Magyar Egyház, 1959 (38. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1959-04-01 / 4. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 9 The energy of God that came at Pentecost is quite different from the efforts of “good Christians’’ to do their best every day. A church of “do gooders’’ is inclined to try to save itself by its own efforts. A church that takes Pentecost seriously knows that it must wait for God Himself to change it from a church of Pharisees into a church of witnesses. What is a witness? He is a man who says, “1 saw this happen.’’ The early disciples said: “Christ was murdered by our hostility to God. We saw it happen. We are guilty. Christ was dead, but He is Risen and has come to us, the guilty people, to say that we are forgiven and that we must give all we have and are to serve Him. Christ is alive. He is the Man God has designated to gather the whole world and all nations back into the Father’s Home. Christ has sent us the Spirit so that we shall never be tired anymore when we serve Him; so that we can receive ‘power from on high’ to give all our money, our time, our training, our future to Him—and to nobody else.’’ FROM THE BISHOP'S OFFICE ft is a joyful season after Easter. The Church has met her risen Lord and heard Him: “Go and tell the brethren . . .” Easter cannot be true without telling the joy of the Resurrection to the whole creation. As our Church has rediscovered the meaning of missions, we want to report about our “mission” in this world. We are happy to welcome in America the new pastor of our young Hollywood Church, the Rev. Dezső Trombitás. The Hollywood Church is one of the first-fruits of our missionary movements and it fills us with thanksgiving that the young congregation has been able to secure such an able and experienced pastor in the person of Rev. Trombitás, a former dean of a large classis in Hungary. The Pastor of our Detroit Church the Rev. John P. Nagy, has accepted the call of the Hungarian Reformed Church of Miami, our youngest sisterchurch and will, in the very near future, assume his ministerial duties there. May God bless him in his new field of work. Concerning the plans in Detroit, the Bishop’s Office in cooperation with the Dean of the Western Classis and the local congregation is working out a very promising plan about which we hope to report good news to you. We were very happy to see such a large turn-out at our first Elders’ Conference in Perth Amboy, on March 1st. We hope this successful project will be extended to our Western Classis too. Our Youngstown Church will have her great day of reunion with us on the third Sunday of April. I hope to represent the whole constituency of the Hungarian Reformed Church in America bringing the glad message of welcome personally to our beloved Rev. Marton and our faithful people there. There are two very important matters I should like to bring to your attention. This year is a Reformed Jubilee Year. In all the Reformed and Presbyterian churches of the world there will be anniversary observances of the Calvinistic Reformation. The Presbyterian World Alliance, to which we also belong, has set apart May 31 as a special Day of Prayer in remembrance of our great reformer John Calvin and the Calvinistic Reformation. We have to prepare for this day of remembrance in all our churches. This coming summer the General Council of the Presbyterian World Alliance will meet in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The central theme of this conference will be the “Servant Lord and his servant people.” It is one of the greatest rediscoveries of our modern times to describe the Lord Jesus Christ as the servant Lord. This we should consider in our preaching preceding the meeting of the Presbyterian World Alliance. We have to live with this theme in our church life and in the activities of the different organizations. At this meeting in Brazil, almost all the churches of Hungarian Reformed origin will meet along with all the different Reformed and Presbyterian Churches of the world. Our missionary projects need, of course, your help. We are a small church with large and heavy responsibilities. We have to go out and collect our very scattered people who do not have any living connection with our Lord. It is one of our services to which God has called us. But this missionary project can only be realized successfully if every member of the Hungarian Reformed Church in America feels it to be his personal responsibility in the service of our Lord. Bishop Zoltán Béky Annual Meeting of the Eastern Classis The Eastern Classis held its annual meeting on April 12 in the Cliffside church. Dean Gabor Csordás was re-elected to the office of dean. The assembly drew up the details concerning the division of the classis into an Eastern and a New York classis as of January 1, 1960. Deans and chief elders of the two new classes will be elected in the Fall. SPRING GARDENING SUGGESTIONS First, plant five rows of peas — preparedness — promptness — perseverance — politeness — prayer. Next, plant three rows of squash — squash gossip — squash criticism — squash indifference. Then plant five rows of lettuce — Let us be faithful — Let us be unselfish — Let us be loyal — Let us be truthful — Let us love one another. No garden is complete without turnips — Turn up for church — Turn up with a smile — Turn up with a new idea — Turn up with determination — Turn up for church work. A Prayer by William Temple: O blessed Jesu, Love and Truth of God incarnate, cleanse us from all that hinders or distorts our vision of Thee. So fill us with trust in Thee that we cease from our striving and rest in Thee. Thou Light of the world, so shine in our hearts that the rays of Thy brightness, now known to us in our separation, may be gathered into the pure radiance of Thy glory manifested through us in our unity in Thee. Thou Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world, wash our spirits clean from sin. By the mystery of Thy Holy Incarnation, by Thine Agony and Bloody Sweat, by Thy Cross and Passion, by Thy Glorious Resurrection and Ascension, and by the Coming of the Holy Ghost, unite us with Thyself and in Thyself one with another, that we may be one with and in Thee as Thou art one with the Father, that the world may believe that Thou art its Saviour, God blessed for ever.
