{"id":15640,"date":"2015-08-11T18:06:38","date_gmt":"2015-08-11T07:06:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/?p=15640"},"modified":"2015-08-11T18:06:38","modified_gmt":"2015-08-11T07:06:38","slug":"tasmanian-anglican-article-the-dawn-will-come","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/2015\/08\/11\/tasmanian-anglican-article-the-dawn-will-come\/","title":{"rendered":"Tasmanian Anglican Article: The dawn will come"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I was praying recently\u00a0a certain\u00a0heaviness descended upon me, maybe because of continuing events: the persecuted Church around the world, the pain of women\u00a0and children suffering domestic violence, my own country’s indifference to asylum seekers – it was all so sad.
\nI recalled the\u00a0scene which concludes Allan Paton\u2019s majestic novel, \u2018Cry the Beloved Country’:\u00a0the tragic figure of the stricken father awaiting the dawn which would herald the execution of his son.
\nThe father\u2019s heartbreaking lament over his son and country is yet fused with the comfort of the coming of another dawn, for he is the impoverished Anglican priest of a rural African village. The father’s lament led me to write the following, drawing my own lament into a shared yearning for the new dawn:<\/p>\n

\"Cry<\/a><\/p>\n

The dawn will come
\n<\/strong>The Son of Man will come,
\nand we with Him
\nwill bathe in a new dawn
\nthe dawning of God\u2019s rule on earth,
\nas it is in heaven.<\/p>\n

Do you hear the cry: \u201cMaranatha! Come Lord Jesus\u201d?<\/p>\n

Do you hear the martyr\u2019s
\nfinal, \u201cOh, my Lord Jesus\u201d?<\/p>\n

Do you wait in this faith?<\/p>\n

Do you await the coming of the Son
\nin glorious splendour,
\nthe dawning of a new heaven and a new earth?<\/p>\n

Oh, we await, with yearning
\nwhile working
\nwith deep assurance,
\nfor the dawn does come,<\/p>\n

the Sun does rise
\nthe Son did rise
\nthe Son is risen
\nthe Son will come again!<\/p>\n

God the Father, ever watching,
\never yearning for wayward children to come on home.<\/p>\n

God the Son, ever interceding,
\nexpectant to the dawn of His coming again.<\/p>\n

God the Holy Spirit, ever working,
\npreparing the world for the new dawn of the Son\u2019s coming reign.<\/p>\n

God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,
\nbless, guide and guard you,
\nthis day, and every day. Amen.<\/p>\n

Discomfort: Our current state. Comfort: New Dawn. The Comforter: The Holy Spirit who abides with us and indwells Christ\u2019s people, comforting us, even in our discomfort.
\n<\/em>(\u201cCry the Beloved Country: A story of comfort in desolation\u201d. Allan Paton, (1944) Penquin Books, Ringwood Australia 1958, P236).<\/em><\/p>\n

*See my earlier reflection on this same passage, Looking to our final emancipation<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

You can read my article\u00a0here:<\/span> Tasmanian Anglican<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I was praying recently\u00a0a certain\u00a0heaviness descended upon me, maybe because of continuing events: the persecuted Church around the world, the pain of women\u00a0and children suffering domestic violence, my own country’s indifference to asylum seekers – it was all so … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15640"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15640"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15693,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15640\/revisions\/15693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}