Even as people of faith, armed with 2000 years of witness to the hope of eternal life, we fear saying good-bye. We fear the absence, the unknown, the finality of good-bye. It is part of our human nature. And the occasions for saying good-bye come in many forms, not just death. People change, relationships end, the things that we acquire, that we depend on, disappear. The ground shifts beneath our feet. God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. In his love, we can face loss with hope, because nothing can separate us from the love of God. God has given us hope, given us a possibility that transcends our fear. In God's love, our good-bye is an ending and a beginning. It is an end of what has been and the sadness accompanying that loss and the beginning of new possibilities. The beginning of a new life with God not fettered by the things of this world. The ending of life in the flesh is the beginning of our life in God. To say good-bye with hope and love is to live in the promise that every ending is a beginning. What God has started in creation, he will finish in us. How we face good-byes and the unknown of new beginnings will witness to the love and power of God.