July 26, 2025,
“He is not here…
Rod spent several days in Houston earlier this week on business. On Tuesday evening, I decided to get dinner at the COVE, a casual restaurant at Williamsburg Landing. Earlier in the day, I took a HIIT water aerobics class and saw a couple that Rod and I had met at a Tapas Luncheon two weeks prior. Their fathers were stationed at military bases on Oahu when they were children. They attended Punahou and Iolani, two independent schools in Honolulu.
As I was waiting for a table at the COVE, I spotted them waiting as well. We began to talk, and they asked where Rod was. I said, “He’s gone,” and their countenances fell. I realized immediately that I’d failed to take into account the context of living in a retirement center where “gone” is a euphemism for dead. I tried “gone away,” which wasn’t much better. Finally, I told them he was in Houston on business. We all got a good laugh about my word choice. I laughed at myself as I went to bed later in the evening.
I used the word “gone” when I informed my sisters about our father’s death. They were expecting the news, knowing he was fighting for his life in intensive care. Similar words were used in all of the gospel stories of the resurrection by angels in response to the women who arrived at the tomb early on Easter morning. They were expecting to find a corpse, not an empty tomb—context matters. And I am glad to report that Rod made it home safely! ~ Anne
He is not here…for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.” ~ Matthew 28:6 NRSV
Wayfinding 