Words to remember

As my wife and I left a certain chain restaurant in Cape Girardeau the other day, two servers bade us farewell using an identical secular blessing: “Have a good one.” The thought occurred that the eatery may train its employees to say those words to departing customers. Maybe. Maybe not.

Certainly there are two convenience store chains that instruct their employees to speak messages to customers.

One company, ubiquitous in Southeast Missouri, has a question, “Got whatcha need?” What that query lacks in good grammar, it makes up for in relevance and good feeling.

The other collection of stores, which has outlets statewide but not in our region, gives this blessing to those who walk out the door: “See you next time!”

Shrewd. You feel good, and you are expected to return.

Words said at the time of leaving are important.

Leave-taking is an art. It’s the last impression most people will ever have of you.

I know of some pastors who took their final Sunday in the pulpit to settle scores — lambasting people in the pew or in the judicatory (beyond-the-local-church bureaucracy). Big mistake.

Always leave well. Push down whatever anger or resentment you feel; erase it from your body language, your tone of voice and your actual words.

It’s hard. I speak to this with some experience.

Jesus was a model for perfect leave-taking. On the cross, after a phrase uttered in confusion and borrowed from Psalm 22 (“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”), the master showed all of us what departure should look like: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” “Into your hands I commend my spirit” and “It is finished.”

There is a reason, it seems to me, why worship services in many Christian traditions close with a benediction.

A benediction sometimes, not always, is a summation of the just-ended sermon.

More often, departing words of worship are drawn directly from the scriptures. They are inspirational. They leave you with a feeling of confidence, of being cared for, of being guided.

— May the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7).

— To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy — to the only God our Savior, be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord (Jude 1:24-25).

— May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever (Hebrews 13:20-21).

Just writing those words from the New Testament makes the hair stand up on my forearms. They are thrilling, hopeful and strengthening.

My teaching testament is the Hebrew scriptures, or the Old Testament, and we find aspirational words here as well:

— May the Lord watch between me and thee, while we are absent, one from the other (Genesis 31:49).

— Do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8).

Words to remember. When in doubt, when in despair, when disappointed, when angry, when frustrated, when hope has fled and when discouragement follows you around like a second skin ­— remember that words that give life can be found in the best-selling book on the planet.

That book may be on a coffee table or on a shelf. You know where it is.

My last words in this column are: Read it. Be blessed.