wfn.org | Goodbye a step in growth says Friday's preacher

[PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org]

05-July-1996 
 
GA96107 
 
    Goodbye a step in growth says Friday's preacher 
 
ALBUQUERQUE--"Jesus' good-bye provides a pattern for our own leave taking, 
for our own good-byes," the Rev. Dr. James O'Dell told worshipers here 
Friday. O'Dell, pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church, Cherry Hill, N.J., 
used Christ's command to "go and make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 
28:16-20)  as his text. 
 
    Commissioners interrupted their early morning business session to sing 
hymns from Ghana, Korea, the Dakota Sioux, and South America.  They 
listened to music played on indigenous instruments, including the marimba, 
as they refocused for the work ahead. 
 
    O'Dell contrasted Christ's good-bye with human good-byes.  He began by 
singing the Mickey Mouse Club "closing hymn" which, he said reflects the 
difficulty humans have in saying good-bye.  Good-byes are usually 
difficult, especially when they involve issues like relocation, divorce, 
and "the final good-bye of death," he noted. 
 
    "We try to stall the inevitable.  We draw out the necessary conclusion 
like the child at bedtime," he continued.  This behavior "reflects our 
latent "fear of separation," he said.  "We don't like being cut off from 
others," he noted.  "It leaves us feeling alone, isolated, and 
impoverished."  Despite these feelings, saying good-bye "may be a necessary 
step in our growth," O'Dell said. 
 
    Jesus' good-bye began "with words of assignment and ended with words of 
assurance," O'Dell remarked.  He spoke "specific words of 
instruction--'go,' `baptize,' `teach,'--and finished with words of promise: 
`I will be with you always.'" 
 
    Christ's "Great Commission" implies "the church today no longer has the 
luxury to pick and choose those to whom we will minister." Presbyterians 
need to "say good-bye to some of the things that have hindered the work of 
the church in this post-Christian era," O'Dell claimed.  He identified some 
of these as "rigid lines of division that separate," " the assumption of 
our own rightness," and "stereotypes of gender, race, age, class, sexual 
orientation." 
 
    "Our penchant for wanting to do things our own way sometimes gets in 
the way of the command of Christ," O'Dell went on.  "His call points to 
breaking down the walls of separation."  In response to Christ's  words, 
"you and I now have the challenging task to continue his work in his 
church." 
 
    Jesus' final promise, "Lo, I am with you always," begins with a word 
meaning "behold, look, see," O'Dell said.  "Lo" calls us to "an active 
sense of the presence of the Christ even after his leaving," he continued. 
"He is saying even at the time of parting, `Lo, look around, behold, see 
that I am with you.  Look for my presence wherever you are and whatever you 
are called to do for I am with you."  Christ "is with us, within us, among 
us if we will just discipline ourselves to recognize it." 
 
    "May the gift of God in Jesus Christ enable us to say good-bye to all 
that would hinder us from doing God's will," O'Dell continued.  "May it 
strengthen us in the knowledge that in everything we do and determine, 
whether we succeed or fail, that same Jesus Christ is with us."  Good-bye 
means "God is with us," he noted.  "Thank God in Jesus Christ he is and 
always will be." 
 
    Cantor for this service was Fernando Ortega, Los Angeles, Calif.  He 
led singing in both Spanish and English.  Amanda Isaacs, a junior at Cibola 
High School, Albuquerque, N.M., and Junlin Hwang, Albuquerque, N.M., were 
the liturgists. Music was provided on indigenous instruments by Steve 
Chavez and John Bartlit, both of Albuquerque.  Bonnie Husler, Rio Rancho, 
N.M., and David Leicester, Albuquerque, played trumpet.  Todd Jully, 
Clayton, Ind., served as percussionist.  Jeff Jolly, Albuquerque, and Bob 
Deuble, Belen, N.M., played guitar. 
 
Peggy Rounseville 

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