A meeting and a parting

Sunday was our vicar's last day. He has finished his vicarage assignment at Redeemer and now he and his family are returning to their home in Depew, New York. He will now complete his final year at seminary and then be ordained into the Holy Ministry.

I was a bit emotional all last week. It's so hard letting go of these people that I've come to love. I know that's how it works - God gave Galen and Jenny Purpura and their son Branden to us to love for a year, and now He is sending them on to the next part of their journey. In about 3 weeks we will receive a new vicar to love, and the cycle will start over again. That doesn't make this parting any easier though.

We've promised to keep in touch and it is a promise that our family will have no problem keeping. Galen, Jenny and Branden have become very special to us. Do you remember last May (2006 I mean) when I blogged about travelling to St. Catharines to meet them at the Call Service when Galen received his assignment? (Sadly, that entry was among those I lost at FP.) We had the privilege of being the first Redeemer people to welcome them. We liked them right away, and we were so excited to have them come to Waterloo.

Shortly after Galen began his vicarage last fall Branden was born. Was that baby loved? Oh man, he became the apple of just about everybody's eye. Galen jumped into his vicarage with both feet. Over the course of the year he had the opportunity to preach the Word and administer the Sacrament. He taught confirmation and VBS and worked with the youth. He organized youth events and took them to Ottawa for the National Youth Gathering. He visited the sick and prayed with the dying. For a year, he was a part of the ministry at Redeemer and God has blessed those efforts. But the year went by so fast! Now Branden is almost a year old and Galen's vicarage is over.

Yesterday afternoon a bunch of folks from church came over to help them load up their moving van. When the work was done, people said their final goodbyes and made their way home and finally it was just our family left with the Purpuras. We didn't plan it that way, but I thought that it was somehow fitting that just as we were the first to meet them, we should be the last to leave.

Dang. I'm crying again.