New Church Life July/Aug 2014 | Page 21

      and darkness, toward the source of light and love. “This was why the Lord was called the Morning, the East, and the Dawn” in the Word. (Arcana Coelestia 920) And He shall be like the light of the morning when the sun rises, a morning without clouds, like the tender grass springing out of the earth, by clear shining after rain. (II Samuel 23:4) Real faith in the global sense is realizing that the Lord is working tirelessly in the hearts of all people for the good of all people, now and for the generations to come. Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound the alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming. Like the morning clouds spread over the mountains, a people come, great and strong, the like of whom has never been seen. (Joel 2:1). Thus the Lord wants us to experience a dawn of love in our own hearts, but He is also bringing the light of dawn to a larger group as well. We can experience the dawn of the Lord’s love in a church movement like our own. For example, if we did not have a group of men and women in the 19th century who read the Heavenly Doctrines, understood what they were saying and were moved by them, we would not be here today, not one of us. It was a work of love. Our church movement, even through all of the changes that have taken place in 120 years – and will take place in the generations ahead – owes its allegiance in some part to the men and women who not only understood the Writings, but loved the Lord in them, devoting their lives and fortunes to the task of seeing our church developed and nurtured throughout the world. We can continue their work by directing our good will toward the minds and hearts of our brothers and sisters, and to our children’s minds and hearts. This is the field in which we work as parents and guardians, so the next generation might know the Lord, and know where to find Him during their lives, and pass this on to the next generation. But larger still is the Church worldwide: the New Church in the universal sense. The light of the Second Coming is the spiritual light which illuminates the minds of men and women of good will around the world, in all cultures. This dawn of love and faith is little by little growing in the hearts of people around the world. Though world affairs make it appear that we are in times of great darkness, the dawn is surely coming; this also is the promise of the New Church. Our time is truly a New Day, a New Dawn of the light of the doctrine 313