Calvin Synod Herald, 1985 (85. évfolyam, 1-5. szám)
1985-10-01 / 5. szám
CALVIN SYNOD HERALD — 7 — REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄi PANORAMA Religion in America By law the Bureau of Census is forbidden from asking questions that are related to religion, so the University of Chicago has conducted a poll annually since 1972 in which Americans are asked about their religious affiliations, beliefs and practices. According to the poll 64% of the Americans say that they are Protestants, 25% say that they are Catholic, 7% claim to have no religious affiliation, 2% are Jewish, and the remainder are members of several religions of the Far East. Among Protestants the largest denomination is the Baptist with 20%, second are the Methodists with 12% and the third are the Lutherans with 8%. According to the survey 93% of the Americans claim that they belong to one of the 1,000 religions of the USA, but only about one-third go to church every week. 54% of the adults interviewed claim that they go to church at least once a month. 26% claim that they go to church several times a year, but 20% say that they attend church about once a year, and 13% say that they never go to church. llltllllllllllimillllllllflllllllllllllllllltlllllllllMIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMMIMniMMIIIIIMIIIII Family Life (Keeping You Posted) The UCCs New York Conference has trained 15 of its lay and ordained people as “family life resourcers.” They are equipped to help local churches answer questions, clarify needs and find resources related to family ministries. Their names, addresses and phone numbers have been published throughout the conference, along with each one’s area of specialization, such as minority families, families with children of certain ages, young married couples, women’s concerns and families with disabled persons. IIHIIIIIinillllllllHIIIIIIIIIIHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIillHHIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIiMlltllllllllHIflllllH Windsor, Ontario Rev. George E. Nagy was installed as pastor at the Free Hungarian Reformed Church of Windsor, Ontario on Sunday, October 6. Bishop Dezső Abraham of the Hungarian Reformed Church in America was in charge of the installation. Following the service at the church, at 1396 E. Elsmere St., there was a banquet held at the Hungarian Greek Catholic Church of Windsor, Canada. Anniversary Thoughts YOUNGSTOWN, OH - Tears, laughs, loves, and thrills: all these experiences were relived in these days as we prepared for the 80th anniversary of the church building’s dedication; it took place on October 5, 1905. God meets us on all four levels... Tears are part of the price of being persons. How many times we were called upon to endure great sorrow in our beautiful sanctuary! Joy, it has been suggested, is the happiness we feel when we have faced adversity and survived... Then, laughter. It is the medicine of the spirit. I hope we are able to laugh at life, about ourselves, about growing old. Someone said, “Laughter is the oxygen of courage, the noisy evidence that the full weight of the world does not belong to us, and that we are not stuck with the responsibility of being our own saviors." ...and love. Read Phillips’ translation of Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians (13:7—8), “Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. It is in fact, the one thing that still stands when all else has fallen." To love is to own everything. As a pastor, I rarely pass a Sunday in our sanctuary by without trying to make that point. Do you remember the sentences of The Worshipbook known as ‘Exhortation’? “Let us now obey the Lord. This is his command; to give allegiance to his Son Jesus Christ and to love one another.” So many thrills were ours during the past eighty years within the walls of our church! Events marking the birth and the resurrection of our Lord! Consecrations, commitments, ordinations! Baptisms, confirmation commissions, weddings. This fall, my friends, help us, in conjunction with our church anniversary, to relive and rethink tears, laughs, loves, and thrills. They are experiences which at times threaten to consume us, but wind up making us strong, gentle, dependent upon each other, and upon God from out of whose love all life proceeds. A Thanksgiving Note Dear Christian Friends, In her Thanksgiving essay entitled “Feast of Friendship”, Pamela Kennedy includes this paragraph; "Massasoit recalled how the Pilgrims had been so cruelly tested. They built — and watched their first structure go down in flames. They planted — and saw their first crops come up shriveled and small. Yet, they plodded on. Bitter winter storms and starvation cut their numbers in half. Children were orphaned; babes died in their mothers’ arms. Yet, the survivors endured with courage, praying daily to their God and drawing ever closer to one another. The Wampanoag chief admired their tenacity, their strong determination, and their calm, quiet faith in the God they served. ” It helps for us to remember periodically the difficult circumstances sorrounding the first Thanksgiving. Very few of us have been faced with a life as challenging as theirs. Yet despite the challenges and the great deal of sorrow, the Pilgrims saw fit to give thanks to God. It was in the gift of life itself — the opportunity offered in each new day — that the Pilgrims found their joy. Thus they felt greatly blessed by our Creator. On any given day of the year we have those in our church family who are faced with challenge and sorrow and we have those who are able to celebrate joy. Whatever it is we are feeling may we still stop and give thanks... "How good it is to give thanks to you, O Lord... because of what you have done, I sing for joy "(Ps. 92:1—4). We wish to all a happy Thanksgiving. Rev. Imre A. Bertalan Toledo, Ohio ft “Our Favorite ft ft Hungarian Recipes ” -ft ft 69 pages of traditional ft ft Hungarian recipes 'x ft with emphasis on ft ft Hungarian pastries ft ft Published: 1961 (9th printing) ft ft Cost: $2.25. Postage & Handling: $.75 ft ft Total: $3.00. ft ft Women’s Guild ft ft Hungarian Reformed Church jS ft 365 E. Woodrow Avenue ft ft P.O.Box 07812 ft ft Columbus, OH 43207 A IN TRUST Margaret Fekete Csóványos God gives to each of us a gift, In trust He makes this loan. To have, to hold, to share, to love; But, one day He claims His own. God gives to us our parents dear, And a family filled with joy. Perhaps, a mate to share one’s life, With a lovely girl or boy. God gives to each some of these gifts, To plant the seed of love. To cherish all our earthly things Precious loans from Him above. God gives to us the gift of life, A loan He gives in trust. Someday, He’ll claim us for His own, As Lord God is fair and just.
