Calvin Synod Herald, 1973 (73. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1973-08-01 / 8-9. szám
REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA 3 ^Student C^Pra\j£v Thou hast called me, O God, to spend this portion of my life in study. Although the world is full of young men and women no older than I who must work in fields and shops to support their families, who must bear arms to defend their country, Thou hast released me from these responsibilities, placing upon me the Special Trust of searching Wisdom. When I look to Thee, Judge of all the earth, and then look upon myself, I fear my unworthiness of this Trust. I find myself only half ready in heart and mind because of wasted, careless hours. I fear that I will again be tempted to sloth, to be content with half-truth, to support of doubtful causes. I beg Thy forgiveness and Thy cleansing and courage. Help me never to forget, most Loving Lord, that the burden of work that is lifted from me is no heavier than the burden of Trust that is placed upon me by this Call to Study. May the need of the world for clarity and commitment be the need that speaks to me: the need for men and women who have drunk deep of the Wisdom of the ages, who have studied hard the conditions of slavery and exploitation, who have pushed through obstacles to New Dimensions of Life, who will not be content with hostilities where there might be reconciliation. Grant, O Father of all mankind, that I may know the Dignity of this Call to be a Student, that I may never lose sight of the Needs of the world I am called to meet, that I may ALWAYS be assured of THY PRESENCE and THY POWER, as I enter now this learning experience. — Rachel Henderlite -------------------------------------NINTH GENERAL SYNOD Dr. John Butosi, Bishop Arpad Beretz and Mrs. Beretz St. Louis, June 27. It was the Pilgrim Synod—the Synod of ’73—from the keynote address by President Robert V. Moss the flight of Mayflower II to the vineyards of California to the singing of the Pilgrim Song at the closing worship service. “When a people go on pilgrimage they need a vision,” President Moss told the delegates. And the vision of the delegates encompassed the first major structural changes in the United Church of Christ since the adoption of the Constitution in 1973. The Ninth General Synod voted to establish an Office of Church Life and Leadership combining the work of the Council for Church and Ministry, Council for Lay Life and Work, Committee on Theological Education, the Theological Commission and Commission on Worship. The action, which must be ratified by two-thirds of the conferences, was based on a report of the Task Force on Leadership Development established by the Eighth General Synod to find ways to “assist in the development of local church leadership, both lay and clergy.” The United Church was the first to create a co-educational lay organization at the national level, and again leads the way in the movement to bring clergy and laity closer together. “It’s a long way,” one delegate commented, “from the early New England church with the pulpit high above the heads of the congregation to this new conception of church leadership.” SOCIAL ACTION DEVELOPMENT “The vision that leads the pilgrims is an ever-enlarging and unfolding vision,” the President said, and that was the view of the delegates in establishing a new Center for Social Action for the denomination. The Synod had before it a proposal to replace the present Council for Christian Social Action with a “developmental body”-—the Center for Social Action—which is to develop plans for the future direction of social action in the United Church.
