Calvin Synod Herald, 2007 (108. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2007-01-01 / 1-2. szám
2 CALVIN SYNOD HERALD calv'n nmAl h synod Ht nnLU Official Organ of The Calvin Synod - United Church of Christ ^rounded in 1900 AMERIKAI MAGYAR REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA Volume 108 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2007 No. 1-2 Official Organ of the Calvin Synod United Church of Christ - Founded in 1900 CALVIN SYNOD HERALD (ISSN 0161-6900) is published bi-monthly for $10.00/yearfor individual subscriptions; $8.00/year for groups; $6.00/year for 50 or more copies. Please make checks payable to the Calvin Synod Herald Editor in Chief: Rt. Rev. Koloman K. Ludwig, Bishop Co-Editor: Rev. Dr. Edwin P. Elliott 9400 Fairview Avenue • Manassas, VA 20110 Tel.: 703-335-2844 Co-Editor: Rt. Rev. Joseph Vásárhelyi 220 Fourth St., • Passaic, NJ 07055 Tel.: 973-778-1019 • Fax: 973-778-1026 e-mail: vasarhel@optonline.net Newletters prepared by: Cathy Paksi 419-942-1763 • e-mail: cp72@bright.net Newletters printed by: Gazette Printers 724-349-3434 Periodicals postage paid at Butler, PA POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: CALVIN SYNOD HERALD 264 Old Plank Rd„ Butler, PA 16002-3810 Manuscripts and photographs are not preserved or returned. Send all correspondence to the Editor. The views and opinions of the writers are their own and do not necessarily represent the position of the magazine or Calvin Synod. CALVIN SYNOD HEADQUARTERS: Rt. Rev. Koloman K. Ludwig, Bishop 7319 Tapper Avenue Hammond, IN 46324 Telephone: 219-931-4321 e-mail: KKLudwig@aol.com OFFICIAL COMMUNICATIONS Vacancies: Beaver Falls, PA Norridge, IL The proper procedure is for all interested ministers to send their completed PROFILE (as provided by the United Church of Christ) to the Bishop’s office at Rt. Rev. Koloman K. Ludwig, 7319 Tapper Avenue, Hammond, Indiana 46324. Questions may be directed by telephone to (219) 931-4321. CONGREGATIONAL NEWS IJCC BRIDGEPORT. CT January 14 - Service of Remembrance at 9:30 AM January 28 - Annual Congregational Meeting OLD TROY PIKE CC - DAYTON. OH January 7 - Welcoming the New Year of the Lord 2007 at 10:30 AM Worship Service Happy New Year! “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven... I have seen the business that God has given to the sons of men to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time...” Ecclesiastes 3:1, 10-11. A blessing from God is that you are able to open your eyes and read these words. He has again given you a new year of life. He has given you more time. His gift to you is beautiful, wonderful, full of life and opportunities of the future. Yet as you read these words, in much of the country it is bitterly cold outside. January and February, our coldest months, seem to conspire to make life a dreary deep-freeze. It gets a little difficult to appreciate the beauty of these days. Life seems to stand still. How we need to open our eyes to the opportunities, the beauties of each new day. One of my favorite films is entitled “Groundhog Day,” set appropriately in a cold and bitter February day. The main character discovers that each morning when he wakes up, it is again “Groundhog Day,” over and over again. Trapped in a perpetual February 3rd, at first he is frustrated, and he wastes his days, repeating each day over and over again, spending his time watching television programs, just existing. Finally he begins to change as a person, and he leams new skills and begins to mature as a person. At the end of the film, a wholly new individual has developed, and it finally becomes February 4th. Interestingly in life, many of us are just like the main character at the beginning of the film. We live life day to day, doing the same things over and over again, and we avoid change in our lives. How and what we did yesterday becomes the guide for how we will act tomorrow. Unfortunately, this is also true in the church. We often behave as if we are in some type of “time warp.” One of the most oft heard phrases in church is “We never did it that way,” or something similar. This is the response when something new is introduced in the worship service, or something new appears in the church. This is the phrase heard when new ideas are proposed for missions or fund raisers or other activities at the church, often even heard when someone proposes a “new” menu for a church dinner. The absurdity of this attitude was epitomized for me on one occasion when I went into a church basement to hold a Consistory meeting, and found that the previous day’s rain had soaked the basement floor. When I commented on the need to do some repairs, the Chief Elder responded with “It’s been like that for years, Reverend,” as if this were a logical answer.
