Calvin Synod Herald, 2009 (110. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2009-11-01 / 11-12. szám
CALVIN SYNOD HERALD 9 efforts of Jesus’ fishers in olden days and the last 80 years. “Once upon a time” begins the myths and legends of old. But the story of God’s people in olden days and our time were all written in time measured by the passing of years, an hour glass, or perhaps by and alarm clock or watch. And just as the founders of this church could not have imagined this day, neither could Jesus’ chosen twelve imagine the changes in their own lifetimes. Shortly after Pentecost, they were scattered all over, as far as Rome and possibly Spain and India - although we have to take legend with a grain of salt. One of their persecutors, Saul, converts and becomes an open door to Hellenist Jews. Soon he’s in Antioch, visited by Simon - whom they now called Peter - and the name-callers tagged them for the first time as “Christians.” Not only are they hob-nobbing with all kinds of non-Jews, the Gentiles, but they are baptizing them into the Church. Ever so swiftly, the Christians are all over Turkey, and skipping across the seas to Greece, then beyond The Church could not stand still and went wherever the Spirit could find an open door. Up the European continent it went, reaching out to the tribes that shuffled across the plains and mountains, even to wild Celts, Slavs, Teutons and Magyars in their turn. Suddenly, it leaped a great ocean and found an open door in the New World. Here, to America, followed the descendants of the Franks, Anglo-Saxons, Germans, Poles, Celts and Magyars. Today, still others. Do we think Simon and Andrew, James and John would be surprised to see so few Christians in Jerusalem and Palestine today? Would the several hundred whose pictures we see at the dedication of this beautiful church in 1929 be surprised to see so few here today and so few who know their language? We all know the answers. But the same Spirit of the living God, who closes one door and opens another, is leading us today. His answers may not be the ones we expect or prefer, but we are called as fishers to respond, serving Him wherever He sends us. For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven. As the prospect of closing the church nears, let it not be with regret. The church has done the job for which it was gathered. In God’s Providence, a new day brings with it a new challenge. Nothing ever stays the same, unless it’s dead. Who of you would have wanted to be a tot forever, to always wear diapers, never to cross the street yourself, or never enjoy the independence of youth and the greater freedom of maturity? So too, in previously unimagined ways, the course of life for the John Calvin Magyar Reformed Church is taking on a new direction. But it is the same Christ who called the fishermen who still calls us to be fishers of men. As our church’s founders discovered when they crossed the Atlantic, the fish are different but the job is the same. So, although the pond may be different in the years ahead, let me challenge you to listen again, grab your fishing poles, and as you follow the Lord like the apostles of old, wherever He sends you, remember His words: Follow me, and I will make you be fishers of men. One holy Church of God appears - Through every age and race, Unwasted by the lapse of years - Unchanged by changing place. O living Church, thine errand speed - Fulfill thy task sublime; With Bread of life earth ’s hungers feed - Redeem the evil time! Amen! Rev. Albert W. Kovács GOD’S GIFT of Love, Hope, Joy and Peace God’s LOVE is a GIFT...for everyone and always: “For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life. ” (John 3:16) Jesus is hope placed before us: “To them God chose to make known, how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. ’’ (Col. 1:27) What the prophet Isaiah said about God’s gift of Christ to humankind: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. ” (Isaiah 9:2) “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, PRINCE of PEACE. ” (Isaiah 9:6) May each of us experience God’s gift of love, hope, joy and peace not only at Christ-mas time but each and every day of the year! Tünde Garai Christmas Comes to Us The Assurance of the Availability of God The long expectation of Advent is about to be met by the glorious news of Christmas. Amid the rich festivity of Christmas in a society like ours, we need to remember that the blessed news of Christmas was first proclaimed in circumstances profoundly ordinary. It was not marked by grandeur and extravagance, or by the giving and receiving of gifts. Instead, there is the distress of a homeless refugee couple. Joseph and Mary were simple and ordinary, chosen to be the bearers of God’s great purpose, but not because they were themselves “great” by the world’s standards. All of which is to say that Christmas comes to us whether we are gathered around a beautiful meal with a cheerful family or not. Christmas comes to us in our ordinariness, in our poverty, in the simplicity of our lives, in our distress and loneliness. Christmas comes and brings to us the greatest reassurance for the universe, which is that at the heart of the universe, there is someone whose principal activity is loving us, who means in the Bethlehem child - Emmanuel - “God is with us.” In the fullness of His humanity, Jesus becomes the sign and evidence to us of God’s holy intentions to take us to Himself, to heal and restore and make us whole, to be our salvation. At the heart of the Christmas proclamation is the assurance of the availability of God. This is enough to make heaven and nature sing - and even our own lips! So lift up your hearts in joy and thanksgiving, to Almighty God! Rev. Dr. Bela Bonis
