Dear Friends,

The headstone was weathered and the memorial inscription barely legible.

In Memory of
AGNES wife of
John Powel
Who departed this Life
November 22, 1769
Aged 25 Years.

The epitaph was especially difficult to read.  Crouching, I peered intently at the fading chisel marks, even tracing out with my finger here and there the ciphers needed to complete the rhyme.  It took a few minutes, but finally I was able to read Agnes’ parting words.

My flesh shall slumber in this Clay
Till the last Trumpets joyful Day
Then burst these bands with sweet surprise
And in my SAVIORS Image rise

This expression of faith was deeply moving to me.  Death deciphered by Easter.  The sweet surprise that death is not the end but prelude to a fuller, richer life to come.

Presbyterians read the Bible as teaching death releases a person’s immortal soul to go directly to God while the cast off mortal body awaits the Day of Days when history will culminate in conformity with God’s good plan.  At the End Time there will be a resurrection for all people reuniting body and soul and a day of judgment.  For those who have their salvation in Christ there will be an enjoyment of eternity.  Agnes Powel will have her sweet surprise.  And in the interim, while her flesh slumbers in the clay, her soul rests in a state of bliss with God.

Even given this traditional doctrine, I am sure there is a lot we don’t understand concerning the mystery of life and death.  Sometimes the rhyme and reason of why things work out the way they do is hard to trace.  I am sure this was the case for John Powel who lost his wife at a young age.  But of this we can be confident: God is full of sweet surprises.  And of all His surprises, the sweetest is Easter and the promise of eternal life by grace.

The celebration of Easter is April 12th  this year.  The cipher of death will be translated by Christ’s resurrection.  And so will life in the here and now.  Come and celebrate the Sweet Surprise!

Easter blessings,

Reverend Frank S. Deming, Jr.

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