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September 19 , 2006

This week past, the King of Tonga died. I had met him on several occasions. King Taufa ahau Tupou IV, 88, was the benign feudal ruler of Tonga, the South Pacific kingdom known since the days of Captain James Cook as the "Friendly Islands".

The King was the world's only Methodist sovereign. He had great respect for Wesley Mission Sydney, the church home of Tongans who came to Australia. With a Pacific colleague we planted eleven congregations of Tongan people, numbering about 3000 people.

Once a Government official informed me the King wanted my advice on some matters he was considering and desired an appointment. I pondered what the problems could be.

I was surprised when the King asked me: should he as a Christian offer an uninhabited island for a nuclear waste dump for Western countries? Should he allow an extension of the airport runway so 747s could land knowing they would bring thousands of tourists that would result in the sexual exploitation of their young girls and boys from sexual tourist predators? Should he permit Japanese long line trawling in their waters as that would decimate the population of porpoise?

I realised what heavy responsibilities of decision-making he had, especially as he was the only university graduate in the government at that time.

He was a jovial man-mountain of energy. He was 1.9 metres tall and at his peak weighed 220 kilograms. A servant carried into my office a wide stool for him to sit on rather than strain my chairs. Yet while at Newington College and Sydney University he was an outstanding athlete who set a new pole vault record and who loved surfing and diving.

Captain Cook first visited the 150 islands of Tonga in the 1770s, and since that time it has been a peaceful and politically stable nation. The King was the eldest son of the famous Queen Salote Tupou III. He was the 43rd generation of direct descendants of Aho'eitu, the first supreme ruler who lived in the 10th century. His great-great-great-grandfather, King George Tupou I, was the one who gathered the Tongan tribes together and with the help of Methodist missionaries (who converted him in 1831), he founded the kingdom in 1845.

The King and his family have remained ardent Christians.

Jesus Christ spoke about Himself returning to earth. He said, "No one knows the day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father" (Matthew 24:36).

Jesus went on to note only that his return will be sudden and unexpected. "Therefore keep watch," Jesus told his followers: "because you do not know on what day your Lord will come & So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him" (Matthew 24:42-44).

Throughout the centuries Christians have taken these words to heart. We do not know when Jesus will come, but God has fixed an hour and Christians must remain ready. He can come at any moment, and each generation can look forward happily to the possibility that Jesus may come back in their lifetime.

Once I was rung by the Protocol Department of the Australian Government in Canberra about the Royal Tour of the King and Queen of Tonga. At the last moment, the King had decided he wanted to spend the weekend with the Tongan people of Wesley Mission.

We would have a Royal Visit the following Saturday night with a concert, speeches of loyalty, a feast with dancing and choral singing, and on the Sunday a worship service in Wesley's Lyceum Theatre. We had only a day to make all arrangements.

I contacted the members of our Tongan Congregation. They were overjoyed. They soon had the feast ready, the pigs roasted, the watermelon and yams cut and the dancing prepared.

It is customary in a village when the king comes for a special house to be built for him. How could we build a special house in our auditorium? It was done overnight.

Hundreds of green palm branches were brought in, and layer upon layer of Tapa cloth arrived and covered the floor of the auditorium. The big wide stool was set in the centre, and all was ready for the coming of the King.

The Australian police arrived, the security men went to their appointed positions. The Governor General's Rolls Royce arrived, and the King and Queen came in as our guests. It was a wonderful weekend. But afterwards I puzzled about how the auditorium and the theatre were able to be transformed instantly for the coming of the King. I found out from the people: "We keep special mats locked away at home in every village waiting for the day when the King would come.

We have always been prepared!"

What a lesson! We must be prepared for the coming of the King! Jesus will return.

And we who believe need to be ready for His coming. We rejoice. The King is coming!

In my imagination I could picture the Tongan believers in heaven gathering and singing as they do, "The King is coming!"

This week he came.

Rev the Hon Dr Gordon Moyes AC MLC is one of Australia�s most respected Christian leaders. Ordained as a minister in the Uniting Church in Australia, he served for 27 years as the Superintendent of Wesley Mission Sydney, Australia�s largest non-government welfare provider and the world�s largest city-based church. He is also a prominent evangelist, broadcaster and elected Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council.

He became a household name in Australia many years ago when he began as host of the weekly television program Turn �Round Australia and radio program Sunday Night Live with Gordon Moyes.

Prime Minister John Howard characterised Dr Moyes as �the epitome of effective Christian leadership�, when describing the way he had grown Wesley Mission into one of the most dynamic and socially responsive church-based charities in the world.

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