Until We Meet Again

I do not know really where to start. I sit staring at this blank document wondering just how I can fully express how I feel as I prepare to embark on the next adventure in my life. As I think about it, I get sad knowing we will not be able to journey together. I realize too we are only a couple hours away and a phone call or text message away, but those first few empty Sunday nights and weekends will be, well, strange. This is going to be a difficult reality to come to terms with as I say goodbye to you.

For three years together we have shared stories and our lives together. We’ve talked about many things, we’ve traveled many places together, making memories and sharing stories all along the way, and it just seemed like yesterday we arrived in Owensboro. Our time together has gone by fast as I sit back and reflect on where we have been. Sunday nights in my life won’t quite be the same as I will no longer head to church at the four o’clock hour, stopping by Starbucks to grab the energy I’ll need for that night, and then prepping and praying in my study as we prepare for a night together.

As difficult as this is going to be for me, I know deep down inside that it will be alright. I know, although my time on Sundays may be spent reading, writing papers, and attending study groups, I know you all will be here, praying, laughing, listening, sharing, and being together. It is hard to imagine a Sunday night without you in it but again, after all that we have been through and all that we have learned, I know you all won’t miss a beat.

I guess then, friends, this is it. This is the tough part, where I say goodbye to you. Where I fight back the tears, look to you with a joyful and hopeful heart, and tell you that I love you, will miss you and will think of you often. When I go, remember those things which you have done together and what your group is all about. Remember that above all it is important to the community that you are there. Remember that the community is not complete without you. Remember that everyone, at one time or another, needs someone to help them along this journey we call life. Remember that at the center needs to be love.

Thus, love one another, welcoming all who walk through those doors who longed to be touched by the living Christ. Welcome them and each other always with open arms and loving spirits. Then when you gather together, break bread and tend to your souls, be still, as often as you can, and be reminded that God is with you. God is always with you.

I hope you have seen Christ alive in our lives and active in our friendships. I have. And, I hope that you will remember to take seriously those times when you have felt God’s presence in your life and continue to fully commit yourself to being a disciple of Christ. Continue, good friends, to do the hard work of the soul as you discover yourself. My hope for you as a community is that you all will find your unique path; the one God has for you. And in the process, you become fully yourself, after all this is salvation. May you always, friends of First Presbyterian Church, be covered in the dust of your Rabbi.

As a faithful, committed community, never forget that your call is to love the Lord with all your heart, your mind, your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. As it is written in the book of Joshua, “Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Trust always in God and rely on your brothers and sisters. Lean on each other the way you have done for three years and to those adults who will be there for you. Be Christ to one another.

Good friends, may you continue to let God work in you and through you. If you remain open and willing, God will show you the way, and God will see to it you receive life. What is soon to happen is a good thing. You my friends, will be taken care of well, with little to worry about. As I go, a new youth director will come in, with beautiful gifts and ideas which will take this group to places we’d never thought was possible. Welcome them and show them what an inclusive and loving community looks like.

So remember where we have been together and laugh. Think back to the dance parties on the bus, trips to Loucon and Kum Ba Yah, the many lock-ins, Cracker Barrel Birthday parties, the LOVE discussions, the mission trips, Thursday night Sanctus/bible studies, your friends in the Western Kentucky Presbytery, and smile. Hold on to these and accept it, the past that is, for what it was. Celebrate it and breathe it in. Then grieve it, let it out, recognize the sadness within.

But then friends, let it go. Let go so that you may embrace this new adventure.

Youth of First Presbyterian Church, may you receive from God, as you let go of one legacy and embark on a new one, a new spirit, one for here, now, today.

We will miss you dearly and know always, we love you, but we trust God has greater things ahead for the both of us. Take good care, Youth of First Presbyterian Church. Teresa and I will miss you.

Shalom my friends, shalom.

Adam & Teresa Quine