ON  LEAVING

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Tuesday of the Seventh Week of Easter  is, “On  Leaving.”

If I heard anything from other priests,  it’s our “uunh” - a word that won’t make it in Scrabble - when we read  these post Easter readings - especially from the Gospel of John. We say that because we like to give a homily on weekdays - but  there is too much repetition in these readings - especially from John

It has a series of themes about loving, remaining in Jesus’ love, this is my commandment, love one another as  I have loved you - and we hear this over and over again.  They are wonderful - but enough already.

TODAY’S TWO READINGS

So we read the readings a couple of extra times in hopes something pops up that he have not touched upon lately.

I did that last night and today’s two readings talk about leaving several times.  That’s a recurring theme: leaving.

So let me see if I can milk some comments about leaving.

LEAVING

That’s something we’re always doing  in various ways throughout our life: leaving.

We leave the womb. We leave the hospital.

We leave for school that first time. Then for an overnight with friends. Then we go off to college or the military or where have you.

We leave for work. We leave relationships. We leave for Marriage. We leave after death or a divorce.  We leave jobs. We leave when we retire. We leave for Tennessee or Florida. Someone dies, so we come back home again. Hopefully, we get out and get moving and get leaving again.

IN THE SCRIPTURES

There’s lots of leaving …. lots of migrations …. lots of moving in the Bible.  Adam and Eve leave the Garden…. Noah gets on the ark…. Abraham does a lot of moving…. Abraham’s descendants are often heading elsewhere.

Joseph ends up being sold into Egypt.  Moses leaves Egypt. He  leads those descendants towards the Promised Land. They finally leave the desert - and land in the Promised Land.

So there is not only an Exodus, but there’s also the Exile.  

THEN WE GET TO THE NEW TESTAMENT

Jesus moves around in his early years.  Then he settles into his quiet years. Then he finally leaves Nazareth and gets going.

Then he calls disciples to drop everything, to leave home and to follow him.

Then he leaves his disciples and leaves and ascends into heaven.

Then we’re called to leave our inner perceptions on how life is supposed to work.

LESSONS

With all these leaves of absence, we need to learn something.

We have not here a lasting home here.

We need to learn to let go at times.

We can get stuck in stupidity or sin or regrets or resentments. I preached on that last Sunday.

When we leave - we can look back from a distance - and see what’s back home and who’s really important much better.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Out of sight, out of mind can also happen.

We come to church; we leave from church - hopefully all the better.

CONCLUSION

Today - at the end of this day, to ask, “Did I leave a good feeling in all the rooms I was in today?”

Or in Fortune Cookie Language: So leave that they wished you stayed more than they wanted to see you leave.”