Magyar Egyház, 1958 (37. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1958-03-01 / 3. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ D MAGYAR CHURCH AN EASTER PRAYER O Lord God and Dear Heavenly Father! Grant that this Easter Day be the day when my soul is born anew. With Christ I would arise to newness of life. Let the old man in me, his old duties, his old works, his old burdens, his old desires, even his old loves and old friendships be transformed as Thou dost touch them. Let Easter wonder and Easter joy thus change me: from loneliness to richness of life, from weakness to creative power, form despair to happiness. Let me hear the call of Christ, let me listen to the message of Christ, let me be overwhelmed by the compassion of Christ, let me be moved by the love of Christ, and let me be prompted by the example of Christ to follow Him until my life becomes one with Thee. The Living Christ Easter is always a season of renewal. It is uniquely a time for the Church to reexamine its work and to seek new ways of serving its Lord. In this season we become aware of the Christ who cannot be locked up in a Book or a cathedral. He is supremely the Lord of the Church, and we of the Church must constantly examine our faith in the light of His mission. The living Christ is a constant reminder that our faith must be centered about a Divine purpose. The meaning of Easter cannot be discovered apart from the mission of Christ. His supreme achievement is not the discovery of an ethical basis of life or even the genius of religious living, it is the reassertion of God’s sovereignty. Through the centuries the great problem that has vexed Christendom has been the relationship of Christ to His Church. One possible solution, practiced to perfection by the Roman Catholic sect, is that of making Christ the instrument of the Church. As its royal captive He is no longer God Incarnate. He is rather a symbol that can be changed at will. Either the helpless Infant of a “Queen of Heaven” or else the equally helpless figure of one suffering on a Cross. The failure of this Romanist solution is that it leaves out the living Christ, and millions of people find their solace in prayers to carved idols and long vigils before flickering candles that symbolize the power of the Church and the impotence of its servant, Jesus. Protestantism has failed in another and equally serious respect. By equating Christ with the “good man” it has made the Son of God simply an ideal worthy of emulation. A good man, yes, but divinity, no! While many Protestants have mightily assaulted the slavery of Christ practiced by Rome they have forgotten that the Christ they came to know was no God at all, just a representation of a religion long out of date. Through it all the figure of Christ remains constant. “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever more.” He remains the object of worship to those who recognize in Him the presence of God. He rules of lives of those who see Him as the realization of man’s every need, the fulfilment of all prophecy. The living Christ is present wherever the Church is true to its trust. Mere numbers of worshippers do not indicate His interest or care. He doesn’t exist to be deified, He exists to be served. The Church that truly serves Him is that which does the will of His Father. To be quite frank, this means that the Church is never the ruler, it is ever the servant of the Word of God. Our proud Reformed tradition has always based its very existence on the worship and service of Christ. Through our wonderful Creeds, especially the Heidelberg Cathechism and the Second Helvetic, we learn of the deep reverence with which our acenstors viewed the living Lord. Their piety is difficult to emulate in our time, but their spirit is ever with us, just as long as we take seriously our role as members of Christs’ body, the Church. The living Christ summons you to share in worship this Easter season. Through prayer and song you are called upon to see in Him the very presence of God, and work that His will be done. The true Easter parade is that which enters Christ’s Church to worship and leaves to serve the living Christ. Rev. Charles A. Darocy “The Laying On Of Hands” at Bishop Beky’s consecration. T
