Reformátusok Lapja, 1970 (70. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1970-12-01 / 12. szám
REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA 11 MESSAGE TO MEMBER CHURCHES Adopted on the last day of the Nairobi Assembly This message is addressed to the local congregations whose representatives we have had the privilege of being in this uniting Assembly of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the International Congregational Council. The full report of our proceedings will soon make available to you the substance of our work, and we especially commend to you the Section Reports which we hope will receive your careful study. In the meantime, we send this message touching the central theme of our gathering, namely “God Reconciles and Makes Free.” Our Message to you is that “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not counting against men their transgressions, and has given us the message of reconciliation.” (2. Cor. 5:19) Thanks be to God for the reality of the new fellowship he has created between himself and his creation and among men, freeing his people joyfully to share in the extension of his reality in every age and culture. It is in this context that we give thanks to God for uniting us, Presbyterians and Congregationalists, in this new strengthening of the Reformed heritage. We pray that God will not let us rest at ease with our common identity but will use us, as we hope he will use other world confessional bodies, not to retard but to hasten the wider unity which he wills among all Christians. The reconciliation which is of God is not human togetherness based on appeasement, sentimentality, or clever manipulation of other people until they conform to our favourite programmes. Reconciliation is the renewal of life based on God’s Word of judgement and forgiveness. It is the costly and joyous process of change, of personal and social conversion, in which God liberates us and enables us to move forward as hopeful people confident in his promises to make us fit instruments of his will. God does not restrict his reconciliation to his Church, yet those who by faith take to heart his promises are equipped with an awesome freedom. In this freedom we begin to distinguish between the false messiahs and the risen Christ who is bringing to maturity a new humanity through the worldly work of his Word and Spirit. Meeting in Africa has, in refreshing and disturbing ways, deepened our realization of the turbulent glory of God’s reconciling and liberating ways with men. The spontaneity and rejoicing, so vividly brought home to us as we worshipped together at the historic Church of the Torch at Kikuyu, and the excitement at being involved in God’s work have made us realize the extent to which many of us have grown morbidly accustomed to taking our sins more seriously than the transforming power of our risen Christ. The every magnitude and variety of God’s reconciling love have thrown into sharp relief our persistent denial of God’s purpose for all men. We have tried to speak a prophetic word about specific injustices without falling into self-righteousness. We have tried to face the most dramatic and stubborn instances of injustice without ignoring our common tendency to rationalize our own particular forms of racism. We have tried to guard against implying that only a few nations are involved in the misuses of economic and political aggrandisement. Nevertheless we have felt compelled to address ourselves particularly to the plight of our brothers who continue to suffer a history of being exploited in Southern Africa, America and elsewhere, and we have been drawn into sharing the aspirations of those who are seeking their new identity in freedom. Policies of segregation, wherever they appear, are a denial of God’s justice. Doctrines which seek to justify such practices are idolatrous and are grotesque distortions both of the Gospel and of the teachings of those reformers in whose tradition we dare to claim membership. Within our world-wide fellowship we must maintain communication with Christians who speak to us through a rich variety of struggles and with many voices which came from countries practising different ideologies. We still have not given up hope that our mutual words of admonition will be used by God speedily to expel from his people the racism which is alien to the reconciling and liberating community of faith. But how can we express our experience of God’s covenanting purpose without contributing to the inflation of churchly claims? How can we learn to rejoice again in being together as Christians without substituting cosiness for mission? How can we move beyond words and sentiments into effective strategy for living reconciling and liberating lives? We cannot. We can only rededicate ourselves and cry out to the God with whom all things are possible. Relying on God’s promises, we trust that he will not leave us to our own devices, but will stir us up, will direct us in ways we do not yet discern, and will equip us for the service of reconciliation and liberation in his world. RPPS-Oct. 1970
