meet to part, part to meet

The last verse of a hymn written for the first Southern Seminary graduation in 1860 has become very dear to me in my second semester at Boyce: 

"We meet to part, but part to meet
When earthly labors are complete,
To join in yet more blest employ
In an eternal world of joy."

This is a season of many meetings and partings. Several people I met in this first year of college have already said their goodbyes, and I know friends will continue to leave each semester. At church, too- people are being sent off and bid farewell almost every Sunday. It is a difficult calling for a church body, and for a school, to receive people and love them well and help them grow, and then send them away into the world. I have been amazed by the gracious welcome I have been given- especially by the precious people at Clifton Baptist Church. Through many kind brothers and sisters, I have begun to learn that this calling- meeting to part- is mine as well. It is all of ours.

I will only be at school in Louisville for a few years, and, based on how shockingly quickly this first year passed, those years will be gone before I know it. It won't be long before I'm the one graduating and saying goodbye. While I'm there, I don't want to miss out on the immense privilege- the high and holy calling- of loving people well, growing alongside them, and sending them out. That is the whole point of the school. We meet to part.

I have always struggled with goodbyes. The indefinite ones are especially hard. But I've learned more truly this semester that goodbyes in Christ are necessary. We as Christians are not called to stay together, to stay comfortable, to stay safe. We are called to go. We meet each week in local church bodies, and then we go out to our different lives and different spheres of influence with the gospel our God has entrusted to us. We go to the ends of the earth with this gospel. Our aim is not to keep everyone we love safe and close; our aim is to see the Kingdom spread to every heart and every nation.

And we are free to go- free to part- because Jesus is with us. He is with us to the end of the age. He will never leave us or forsake us. Nothing will snatch us out of His hand. We are free to hold loosely to the things of earth, even our dear friends and family. Our call is to love those God brings into our lives for as long as He keeps them there. We cannot control who comes and goes, all we can do is love.

This semester, the Lord began to teach me how to love people without fear of losing them or fear of being known by them. I don't have long at Boyce. I don't have long on this earth. I want to spend my time loving people well and helping them grow and knowing Christ and making Him known. And I can do that because goodbyes in Christ are temporary.

A month ago today, a friend of mine died. The past month has been one of many tears and many lessons. I am learning the unspeakable worth and preciousness of faithfulness that isn't flashy. I am learning the goodness and steadfastness of the Lord in the midst of sorrow. I am learning the beauty and joy of the Christian's situation- that no parting is forever, not even death. We meet to part, but we part to meet.

I miss my friends who are away at other schools, or who have left my school, or who are back home while I'm gone, or who have gone Home to glory. But I am deeply comforted by the truth so beautifully expressed in the last verse of the Seminary Hymn.

I want to devote myself to my earthly labor that the Lord has given me until the day He takes me Home. That day may come very soon, and I want to be found faithful. And when earthly labors are complete, I will join in yet more blest employ with all the brothers and sisters I have come to love in Kentucky and Georgia and around the world. And then, there, we will all be together. Forever. In an eternal world of joy.