Calvin Synod Herald, 1973 (73. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1973-06-01 / 6-7. szám

4

CALVIN SYNOD HERALD

CALVIN SYNOD’S

CLOSING DEVOTIONS

As we are about ready to close the 35th annual meeting of the Calvin Synod, Conference of the United Church of Christ, we praise God for his blessings He had so graciously and abundantly bestowed upon our Synod, the members of our Synodical Council and our forty-one congregations. We thank God for the goals set a year ago and for the achievements made during the past fiscal year. We glorify God for the progress made in the spiritual, evangelistic and financial areas during the year of 1972 serving the spiritual and financial welfare of our Synod, congregations, our youth, our charitable institution — the Bethlen Home and our ecumenical concerns and responsibilities. It was a privilege to welcome into our fellowship the five brethren who joined our Synod of their free will and accord. We take great pride that Calvin Synod has the most highly trained and dedicated ministers.

Reviewing the history of the past 80 years of our constituency we proudly recognized and acknowledged the fact that we are the spiritual offsprings reaching mature adulthood of the spiritual mother Church, the Reformed Church in Hungary. During the past eight decades generation after generation our members have loyally kept the faith of our dedicated and heroic forefathers who in spite of persecutions have faithfully kept the Calvinistic tradition for more than 400 years. We also, in spite of the fashionable XXth century trends, ideologies and pressures called: Americanization, integration and assimilation by the guidance and help of the Holy Spirit did succeed to hold on to the dogmatic confessions, liturgy and way of worship of our spiritual inheritance.

It is our most solemn aim and endeavor to work, cooperate and if need be even make worthy sacrifices in real and true ecumenical spirit to enable the future generations of our present constituency to enjoy the faith, the spiritual fruits of our common faith which had been the precious gems of our spiritual life. Reading the Bible we know that the church of Jesus Christ in the Apostolic age facing the threat of divisiveness fought a courageous battle against loosing the nature of its “oneness.” The seism or the multiplicity of administrative authority became more acute in the post apostolic and reformation eras. We hope that the resolutions passed by Calvin Synod will become a historical event and a blessing not only to our present constituency but to the future generations of our congregations and to our spiritual sisters and brothers, members of similar congregations having status or affiliation in other denominations. We have placed our trust in the wisdom of the newly elected Synodical Council to bring our dream to realization. We assure them of our undivided loyalty. We do not expect them to perform miracles. However, we do hope that the result of their hard and dedicated

work will be an ever progressive cooperation of the congregations of both interested parties on all levels of church work leading us all to whatever God planned for us and to whatever God wills for us. May I read from the Gospel of John, the 17th chapter, the Prayer of Jesus:

“I am praying for the men whom you gave me, for they are yours. Now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world. Holy Father, keep the men you gave me that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I guarded them and kept them safe. I pray that they be one. Father, I want them to behold my glory, which you have made mine.”

May we also share and behold the glory of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our savior and precious redeemer. As He had given us the peace that passeth all human understanding, may we pray and work for the oneness of the church. As we daily profess our faith in the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe in the holy universal Christian church,” so also may we work for the glory of God and build the Kingdom of love, peace, understanding and brotherhood.

I close with the poem of Annie Johnson Flint:

Christ has no hands but our hands,

To do His work today;

He has no feet but our feet To lead men in His way;

He has no tongues but our tongues To tell men how He died;

He has no help but our help To bring them to His side.

What if our hands are busy With other work than his?

What if our feet are walking Where sin’s allurement is?

What if our tongues are speaking Of things His lips would spurn?

How can we hope to help Him?

Unless from Him we learn? Amen

Arpad George-------------» »»-----------------This

is

the

day

of great rejoicing,

This

is

the

day

of grief and sorrow;

This

is

the

day

of true happiness,

This

is

the

day

and not — tomorrow.

This

is

the

day

to do a great deed,

This

is

the

day

to win and succeed;

This

is

the

day

to do what’s undone,

For -- tomorrow

— there may not be one.

This is the day to be kind and glad,

This is the day for cheering the sad;

This is the day to banish sorrow,

This is the day not — tomorrow.

Margaret F. Csóványos