My beloved congregation, Peoples Church of Flint, and I said goodbye to one another May 1, after 8 years together. I wrote this liturgy to mark the day and to help us say goodbye well. It was written to include me, a conference office and three congregational leaders. Adapt it as you want!
Liturgy of Godspeed and Farewell (follows Holy Communion)
when the pastor’s tenure has been one of transformation and renewal.
CO 1— Church Officer 1 — moderator
CO 2 — Church Officer 2 — past moderator
CO 3 — Church Officer 3 — past moderator
CM — Conference Minister (or associate, or representative)
DP — Departing Pastor — Deb
Reflection and Thanksgiving on a Life Together.
CM — The preacher of Ecclesiastes wrote:
There is a time for everything,
a season for every purpose under heaven:
a season to be born and a season to die;
a season to plant and a season to harvest;…
a season to tear down and a season to build up;
a season to cry and a season to laugh;
a season to mourn and a season to dance;
CM — Friends, hard as it may be to imagine, you have come to the time of letting go, the close of your life together as pastor and people.
CO 2 — Eight years ago, we called you, Deb, to be our pastor and teacher, to lead this congregation through some pretty turbulent waters and help us find our footing for a new era of ministry. We have torn down and built up, we have planted and harvested, we have cried and laughed. We have mourned, and we have even danced.
CO 1 — We three have served alongside you these years as moderators of this congregation. We have collaborated with you, held you accountable, listened to you dream aloud, rolled our eyes, and sometimes borne your complaints and frustrations.
CO 3 — And you have done the same the for us.
DP — Eight years ago, we said yes to one another, not certain where the road would go, but confident (and perhaps a little scared) that God was inviting us into something new.
CO 1— We have loved one another, challenged one another, consoled one another, fed off each other’s spirit, and probably failed one another. We have forgiven one another, dusted each other off, and risen to do the work another day.
DP — We have forgiven one another, dusted each other off, and risen to do the work another day. Of this I’m sure.
CO 2 — We have wrestled with God, paced and dreamed, worshipped and shared communion, sung songs and shouted protests.
CO 3 — Perhaps we have changed the world just a bit; surely we have together changed this congregation in ways large and small. We have been changed.
DP — We have been changed. We have done good work, work I will be proud of and continue to learn from in days to come.
Congregation — We are well-pleased with the congregation we have become. We are hopeful of all that is possible in the days ahead.
CO 1 — We have learned from you, and taught you what we know.
CO 2 — We have entrusted to you our congregation and our city, and tried to show you another side of truth.
CO 3 — We hope we have served you well, honored your leadership, learned and grown from your work among us.
DP — You have done that. I also hope I have served you well, honored your faith and your dreams, learned and grown from your partnership in this ministry.
Congregation — You have done that. We give thanks for these years.
DP — and I give thanks for these years. I’m a better pastor because I have served among you here.
CO 1 — So we are able today to let go in a spirit of completion, of satisfaction. That is a gift we give each other.
Commendation and Letting Go.
CM — Relationships change, and sometimes relationships end. Today we recognize that God is doing something new again. Deb has accepted a call to serve as Pastor of Parkview Congregational Church, UCC, in Aurora, Colorado.
DP — God has called me to a new place, a new work, a new adventure of faith. As I go, I take your spirit with me, and hope to share your love all along the way.
CO 1 — We send you with our love, confident that God will continue to work through you in a new place.
CO 2 — God is also leading this congregation to something new, showing us a new way, helping us prepare for the pastor who will arrive next to guide us in spirit and truth.
CO 3 — God will hold us steady, keep us strong, make us brave. God will give us what we need for the days ahead.
DP — God will, and you will be well. I leave you with your bold and welcoming faith, your energy and commitment, your insights into the dreams of God, your love for the people on the world’s margins; I leave you with the Garland Declaration, the guiding principles, and the very inviting Statement of Belief you have crafted. I leave you “joyfully defiant for the sake of a just world.”
I urge you, Peoples Church, to continue seeking and inviting, loving and hoping, fearlessly standing for what is right and imagining new ways to be the people Jesus empowers us to be. Remember, there is manna in the wilderness, a world of enough for all.
Congregation: We will, in Spirit and truth.
CO 1 — and you, Pastor Deb, (I hope you will continue or try or begin or remember)… (a word of counsel here)
CO 2 — (I hope you will continue or try or begin or remember)…(a word of counsel here)
CO 3 — (I hope you will continue or try or begin or remember)…(a word of counsel here)
DP — I will do and remember these things by the Spirit of God and in the spirit of Peoples Church.
CM — We, the Michigan Conference, celebrate with you the life you’ve all received from each other, the spirit of hope and love in which you bid farewell, the joy of expectation that life will continue for you all — that the spirit of Jesus will continually call you to rise up, continue to call you to an uprising on behalf of a just world. In Flint, in Aurora, and every other place, resurrection is, after all, a way of life.
CM — Let us pray:
We give you thanks, O God, for this people and this pastor, who have loved and served one another and you for these eight years. As they bid farewell, remind them of the joys and challenges they have shared, the lessons they have learned together and from each other, and the ways you have moved among them all this time.
Let them part ways in such a spirit of love that they may be propelled by memories of what has been life-giving and empowering from these years together.
Give them grace to go with courage, and let Deb’s next congregation and Peoples Church’ next pastor find them at their best — fearless and compassionate, and committed to the world as God imagines. Let them live in your image, let them live in you. Amen.
CO 1— Now, Deb, be on your way.
CO 2 — Take a blessing with you.
CO 3 — And bless others as you go.
Congregation — Farewell and Godspeed.
CM — Amen. Amen.
DP — gives the benediction.
God bless us and keep us.
God’s face shine on us and be gracious to us.
God look upon us with favor and give us peace. Amen.
Closing song: Forever Young (B. Dylan)