Calvin Synod Herald, 2015 (116. évfolyam, 9-10. szám)
2015-09-01 / 9-10. szám
2 CALVIN SYNOD HERALD CALVIN UfDAI n synod ntlyALL/ Official Organ of The Calvin Synod - United Church of Christ Founded in 1900 AMERIKAI MAGYAR REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA Volume 116 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2015 NO. 9-10 Official Organ of the Calvin Synod United Church of Christ - Founded in 1900 CALVIN SYNOD HERALD (ISSN 0161-6900) is published bi-monthly for $15.00/year for individual subscriptions; $10.00/year for groups; 50 or more copies. Please make checks payable to the Calvin Synod Herald Editor in Chief: Rt. Rev. Koloman K. Ludwig, Bishop 7319Tapper Ave • Hammond, IN 46324 Tel.: 219-931-4321 e-mail: KKLudwig@aol.com Co-Editor: Rev. Stefan M. Torok 68 Cherrywood Drive • Somerset, NJ 08873 Tel.: 732-917-4566 e-mail: sctorok@comcast.net Interim Hungarian Editor: Rev. Stefan M. Torok Business Manager: Wilburn A. Roby Jr. 264 Old Plank Road • Butler, PA 16002 e-mail: warajr@embarqmail.com Newsletters prepared by: Cathy Paksi 419-733-5829 • cathy.paksi@gmail.com Newsletters printed by: Gazette Printers 724-349-3434 Periodicals postage paid at Butler, PA POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: CALVIN SYNOD HERALD 264 Old Plank Rd., Butler, PA 16002-3810 Manuscripts and photographs are not preserved or returned. Send all correspondence to the Editor. The views and opinions of the writers are their own and do not necessarily represent the position of the magazine or Calvin Synod. CALVIN SYNOD HEADQUARTERS: Rt. Rev. Koloman K. Ludwig 7319 Tapper Ave • Hammond, IN 46324 219-931-4321 • KKLudwig@aol.com OFFICIAL COMMUNICATIONS VACANCIES Beaver Falls, PA Cleveland, OH — West Side Hungarian Reformed Church Columbus, OH Dayton, OH The proper procedure is for all interested ministers to send their completed PROFILE (as provided by the United Church of Christ) to the Bishop’s office: Rt. Rev. Koloman K. Ludwig 7319 Tapper Ave • Hammond, IN 46324 KKLudwig@aol.com How do you practice your Christian faith? "But Jesus called them to him and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.(Matthew 20:25-28) While I was preparing to become a Christian pastor, I worked in many occupations while attending school. I worked at a library, as a house painter, a gas-station attendant, a janitor, a night watchman, a steel worker for six years, a sales person in hardware and clothing stores, a limousine chauffeur, I rebuilt railroad tracks and I worked as a supervisor at a state reformatory for two years. During those years I was being supervised on occasion, and at other times I was the person supervising others. Sometimes my supervisor was well informed, other times not familiar with the task; sometimes I had a good leader, other times a terrible leader. I experienced at that time that the less confident a person was about either the task at hand or his ability to lead to the completion of the task, the poorer our work relationship became, and the less productive the completion of the task at hand became. With a poor leader, the work often was poorly done, sometimes not accomplished at all. The combination of a poorlyinformed leader lacking in self-confidence resulted in stressful working conditions and poorly completed assignments. Such a leader often covered up insecurities with tyrannical leadership styles, and used the position of power to control the employees. This was the type of person no one wanted to work with. Throughout the years, I could not help but notice that these types of relationships we all experience in our everyday lives are also found in our congregational and church lives. And the reasons also appear to be similar; it is logical that the results in our congregations are also similar. But in our congregations we have a much greater responsibility, since we are bequeathing to the next generation that knowledge of and faith in our Lord Jesus the Christ. Each of us, whether we are the pastor, a consistory member, a congregational member or a family member, whether or not we think about it, are influencing others with the way we teach, both with words and actions, all those with whom we interact every day. So 1 ask the question: "How do you practice your Christian faith? Is it a personal strength and refuge which causes others to see the love of Christ in your words and actions, or is it a weapon you use to attack others?" It astounds me every day that "Christianity" is so often expressed in condemning words directed toward others, selectively used to attack others while, in fact, we are attempting to hide our own sinfulness and inadequacies. Much of the rhetoric
