Calvin Synod Herald, 1973 (73. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1973-04-01 / 4. szám
REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA 3 SYNOD 73 God, again, in His providence and mercy allows us to meet, plan and prepare for the work of Calvin Synod both at home and abroad. We will face old unsolved problems but we will also be given new opportunities to serve and grow. Evangelism and church unity will be prime areas of concern. As the world struggles to regain its humanity after decades of war and revolution it is increasingly manifest that the spirit and soul of man is woefully impoverished and hungered. Only the Word can nourish and give sustenance to mankind. The call to Evangelism then, is the call to proclaim the Word of God both to ourselves and to the world. This is our mission, our task and our duty as Christians. The secularly inspired structure of the local churches must be dismantled and replaced by a “structureless structure” which finds its life and purpose in worship, in the joy of spiritual fruits, in the unrestrained giving of self and substance to the mission of the church; first to the “household of faith” and always to our fellowman in every nation and in every circumstance. In the quest for church unity and oneness, Calvin Synod has never faltered. Our pastors and congregations have given outstanding leadership and witness in all aspects of the Ecumenical Movement. Yet, we have been unable to heal the halfcentury hurt of separation from our flesh and blood brethren with whom we share a thousand year old Christian faith, our 400 year old Reformation heritage and nearly one hundred years of a common mission to the spiritual descendants of a great faith fellowship in our own land. As children of the Reformation in Hungary we have shamefully resisted the call of our Lord to oneness in Him and with each other. Now, perhaps, as the climate in our country warms to the spiritual and cultural nourishment of our religious and ethnic heritage and background, the moment of truth has come. We hope and pray that the day of our oneness is not afar off. “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.” (Ephesians 1:17) Bishop Arpad L. Beretz --------------*» » «»>------------"CHRIST'S RESURRECTION AND OURS" We Christians are just as prone to secularize Easter as we are Christmas. While we do not hear slogans calling for us to put Christ back into Easter, we must confess that it is all too easy for us to avoid the central meaning of the resurrection of Christ. Some of us may do it by treating Easter as the celebration of the vernal equinox and the renewal of nature. Hence our preoccupation with Easter lilies and spring finery. Others of us may do it by interpreting the resurrection simply as the means by which Christ entered into divinity and was thus removed from the lives of his brothers and sisters on earth. In the New Testament, Christ’s resurrection is not seen as the means by which Christ was separated from his followers. As Jews they had all believed that God would inaugurate the new age in an act of resurrection. All the dead would be raised up for judgment with the living. In their thinking, that day would come in the far distant future. But now they affirmed that God had already begun the resurrection with Jesus. To them he was “the firstfruits of those who sleep.” As they saw it, the same Spirit who had raised Christ from the dead was now at work in their lives. They were sharing in Christ’s resurrection and becoming new persons. As Paul puts it, Christ was present in the Spirit and renewing their lives as they grew in “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, fidelity, gentleness, and self-control” (Gal. 5:22). They could not speak about Christ’s resurrection without talking about the resurrection that was taking place in their own lives. His resurrection also meant something else to them. They believed that in the resurrection God had vindicated the way of the Cross, the way of the Servant. It was hard to believe that an itinerant preacher and healer who spent his life among outcast and common people was the one in whom God offered salvation, especially when he wound up on a criminal’s cross. But Easter day makes it clear that in him and in his way God offers hope and salvation to the whole world. The best way to celebrate Easter is to celebrate what God through his Spirit has done in raising Christ from the dead and giving us new life. If we do that, then we will hear again the call to walk the way of the Servant. Robert V. Moss President, United Church of Christ (Editor’s C., April ’73) lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllHlllllllllllllllllilllllllllllllUllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllUllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll 20th Palm Sunday Conference in English and in Hungarian for men, women and young people Sponsored by THE EASTERN CLASSIS OF THE CALVIN SYNOD UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST PALM SUNDAY, APRIL 15, 1973 Calvin United Church of Christ 901 King's Highway, Fairfield, Connecticut 06430 PRESENT DAY EVANGELISM by Alfred C. Krass, Secretary for Evangelism, UCC. mnBiiiuniiuiiiuiiuiiiuiiiiiiHiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiaiiininiiiiiuiimiimiuiiiiiaiiiuiimiuiinamiBiiiiiiiiniiiaiiiBHniiniiiiiiiimiimiiinniuiniiiiiiiiiniiinn
