Farewell may not be an apt word to utter, for we do not bring conclusion to our journey in life together as community. There is no end to everything that is contained in the divine continuum. If we believe that we all live in the spectrum of the Divine, then we all continue to live in the inseparability of our communion, rooted in the spirit of love that knows no boundary of time, space and distance.
Thus, I reckon with this same spirit that our roads may cross again. “So long and God’s speed” instead to all of you who had been a valuable part of my life here at St. John’s. Nothing could ever describe my thoughts of going in order to assume a new assignment, therefore a new responsibility. It is somewhat bittersweet. Definitely, I will miss your company like a family. This parish became my home for more than three years. But as with everything, there’s a time for everything. The time has come for me to move on. With the grace from God, be assured that God will provide many opportunities for me to grow in service of the church. This is something we can all look forward to. Thank you for your warm hospitality and prayers, and all the love and care therewith. And I will continue to pray for each one of you as well. Let me sum up this postscript with selected verses from the Book of Ecclesiastes:
“There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens. A time to give birth, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant… a time to tear down, and a time to build. A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them; a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces. A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away. A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to be silent, and a time to speak… God has made everything appropriate to its time, but has put the timeless into their hearts so they cannot find out, from beginning to end, the work which God has done. I recognized that there is nothing better than to rejoice and to do well during life… I recognized that whatever God does will endure forever; there is no adding to it, or taking from it. Thus has God done that He may be revered. What now is has already been; what is to be, already is: God retrieves what has gone by.”
Fr. Bart