{"id":72934,"date":"2019-04-15T19:04:03","date_gmt":"2019-04-16T01:04:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=72934"},"modified":"2019-04-18T00:39:42","modified_gmt":"2019-04-18T06:39:42","slug":"easter-greetings-from-the-congo-an-easter-hymn-from-an-atheist-and-a-message-from-modern-apostles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/04\/easter-greetings-from-the-congo-an-easter-hymn-from-an-atheist-and-a-message-from-modern-apostles.html","title":{"rendered":"Easter greetings from the Congo, an Easter hymn from an atheist, and a message from modern apostles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Housman<\/a>
A. E. Housman\u2019s grave at St. Laurence Church, Ludlow, Shropshire, England
(Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

On the website of the Intepreter Foundation:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Kinshasa DR Congo Temple: A Personal Perspective:\u00a0Part 3: Happy Easter from the DR Congo!\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m very fond of the excellent second-tier English poet A. E. Housman (d. 1936), who, along with writing such works as \u201cTo an athlete dying young,\u201d from\u00a0A Shropshire Lad<\/em>, was a prominent classicist at the University of Cambridge. \u00a0The melancholy mood of many of his poems speaks to me. \u00a0I\u2019ve even made a minor pilgrimage to his grave.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Housman was an atheist, and sometimes a hostile one. \u00a0But he had moments of yearning. \u00a0This poem, entitled \u201cEaster Hymn,\u201d captures those feelings of longing for a belief that, in the end, he simply couldn\u2019t muster. \u00a0It expresses wonderfully well part of the Christian hope invested in this season of the year and, more particularly, in the event that it commemorates. \u00a0And so, as is my custom, I share Dr. Housman\u2019s brief poem at this Eastern season:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

If in that Syrian garden, ages slain,<\/em><\/span>
\nYou sleep, and know not you are dead in vain,<\/em><\/span>
\nNor even in dreams behold how dark and bright<\/em><\/span>
\nAscends in smoke and fire by day and night<\/em><\/span>
\nThe hate you died to quench and could but fan,<\/em><\/span>
\nSleep well and see no morning, son of man.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

But if, the grave rent and the stone rolled by,<\/em><\/span>
\nAt the right hand of majesty on high<\/em><\/span>
\nYou sit, and sitting so remember yet<\/em><\/span>
\nYour tears, your agony and bloody sweat,<\/em><\/span>
\nYour cross and passion and the life you gave,<\/em><\/span>
\nBow hither out of heaven and see and save.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> expresses no such doubt in its 2019 Easter Message:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

He is risen! (see\u00a0Matthew 28:6<\/a>). This is the glorious message of Easter and great reminder of the victory of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Savior was resurrected, as we all will be. He suffered so that He could succor us in all of our trials. He paid the ransom for us as Heavenly Father\u2019s children so that we could be delivered from death and sin.<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201clively hope\u201d (1 Peter 1:3<\/a>) we are given by the resurrection is our conviction that death is not the conclusion but a necessary step from mortality to immortality. We should all praise God for the assured resurrection that makes our mortal separations temporary and gives us the hope and strength to carry on.<\/span><\/p>\n

We thank God for His Son\u2014for Christ\u2019s mission in mortality and for Christ\u2019s ministry as the resurrected Lord. We testify that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. He is our Creator, Savior and Redeemer, Advocate with the Father, and Deliverer. One day He will return to rule and reign as King of kings and Lord of lords.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Posted from San Diego, California<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 On the website of the Intepreter Foundation: \u00a0 \u201cThe Kinshasa DR Congo Temple: A Personal Perspective:\u00a0Part 3: Happy Easter from the DR Congo!\u201d \u00a0 *** \u00a0 I\u2019m very fond of the excellent second-tier English poet A. E. Housman (d. 1936), who, along with writing such works as \u201cTo an athlete dying young,\u201d from\u00a0A […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1809,1363,4632,4630,4156,4634,4636],"class_list":["post-72934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints","tag-easter","tag-easter-hymn","tag-housman","tag-kinshasa","tag-ludlow","tag-shropshire"],"yoast_head":"\nEaster greetings from the Congo, an Easter hymn from an atheist, and a message from modern apostles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    On the website of the Intepreter Foundation:   "The Kinshasa DR Congo Temple: A Personal Perspective:\u00a0Part 3: Happy Easter from the DR\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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