Calvin Synod Herald, 1980 (80. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1980-07-01 / 7-8. szám
6 CALVIN SYNOD HERALD sov and has been most willing to answer questions for the Reformed Press Service. RPS: What role have you seen for the Biblical studies at the Assembly? What is their theme? BLANGY: The Bible studies are central in the sense that they will be the only global contribution that is strictly theological. My choice has as its object the putting forward of the scriptural basis of all reformed tradition Sola Scriptum. It will help us to show the biblical basis of the idea of Covenant which has been used for these studies. In reality, this idea which is central to Scripture and important in classical reformed theology is much neglected today and ‘alliance’ in French is a term which has only a social, political or military use; in French an ‘Alliance’ is a wedding ring or a degree of kinship. We also use the word to demonstrate association or federation, as in World Alliance of Reformed Churches. But we have only drawn out a part of the richness or the exigency of this idea. RPS: Yes, but the centenary consultation at St. Andrews had as theme “The glory of God and the future of man” and the 1982 Assembly in Canada will be considering “Thine be the kingdom, the power and the glory.” Why interrupt this study of the glory of God for a different theme such as “Covenant?” BLANCY: The theme of Covenant is in no sense the poor relation to or a distraction from the other focal point of all reformed theology which is the glory of God, soli Deo gloria. It has, in fact, been chosen with a view to seeking how to express in our lives and communities this idea of the glory of God which is manifested in the future of a humanity which He has elected in order that He might be glorified. Covenant is the manifestation of the faithfulness of God throughout the vicissitudes of history and thus makes appeal to corresponding human fidelity. It relates precisely to the responsibility which it calls on humanity to assume as a gift of grace and as a word of hope for the wor’d. RPS: What texts have you chosen for the studies at Poiana Brasov? BLANCY: It was difficult to limit myself to a particular text and to retain an overall view of the Bible. The exact theme is the repeated Old Testament text: “I will be your God (or Father) and you will be my people (or child, or son).” But, on the other hand, in order to encompass the conditions and the dynamics of the covenant as it is lived, I have chosen the close of the first gospel as a focal point, for it is there that we see the resurrected Christ, about to leave his own, establish the basis, the mission and the life of the covenant. Without using the word itself, the diverse elements which make up an alliance and which make up a covenant in the Biblical sense, are concentrated here. From these texts the main dimensions are to be seen and the idea spreads out, first through Matthew and then to the other parts of Scripture. RPS: One question which will certainly preoccupy the participants will be to know how these Bible studies ivill relate to the practical questions which the different work groups will try to tackle on the everyday life of their communities and societies. How do you see the relationship between the two? BLANCY: A double link has been foreseen to assure this liaison during the Assembly in the sense of a constant coming and going. A team of commentators on the Bible studies will meet daily with the leaders of the work groups and will report each evening on the conclusions which have been drawn from the Bible studies and the work of the groups. Thus we can have a useful cross-fertilisation in listening to each other and, all together, listening to the Divine Word. Moreover, this will be the occasion to ask ourselves if the WARC is more than an administrative entity and a legal framework for meeting together. If there is no demand and no promise involved in this name, what could determine its direction, especially in ecumenics? Partners in the plans of God in the world and for the world, it obliges us to open ourselves to His call and to His gifts so that we can enter into a movement of renewal in faithfulness, a renewal of the Reformed identity and witness in the real ecclesiastical and social situations which challenge and beckon us — so that in the end we can display and test the vigor of the Alliance. RPS YOUR CHURCH Very often in the stillness of the night, when all is quiet, and a mantle of sleep is over the little community, I get to meditating as I stand here alone. My pews are empty and there is no sound ’neath my vaulted roof. I am your church. I shall reflect you as clearly as a mirror. If outwardly my appearance is pleasing and inviting, it is because you have made me so. If within, my spiritual atmosphere is kindly, yet earnest; reverent, yet friendly; worshipful, yet sincere, symoathetic, yet strong; divine, yet humanly expressed; it is but the manifestations of the spirit of those who constitute my membership. But if you should, by chance, find me a bit cold or dull, I beg you not to condemn me, for I show forth only the kind of life I receive from you. I seem to see again the tiny children brought before the altar. I see again the young folks as they come forward to the altar to confess their faith in Christ. I see older folks come in the twilight years of life to confess Christ as Savior. I hear voices of loved ones, many of them long since gone. Joyous bridal processions still linger within the memory of my beams and walls. I hearken again to the subdued sobbing of grief-stricken souls who mourn. For, my friend, I am not a mere buliding of paint and plaster and wood; I am the House of God! His Spirit will remain in me as long as my consecrated purposes are kept alive.
