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A Liturgy for Leavings

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Even in our goodbyes there is a

blessing, for the sorrow of parting is a measure

of the depth of the bond we have come to

share in Christ.

Thank you, O God,

that we do not walk this road alone,

but that this journey toward eternity

and toward your heart has been, from the 

beginning, one that you ordained we should

undertake in the glad and good company

of our fellow pilgrims.


O Lord, make us ever mindful of one another

unto the end that we would labor in the

days to come as those who would tend and

encourage the stories of those around us by

prayer and friendship and thoughtfulness and

conversation, affirming and sharpening and

amplifying one another’s good works, unto the

end that your body would be built up, and that

your kingdom would be more fully realized

in this world.


Thank you, O God,

for the mercy and the beauty

incarnated in the words and acts of these

your people, extended one toward another.

It is no accident that we were born in the same

epoch, and that our stories have twined in this

time and in this place.


Let us therefore go forth

and steward one another’s stories.

Let us journey from here together, as vessels

of that mercy and as stewards of that wild and

wondrous beauty that flows from the heart and

mind of our Creator.

Grant, O Lord, that we might take

our leave of one another now,

feeling a right joy for the blessings

of the hours we have shared,

even as we feel a bright and

hopeful sorrow at their close.


Friends and saints and fellow pilgrims,

we part now in the confidence that in our

diverging paths we walk the same road,

fanning the same flame, and that in time

we will meet again in a fellowship forever

unbroken.


By your Spirit, O Christ,

make us faithful in the meanwhile,

as we go out to labor in the diverse fields

to which you have assigned us,

laboring unto that better meeting,

and unto that new-made world

that is yet promised and that has already begun.


O Spirit of God, be as present in our parting

as you were in our gathering.

Be present in our journeys.

Be present in our days to come.

Be present in our works

and in our words

and in our hearts.

Be present in the bonds of our

community, Lord Christ.

Be ever at work among us

and through us.


Amen.



Every Moment Holy Volumes I, II, and III are available for purchase through the Rabbit Room Press online store.



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