Calvin Synod Herald, 1975 (75. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1975-01-01 / 1-2. szám
REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA 5 Christian women living with non-Christian husbands: “You wives, be submissive to your husbands, so that some, though they do not obey the word, may be won without a word by the behaviour of their wives, when they see your reverent and chaste conduct.” That is one way of perpetuating the Hungarian Reformed piety: let us live it so that it may attract our children. Most of this non-verbal witness is unconscious; just as our Lord Jesus Christ told the givers to give in a way that one’s left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. If this unconscious witness is given all the time, then our verbal witness will have an easy job. In this connection let me share with you something which I got in Princeton forty-two years ago. One of our professors was Samuel M. Zwemer, who had formerly been a famous missionary among the Mohammedans. One day he told us the following story which can also be read in one of his books. “Some years ago, said Dr. Zwemer, I was preaching in one of the hospitals in East Arabia and spoke of the love of Christ... I tried to present the subject simply so that it could be understood by the uneducated people who had gathered in the waiting-room. At the close of the address, a Moslem stepped forward and with Bedouin bluntness exclaimed: “I understand all you told us, because I have seen that sort of man myself.” In the conversation that followed, this Arab began to describe, in response to inquiries, a stranger who had come to his city and taken up residence there. “Why,” he said, “he was a strange man. When people did wrong to him, he did good to them. He looked after sick folks and prisoners and everybody who was in trobule. He even treated Negro slave boys kindly. He was always good to other people. Many of them never had such a friend as he was. He used to take long journeys in the broiling sun to help them. He was a friend to all kinds of people. He was just what you said.” To my surprise, this rude, uneducated man had recognized, in the description which I had given of the love of Christ, a Christian missionary, and still greater was my surprise later to find that it was my brother, Peter J. Zwemer, who opened work in Muscat... What higher tribute could be paid to the daily life of one of God’s servants than the fact that an ignorant Mohammedan, studying him day by day, recognized Christ.” There is a bold saying by the great Reformer Martin Luther: we must be Christ for one another. That is true also of the way in which we should try to pass on the genuine Christian and Reformed piety to our children. Let me say very emphatically: the success of perpetuating the Hungarian Reformed Piety in the family depends on you, Christian friends, on fathers and mothers and prospective fathers and mothers. In former times, one could entrust the work of Christian education to the church. That was the case in Hungary also where our Reformed Church, as you know, had more than a thousand schools in which Christian instruction was given. Today, beside the two theological seminaries, one in Budapest and one in Debrecen, we have one school, a secondary school, also in Debrecen. We thank God for this remaining school. About 400 students, both boys and girls are enrolled. We get many of our students of theology from this school. But many of the Hungarian children grow up without any Christian instruction. In this situation we must stress the responsibility of the parents of the family. And, thanks to God, there are Christian parents who respond to our appeals. I have been told since I am in the States that in this country also, if the educational work of the church is not aided by the family, it is of little avail. You can no longer pass on the Christian responsibility for education to the church. Unless you do your best to cultivate the Hungarian Reformed piety in your family, and unless you give your wholehearted support to the church’s work of Christian education, Hungarian Reformed Piety is in danger of being submerged in the process of secularization, to the great loss of humanity. But this shall not happen! I hope that it will not happen in Hungary either! We tell our church members to bring their children to church, to Sunday School, or, as we call it, to the children’s service. We ask the mothers to teach their children the first prayers. We give our fullest encouragement to the families which have the custom of family worship, of reading the Bible and praying and singing together. I must tell you, however, because of the many distractions of modern life, there are but few families which observe their own devotions. Then we also try to spread Christian literature. We have only one church paper for the congregation, but it has been my experience that it is relatively easy to make our children interested in what is published in the church paper. You have an abundance of Christian literature, both in English and in Hungarian. Give some thought to selecting the best and recommending them to your children. They should develop the habit of church-going, Bible reading, and also of reading Christian literature. Hungarian Reformed piety is more than a habit, more than a tradition: it should be life, genuine Christian life. As such, it will resist the adverse forces of history. This is not simply a human expectation; it is Christian hope firmly anchored in the person of Jesus Christ, our Lord, who is called in Revelations the Pantokrator, the almighty One. Remember that His command to make disciples, the words which we take as the institution of baptism, is prefaced by these words: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” And also remember that we are not alone when we try to bring up our children as disciples of our Lord, when we try to pass on to them the precious heritage of Hungarian Reformed piety, because He also promised: “Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” It is true that every honest work is its own reward. Can we think of a greater happiness than to be able to bridge the generation gap and to worship together with our children, with our young people, who will perpetuate our common heritage? And, beyond that, I would not for anything withhold from you the precious promise which is given to all who not only enjoy but share Christian life with others: “Every one who acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven.” I thank you for your kind attention. God bless you and all your work for cultivating and perpetuating Hungarian Reformed piety in the family! Dr. Sándor Czeglédy ♦ ♦ ♦ HUNGARIAN TO ATTEND THE STUDY CONFERENCE AT BAD BOLL The Evangelical Academy at Bad Boll in the German Federal Republic arranged a study conference from the 18th to the 22nd of November. At the invitation of the Lutheran World Federation, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hungary was represented at the conferenec by Pastor Béla Harmati, lecturer on systematic theology at the Budapest Theological Academy of the Lutheran Church. The theme of the conference was “Church and Power.”
