Valedictions

You probably don’t know them by the name, “valedictions.”  In fact, due to email and other brief forms of communication (texting, etc.) you may not use them as frequently as you did in the past.  Valedictions are the “goodbyes” at the end of a letter (sincerely yours) or, at the end of a school year (the valedictory address).

While graduation speakers, usually the highest ranking student in the class, may put more time into their valediction, the words, like endings on a letter, are quickly forgotten; few remember what a validictorian said, or whether you ended your letter with a “sincerely yours” or a “very truly yours.”

Having said that, it may seem strange that I am preaching on the valediction which Paul gave in his letter to the Ephesians.  After all, he has stopped teaching and it is just a “goodbye.”  Well, in the “old days,” it seems that a goodbye was a real valediction.  So, we will actually spend some time looking at how Paul says goodbye.  I think when we are done, you will see that it was much more than a “;sincerely yours.”