Ring a bell?
If not, two things are certain:
- you’re young
- you need to find and watch the final episode of the TV series M*A*S*H
First aired on February 28, 1983, “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen” chronicles the final days of the fictitious 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital as the Korean War comes to an end.
It remains one of the most-watched series episodes in TV history.
As my wife Marcy and I enjoyed watching it again a few nights ago on MeTV, I was struck by the significance of the title.
Not just to an all-time great TV show, but also to the troubled times in which we live.
Goodbye, farewell and amen.
More than eight months into a global pandemic with no end in sight, it’s time to say goodbye to our lives, indeed our world, as we know them.
There will be a new normal. We are becoming a new church.
“Behold, I am doing a new thing …” – Isaiah 43:19 (ESV)
We will, for example, worship in our Sanctuary again.
But we will also continue to worship and study and teach in cyberspace.
Answering God’s call beyond our walls in a manner we never previously imagined.
Goodbye, farewell and amen.
It’s time to bid farewell to partisan politics and racial divisiveness.
To set aside our differences and love one another as brothers and sisters.
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.– 1 John 4:7 (NRSV)
Republicans and Democrats.
Blacks, whites, Latinos, Asians.
Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, atheists.
Doesn’t matter. We’re all human.
We’re all children of God. Loved by God.
Worthy of God’s love, are we not also worthy of love from one another?
Regardless of our differences?
Goodbye, farewell and amen.
Last but certainly not least, it’s time to say amen.
To assert our faith. To pray.
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.– 1Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NRSV)
Pray for our church.
Pray for our families.
Pray for our brothers and sisters.
Pray for our world.
Pray.
Goodbye, farewell and amen.
First Reflections 