Farewell to Rev. Susan!

Farewell, Martha’s Vineyard!

A song I occasionally find myself singing comes from a songbook (Sisters and Brothers Sing, 1977) I used in my younger years of music and ministry. It goes like this:

 I will never forget you, my people;

 I have carved you on the palm of my hand.

 I will never forget you;

 I will not leave you orphaned.

 I will never forget my own.

These words come from Isaiah 49:15-16 where the Israelites are suffering in exile and the prophet is comforting them so they can go on. I bring these words to you in this time and place not because our people are devastated, but because they are words of poetry that speak to me as I envision leaving Martha’s Vineyard and saying good-bye to all of you in the four churches in which I have served these past three years. (Also, I like the tune of the song that goes with

the words!)

It is true. I will never forget you (Isaiah 49:15b). The day that Brian and I moved here and you greeted us with wonderful hospitality and understanding of our situation with Brian’s illness and our big move from Georgia, we knew we would grow and learn together in friendship and Christian love. That is what happened, just as if God carved you in the palm of my hand (Isa. 49:16). You will carry on with the vision that God intends for you, as difficult as it may be as evidenced by those who leave because they “just can’t take it anymore with all these changes”.  As difficult as it may get sometimes, God is always here: “I will not leave you orphaned (John 14:18). I will never forget my own.

So what shall I say? “Good-bye!”– in its original meaning as a contraction of God be with you! And literally, also, “Fare-Well!”  In Spanish, people say "Vaya con dios", literally meaning,

"Go with God!" It is used to say "goodbye and good luck" to a person, particularly if the person

is leaving for a journey (real or metaphorical), in which the person will need God's help. So I say to you and ask you to say to me,, "Go with God!" – and also, Grow with God!

I leave you with a leaving blessing written especially for me as I left my first appointment

in 1990:

Go now in peace; though friends must part,

your presence lives in every heart.

Your gifts to us no words can tell:

go now in peace, in Christ go well.

Go now in hope, and hopeful stay,

though shadowed valleys hide your way;

through good and evil, joy and pain,

with God, in Spirit, you remain.

Go now in faith, through time and chance,

until we join the wedding dance

as partners of the Three-in-One,

where all is ended and begun.  

Shalom, Susan Heafield

Brian Wren Copyright © 1993 Stainer & Bell Limited for

the World except USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Reprinted by permission.

This blessing for a friend's farewell dated 1990 and 1991 was written for the tune TALLIS' CANON.