Reformátusok Lapja, 1970 (70. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1970-11-01 / 11. szám
10 REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA A Message from the President of the United Church of Christ Dear Friends: Controversy, or polarization as it has come to be called, is a fact of life for the church today. But it is important that we see it in historical perspective. Polarization occurred in the time of the Reformation and led ultimately to a division in the church which is now only being healed. If the two sides could have remained in relationship to one another, Protestantism perhaps might not have become so divided and Roman Catholicism so hierarchical. The polarization which took place in American Christianity over slavery in the 19th century was a painful process. Robert Handy, the American church historian, has pointed out that as a consequence of the divisions which occurred then in the Methodist, Baptist and Presbyterian Churches, white churches have been denied some of the deeper resources of faith and experience in the black community and black churches have been denied the bulk of the resources in education and wealth in the white community. A hopeful sign is that amidst the polarization which we are experiencing today there is little or no talk about setting up a new church around one or the other of the “poles.” Where the two sides remain in fellowship and communication there is always the hope of a renewed church. This came home to me recently as I re-read Governor William Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation in preparation for the observance of the 350th anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims this fall. I had forgotten that the little community of Pilgrims in Leyden were “polarized” as they agonized over the decision whether to come to America. Bradford tells us that those who were in favor of emigrating to the New World pointed out that the future of the congregation in Holland was indeed bleak. Economic conditions were bad. Their children seemed to be growing old before their time, since there was little time for learning or leisure. They lived in constant fear that they would be surrounded by their enemies from England and dragged back to stand trial. By going to America they could leave all this behind. But above all, they argued their going might in some way serve for “the advancement of the gospel.” And even if that were not the case, they might serve as “stepping-stones’” for those who later would advance the gospel in America. Those who were opposed paraded a number of imaginary horribles. They talked about the “brutish savages” who roamed the forests. They pointed out that the Indians had been known to cut off a man’s arm and roast it before his very eyes before consuming it. How will we make our living? they asked. And what about the change in water and in climate? The crowning argument was not a new one: we can’t afford it. Then Bradford writes: “It was answered that all great and honourable actions are accompanied with great difficulties and can only be enterprised and overcome with answerable courages.” Could it be that the polarization we are experiencing today is but a prelude of our own pilgrimage into a new world as a new church? I am convinced that it can be so if we show “answerable courages” and resolve to stay together as God’s pilgrim people moving with Christ, the pioneer of our salvation. Dr. Robert V. Moss THANKSGIVING: A SACRIFICE 350 years ago, the first Pilgrim Thanksgiving was not simply a festival, a celebration but, in a real sense, a sacrifice. The sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. John Calvin in his “Institutes of the Christian Religion” speaks of God forcing us to gratitude. “The sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving can never be interrupted without guilt, since God never ceases to load us with favor upon favor, so as to force us to gratitude, however slow and sluggish we may be.” (II Institutes P. 176) How alien to us is the notion that praise and thanksgiving can be forced, especially by God. We believe that thanksgiving is a normal and needed response of the human soul and spirit. Yet, Calvin teaches that the immensity of God’s love, His continuous providence, His over-flowing bounty finally penetrates our minds dulled by our own self- importance and self-indulgence and brings us to the realization that our response to God can only be the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. The Pilgrims on that first Thanksgiving felt that God had loaded them with favor upon favor. They had survived. And so their response could only be the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. And it was sacrifice, not only of meager supplies needed for another long and hard winter, but of their hearts and minds and souls to the God that led them to this wilderness and who saved them both in life and in death. In the midst of abundance and plenty can we make the sacrifice of thanksgiving? Will the realization that God has “loaded” us with favor upon favor force us to gratitude? In plenty, as in our time, or in want, as the pilgrim fathers were, our Christian faith calls us to the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving not just on special occasions, but as a way of life each and every day. Arpad Beretz
