Reformátusok Lapja, 1971 (71. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1971-06-01 / 6-7. szám

12

REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA

From the Presidents Report

Calvin Synod Meeting, Buffalo, New York April 26 -28, 1971

In the last four years perhaps nothing else concerned me more than the identity and ministry of our Synod. I am convinced that the two belong together for our Lord also had to wrestle with these two basic questions simultaneously; “If you are the son of God, do this, do that...” (Matt. 4:1-11) And oh how He struggled to find the right answer: Not only for forty days and forty nights but also during His whole public ministry. So it is with us. What we think of ourselves will determine what we are going to do but to find the answers to these twin problems we have to travel a very narrow path.

So ... Who are we as Calvin Synod? Certainly we are a unique Conference of the UCC. This is indicated by our very name; no other conference is called “Synod.” Unique is our constituency: Mostly the descendents of the Hungarian Reformed immigrants. Unique is our affiliation with UCC: while the Reformed Church in the U.S.A. supported many of our churches in their formative years, Calvin Synod became an organic, legal and ecclesiastical part of it by contractual agreement (Tiffin, 1921) which has been honored by the E & R and the UCC. We are unique in our present structure, too: The only non-geographical conference of the UCC, the only one which does not have a full time conference executive, but has the smallest operating budget and the lowest per capita assessments for both conference and instrumentality support. However, I belive our true uniqueness goes deeper than these: The growing awareness of our Reformed tradition and of our ethnic responsibilities make us really unique in UCC. We no longer ignore or suppress the fact that in America we are the heirs of a reformation which the Lord granted to His church in Hungary, therefore, our task is to make known God’s mighty acts in this context. Of course, we hear the whispering voices: “If you live in America, why bother with your Hungarian background? If you are a Hungarian why don’t you show it to the Americans in a spectacular way? Is it not written, ‘In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek’ how long do you intend then to keep your nationalistic churches and Synod?” To this we now say: “Is Jesus Christ an Anglo-Saxon, middle class, Prostes- tant and Republican person? Can a truly grateful American Christian ever forget his foreign identity? (Deut. 6: 10-25, Luke 17-18). Therefore, to serve the Lord according to His call in our given circumstances is not only permissable but for us the primary task.”

If there was a time when our denominational leaders treated us as a nuisance, I think the time has arrived when our denominational leaders appreciate our presence and claim our contribution. I am convinced that our Synod has a special role in the life of our denomination: we may be one of the smallest conferences but quite often God uses the smallest ones if they are ready and obedient (I Sam. 16:6-13, Judges 7:1-20, I Cor. 1:10-30.) Here is one example. The commission on Christian Unity stated that The World Alliance of Reformed Churches has only fellowship functions for us and therefore, ranks behind our relationships to and financial support of such groups as COCU, WCC, and NCC. I was asked to reflect on this tradition and my reply, in part was as follows:

“I disagree with the conclusion of the Commission on Christian Unity reached at the recent Pittsburgh meeting. The value of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches to the United Church does not and should not lie in the area of fellowship function alone; it must be an indispensable source of sound doctrine and loyalty to the truth delivered to us in the Protestant Reformation. That might sound ‘old-fashioned’ and second-ranked concern for some, but I am convinced that if we listen to the Scriptures, this is of primary importance for the internal economy of THE CHURCH. The Letter of Ephesians tells us that the unity of the church can be endangered on two fronts: (1) immaturity — ignorance of the truth as it has been revealed to us in Jesus Christ; (2) instability — follow the new’ whether true or false in a mad worship of being ‘relevant.’ No wonder that the Second Helvetic Confession emphasizes that ‘unity consists in the truth and unity of the catholic faith .. ., in doctrines and in the true and harmonious preaching of the Gospel of Christ’ (Ch. XVII). Strangely enough, the Second Vatican Council stressed the same points: ‘Nothing is so foreign to the spirit of ecumenism as a false conciliatory approach which harms the purity of Catholic doctrine and obscures its assured genuine meaning’ (Decree on Ecumenism, par. 11). I am afraid that playing down our ‘Reformed’ distinctiveness would not help our contribution to the unity of the church either in WCC or NCCC, and certainly will not make the emerging Church of Christ Uniting more ‘truly Reformed, Catholic and Evangelical.’ Surely, the Alliance’s task and ministry should be re-examined (the North American Area aware of this), but I cannot see this false priority ranking of our Commission on Christian Unity.”

I believe this is our role: to voice needed correction, to share forgotten insight, to take proper responsibility so that the wholeness of the church might be manifested among us. Whether pleasant or not pleasant we should make it clear that social action and personal piety are the two sides of the same coin. We should make it clear that no social or