Calvin Synod Herald, 1998 (98. évfolyam, 1-6. szám)
1998-09-01 / 5. szám
CALVIN SYNOD HERALD- 6 -AMERIKAI MAGYAR REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA The Gospel and Our Generation Continued from Page 5 ern language has brought different forms into usage. The old question of whether to use “debts” or “trespasses” has been further complicated by those whose preference is for “sins”. Others, for just one more example, use “holy” in place of the term “hallowed”. Perhaps an even greater rift has grown in the area of music. The former preferences for chorales or plain song, perhaps gospel or revival music, has yielded in certain quarters to folk music or even rock bands. Instead of cathedral choirs, the newest trends echo the sounds of guitars and Nashville rock. Most significantly, it has resulted in a lessening of the sum of uniform knowledge and experience. Congregations today are less able to worship together using a base of familiar tunes. It is obvious that there is a value to the use of contemporary language and music, now as in earlier generations. It is equally obvious that there is nothing wrong with local expressions in worship that are unique to local settings or whole denominations, since these can be eloquent gifts to be appreciated and sometimes shared by other parts of the Church in their own worship life. However, the dangers of fragmentation and atomization are just as obvious, with the threat ever present of solo churches adrift all alone on the troubled seas of modern global life. Language itself is an awesome gift for the fulfillment of God’s eternal deA BISHOP IN THE UCC? - While some people joke that UCC conference ministers are really bishops, in truth, there are none - except in the UCC’s Calvin Synod. And the Synod just elected a new one. He’s the Rev. Louis Medgyesi, pastor of the Hungarian Reformed sign, finding expression in the Church through prayers, praise, scripture, dialogue, history and witness. Through language the Church challenges its age and responds to the experience of the people in their daily lives. “Powerful language is that which speaks to the human condition, evoking an authentic response." “In order to fulfill this mission, the church needs to be multilingual: fluent in the language of faith; fluent in the language of the cultures in which the church lives; and able to translate from one to the other.” But the Church must select its language with care since, “we know that language must speak to culture, but our language should be in but not of the world.” A reflection added, “many of us are skeptical about the current trend toward the determinative role experience and feelings exercise in the redefinition of religious language.” It was added, “Language should not be limited to words.” Further, it was said, “Liturgical colors, symbols... music - classical, country or western - all ‘speak’ their own message to those attuned to hear it.” The Time Is Now There was a notable sense of being “sent” to proclaim the Gospel, but it wasn’t until the end that the pressure of time uplifted the urgency of the Church’s task. It might be summed in one group’s reporting language: “We are entrusted with the gift of language as one of the ‘Keys of the Kingdom’ (Matt. 16:19),” and therefore, “there is a gravity of the responsibility” to speak faithfully and to our time. UCC, Fairport Harbor, Ohio. As a tenyear-old, he fled the Hungarian revolt with his family in 1956. “The only friend I had in these United States when I was 10 years old was Jesus,” remembers Medgyesi of the painful uprooting. But that lifelong relationship with the church has paid handsome dividends. He will head a group of 32 Hungarian Reformed churches in the UCC. The Calvin Synod (UCC) changed the name synod presbyter to Bishop to be in line with the ancient tradition of the Mother Church, which has had bishops from the very beginning of the Protestant Reformation. qoq REMEMBERING THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE OF 1848 - In the spring of 1998, the Republic of Hungary, and Hungarian communities in all of the nations of the world, marked the 150th anniversary of the Hungarian War of Independence of 1848. It was on March 15, 1848 that the people of Hungary rose against Habsburg Austria, pledging life, liberty and sacred honor to the cause of a free and representative government in Hungary. In demonstrations throughout the capital city of Budapest, and at a great rally outside the National Museum, the people of Hungary acclaimed the twelve point reform program of the great Hungarian statesman, Louis Kossuth. They changed the refrain of the poem, “National Song” (Nemzeti Dal), as the brilliant young poet, Sándor Petőfi, recited it on the steps of the Museum. Tricolors were hung from windows and the city assumed a festive air. In the evening, the National Theatre staged a performance of Joseph Katona’s Bánk Bán which had been banned by the government. Admission was free. These events of March 15, 1848 as well as the tragic subsequent events (culminating in the bloody and bitter defeat of Hungarian aspirations after Russia entered the War on the side of Austria) were the subject of a special exhibition mounted by the Cleveland Hungarian Heritage Society. The exhibition, entitled “The 150th Anniversary of the 1848 War of Independence”, was opened on March 14,1998 in the Hungarian Heritage Museum, which was then located in Richmond Town Square Museum. The CHHS opened its first exhibit following the closing of its Museum at the Lake County History Center on June 19, 1998 in Mentor, Ohio Keeping Vou Posted The UCC Office of Communication: Connecting the Gospel and Justice to the Medio, Churches and Community UCC on the UUeb: uuuuuu.ucc.org
