2025 07 18

1 Corinthians 15 New King James Version
1 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. 6 After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. 7 After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. 8 Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.

A poem by our son Jonathan on Jean’s death ten years ago:

She’s Not Here

The flowers on her graveside look beautiful.
I’m sure she would have loved them, her eyes giving that special twinkle they
always did when delighted.

But she’s not here.

I remember once, after attending a wake how she took me aside and said,
“When I die, that won’t be me in there.
It’ll only be a shell, and I’ll be in heaven.”

Still I cried when she took her turn.
Her Spirit dancing beyond the veil,
yet my eyes stayed fixed upon
her simple wooden box – now safely hidden beneath a heavy carven stone,
holding fast my heart.

Today my burden lifted, set free by two simple phrases, “She’s not here. She is
Risen.”

I wonder now why it took me so long to move from remembering to knowing.
Why I kept on seeking her among the dead and not the living.

I miss her so much, but she’s not here.

She is risen.

Albany Intercessor