The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1961, Blaðsíða 36

34
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Summer 1961
"Audi, la, 9 am auth if.au alwatf"
An editorial in New-Church Messenger of Cincinnati, Ohio, the official organ of The General
Convention of the New Jerusalem in the United States of America, which is now in its 181st year
of publication. The editor, by whom this editorial is written, is BJORN JOHANNSON, son
of Johann Johannson of Akra and Hensel, North Dakota. —Ed.
The above words with which the
Gospel of Matthew closes is the core
of the Easter message.
For the disciples of the Lord,
Calvary spelled defeat, frustration,
hopelessness. Without their leader
they were lost, and the dreams they
had built around Him seemed but a
delusion. Then as this frightened group
gathered behind barred doors (John
20:19-23), the Lord stood in the midst
of them and said, “Peace be unto you.”
Slowly the realization dawned upon
them that their Lord is with them,
that all empires cannot kill Him. He
assigned to them the biggest task that
any group has ever been called upon
to perform: to go throughout the world
to proclaim the kingdom. And thev
did not refuse the commission. Fear
and frustration gave way to courage
and confidence. Now they knew that
the Lord was with them. He breathed
upon them and said, “Receive ye the
Holy Ghost.” As the Holy Spirit He
would ever be with them to sustain,
guide and protect them.
“And, lo, I am with you alway”, is
the heart of the Easter message today,
and it is as charged with peace and as-
surance for the Christian of this cen-
tury as it was for the disciples.
Today’s world is a frightened world,
even a cynical and pessimistic world.
To many the dream of the good life
seems a delusion, a mere product of
wishful thinking. The Messiah of the
modern man, Science, upon which so
many hopes have been built, now
threatens to become a Frankenstein
monster who is prepared to rend his
creator. Such a world cannot know
jjeace. Not until it hears the gentle
voice of the Glorified Humanity, the
Risen Christ, saying, “And, lo, I am
with you alway”.
It is significant that when the Lord
appeared unto his diciples, His first
words were, “Peace be unto you.”
Twice He uttered these words. The
emphasis on peace, so deeply associated
with that other great Holy Day,
Christmas, is generally not prominent
in the observance of Easter. Easter is
thought of mainly as symbolizing the
triumph of truth over falsity, of good
over evil, of life over death. But in all
these the promise of peace is implicit.
For whatever makes for discord and
war is destructive of life, and is out of
harmony with the purpose of God. The
promise of the Risen Christ to be ever
with His children is a promise of peace.
The Christian of this age surely
longs for a sense of the Lord’s abiding
presence. He sees powerful forces ar-
rayed against Christianity: Atheistic
Communism, the reviving missionary
zeal of Islam, the acids of modernism,
the constantly growing power of a
materialistically oriented secularism.
At times he may despair. If so it is
because he does not recognize the
Risen Christ Who stands beside him.
This happened even to those devoted
followers who were with Him on earth.
Mary Magdalene grieving at the tomb
did not know Him when first He spoke
to her. The Lord walked with two of
His followers from Emmaus, but so