A Wonderful Evening

184 of us gathered here in our local Kingdom Hall last night to memorialise Jesus' sacrificial death - 177 of us in person and 7 listening in on the telephone lines - so 184 in all, IF my maths is right. (And my old maths teacher, Mr Capps, would, rightly, warn you not to trust my adding up).

Jackie and Captain Butterfly were there. It is the one day of the year I get to hold his hand during the prayers,

It was all such a comfort, for various reasons - one obviously being my worries over my arm/shoulder.

And here is the final Memorial Bible reading:

Thursday, March 24

He is not here, for he was raised up.—Matt. 28:6.

Jesus was alive! Events of the next 40 days left no doubt that Jesus had been resurrected. Summarizing the evidence, the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “Among the first things I handed on to you was what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that he was buried, yes, that he was raised up on the third day according to the Scriptures; and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still with us, though some have fallen asleep in death. After that he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. But last of all he appeared also to me as if to one born prematurely.”—1 Cor. 15:3-8. w14 11/15 1:9, 10

Memorial Bible reading: (Daytime events: Nisan 14) Mark 15:1-47

Interesting to note that although all those in the earliest Christian congregation had the heavenly hope - of being in heaven to rule with Jesus over the restored earthly Paradise - they had "fallen asleep in death".  As the Christian Greek Scriptures explain, the resurrection to both heavenly and earthly life was to come later.