”. As the teens graduate into adulthood our relationship experiences a sort of graduation as well. That relationship develops into a friendship as they navigate adulthood while staying in touch with me and is one of the most rewarding experiences in what I do. When you have someone leave, take care not to say goodbye. There are real fingerprints left when someone touches the experience of a community. Each and every person leaves their mark indelibly.
Recognizing this is so valuable and when a farewell is done…well…. WELL, it can mean the difference between joining in a promise to continue to do good and claim belonging and complete rejection. In some ways, the farewell is nearly as important as the welcome. We all yearn to know that we belong and that we BELONGED. We are creating legacies when we invest in our communities. Traditions are born and they matter, just as the people do.
One of the ways we reminded our young people that they have a place to call home is, we purchased pennants from the services and universities the teens were going to and had them write their name and graduating year on the back. Those pennants will hang proudly at life nights and celebrations to come. The new teens know that they are a part of something with people who see them, celebrate their achievements with them and dream big with them and when it is their time to move on their will never be forgotten.
My farewell had me dumbfounded and absolutely clinging to each minuscule moment of the evening. Memorizing the faces of the men and women that filled my heart with so much joy. The sweat and tears and brokenness that accompanied such a feat seemed distant and only memorable in so much as they were marked perseverance, necessary to have brought me to that moment. My dear, dear friend, Karen (whom I was reunited with from another duty station) and a newfound friend, Sandra, in our ministry, worked to coordinate a surprise farewell. Our last life night of the year is often a night of celebrating and socializing. They succeeded in keeping the details of the night a secret and all the teens were in on it. I am so nosey I have NO IDEA how they managed to do it but they did. The moment I will blubber about until the day I die is when I was handed a vase. My friend and Core Team member, Sara, grinned as she placed it in my hands. All that it had in it was a little water… go ahead…smile. The vase was half full. She joked that the water was to remind me of the ocean. Karen then placed a flower in the hands of every teen there. They filed in a line and each person placed their flower into my vase. As they did so they shared personal moments and sentiments about our time together whether it was short or long. I will never forget the outpouring of love and the feeling of gratitude.
You matter. It matters to show that people matter. Get this right, and in the short time you have in a place as a military person or someone who moves often and the satisfaction of having been a tool in God’s hands will surely empower you to look self-doubt and fear in the face and push through whatever it is that He calls us to next.
So, whatever the situation, when the time comes, DO NOT say goodbye. Say farewell to the men and women that you have been privileged to serve and live within the HOPE of better times and reunions to come. If we have learned anything it is that the Army is a small place and the world that holds it is full of adventures, surprises and God’s desire to call you to a purpose-filled experience.
So, my friends, farewell for now.
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