DEACON EVANDER BIDS FAREWELL

I came across a song by Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli by accident almost two decades ago. One of my brothers bought a CD for my daughter thinking she was a fan of Sarah Brightman. My daughter did not like the operatic style of Brightman's album so she gave it to me. I popped it in and gave it a listen while doing some work on our house. A duet with Andrea Bocelli called "Time to Say Goodbye" was one of the songs and I was blown away by it. My previous exposure to anything at all like opera was Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody". That is a bit of an indictment on my poor musical tastes. Apologies to Sam Backman.

Well, it is time for me to say goodbye. My wife and I will be moving to Alexandria to live with my parents. My mother has dementia and my father has had two serious health scares recently, one of which he almost died from. It is not something we were planning at this time in our lives, but our plans are not always God's plans. Twenty-five years ago God spoke to me clearly in an unmistakable way with words I did not understand. He said, "Honor thy father and mother". I had no idea what these words meant because I was honoring my father and mother. In fact, I was a bit taken aback by this, as out of my three brothers I had been the one who spent most time with them and helped them. I thought about these words off and on but remained puzzled by them.

Fast forward 25 years and I was letting Fr. Howe know of our plans to move and why, and his reply was simply, "honor thy father and mother". At that very moment I knew what God intended so long ago, and it brought me much peace. God's timing is not always our timing.

I have always lamented change because it often means there will be people I will never see again. Leaving high school, college, jobs, parishes; has always been difficult because of this. Yes, there are new horizons to be explored but I would rather take everyone with me. An English translation of the Brightman song speaks to this. "When I'm alone I dream of the horizon and words fail me. There is no light in a room where there is no sun." The horizon is that final destination of heaven and the sun is the Son. This reminds me of what we heard during week five of Lent; "I am the light of the world; he who follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

I have had the privilege over the past three and a half years to serve in Northeast Minneapolis. It has been a joy to be a part of your baptisms, weddings, and the various seasonal celebrations we have here. As a deacon, the particular role that has impacted me the most is that of serving at the funerals, vigils, memorials, and burials of your loved ones. This may seem odd, but it is a time in all of our lives where our focus is on our final goodbye, and what it means. It is also a time where we consider how our own time is very short, so we turn our gaze toward the east looking to the Son on the horizon.

It is time to say goodbye for now, but I pray we will see each other again in that place where there will be no more goodbyes.

~Deacon Eric Evander