Magyar Egyház, 1957 (36. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1957-12-01 / 12. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 13 MAGYAR CHURCH The Free Magyar Reformed Church in the National Council of Churches The Triennial General Assembly of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America held in St. Louis, Missouri on December 5 has received into full membership the Free Magyar Reformed Church in America. Archdean Zoltán Béky was present to acknowledge our acceptance. Also present were the Rev. Stephen Szőke and Dean Gábor Csordás who as official delegates of our denomination were immediately seated on the National Council’s General Board. Appointments to the various committees and departments of the National Council are to be expected soon. Our becoming a member of the National Council of Churches is both an honour and a responsibility. The Free Magyar Reformed Church in America is a small denomination as to the number of its members but she carries the traditions of a great Church. As our mother Church has been — from the very age of the Reformation — imbued by the spirit of cooperation among the Churches so do we offer and pledge our full participation in the work and service of the National Council. The spirit of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. is here expressed: “ONENESS IN CHRIST ACROSS DENOMINATIONS — ACROSS NATIONS — ACROSS RACES” Roy G. Ross, Executive Secretary and Eugene C. Blake, Retiring President of the National Council of Churches CHRISTMAS BRINGS LIGHT There are many beautiful paintings that show the Christmas nativity scene. One could hardly choose one as the most beautiful. “La Nőtte” (“The Night”) by the Italian master Correggio, however, has a unique feature: the source of the light in the stable. It does not come from the oil lamp on the shelf, nor from outside. The source of light is the Christchild’s face; and it is an extraordinary kind of light that radiates from it into the entire stable. Look at this wonderful painting and you will understand what the Scripture says: “The dayspring from on high hath visited us, bringing light to them that sit in darkness . . The message of Christmas is this: God Himself has broken through the darkness of human existence and visited us in Jesus Christ. “He dwelt among us,” says John in his Gospel. The dwelling of a person among us will always leave an influence upon our lives. For better or for worse, for happier or for unhappier but we shall change. How did Jesus change the world, people? You can best express it in terms of light and darkness. Through Christ it was as if in the midst of darkness brilliant light came into the world. Darkness covers everything. You cannot see what is beautiful and what is ugly. You can fall into a pit because you don’t see it; but you can also pass by something or somebody you have been looking for because you don’t see. Light changes everything. The ugliness of evil shows, but so does the radiance of beauty. Therefore, in some ways Christ makes our world a darker place to live in — looking as Christ taught us to look will show the ugliness of sin and evil in its reality. Is this good? Yes, because we cannot get rid of evil unless we realize that it is evil. However, the light of Christ shows more than the ugliness of evil. It also shows the radiance of goodness and beauty. In his light we can discover the goodness and beauty of God’s creation; that under the distorting layer of sin there is the likeness of God on man’s soul. Thus the light of Christ will be the challenge to change. To get rid of that layer of sin and have our face restored into the likeness of God. But: is this not only a pious desire which we have to dismiss
