Hungarian Church Press, 1968 (20. évfolyam, 2. szám)

1968-06-01 / 2. szám

HOP Vol XX Special Number

1968 No 2- 41 -(07683)

. e) Ethical Problems and Preaching

The insights described above, have of course, been reflected from the beginning in our preaching. We have already stressed that, from the viewpoint of our theme, preaching, already in the period preceding World War II, had a great significance in that the prophetic message was given to those preachers of our church to whom God had revealed what He intended to do in the history of mankind and in the history of our nation* It is possible to trace quite clearly in, our preaching during the following years, hew and to what extort the ears and hearts of the hearers opened to the prophetic message; how the new insights made their first appearance and how the corresponding acts of obedience became progressively integrated into the unity of what we may call now, with the boldness of faith, "the preaching cf our churches"9

The íiiá; point to be mentioned is the posit ive change in the relation of the Church to the world in the light of the insight tint the service of the Church has to be carried out with reference to the world and for the sake of the world, We might refer here to the parallel line cf Bonhoeffer *s theology and also to the fact that, in recent years, ecumenical theology has been stressing what is called "wcrldliness" in the right sense of the word..

As to the emergence cf these considerations we must note what follows:

This conversion of the Church to the world is primarily indicated in ouf preaching by the replacement of the former misinterpretations of certain Biblical messages and passages by the original and new interpretation of the texts concerned. Great emphasis is laid in our preaching on the key-note test "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son" (John 3:16), and, in the application, on the obligation on our part, in accord with God's supreme act of love, to love the world. The manifold meaning of the word "world" is also clarified, and it becomes clear that to break with the world actually means to break with our sins, and the exhortation to "set ycur affection on things above, not on things on the earth" does not call for other-worldliness but for the Church's obligation to consider in the course of her ministry, the problems of this world sub specie eorum quae sursum sunt (Cf, s James 4:4; Ehilippians 3:20; Hebrews 13:14)0 Those who at first tried to make a sharp distinction and separation between "peace" as a epixitual reality and as a concept of political life are now discovering to their astonishment that the Biblical shalom-eirene denotes both and that spiritual peace cannot be separated from earthly peace.

The new interpretation cf the Christian's relation to the world is also in evidence in our preaching on the great church holidays marking the main events of salvation history. Thus we discern in the Christmas event God's turning towards the world in a way comprising all the timely problems cf the world. We understand, in the Good Friday message, that Christ's sacrifice on the cross was not made just for the salvation of a small group but that Christ died, without discrimination, for all men* We are beginning to understand the true Eosh-