Magyar Egyház, 1960 (39. évfolyam, 1-9. szám)
1960-05-01 / 5. szám
8 MAGYAR EGYHÁZ MAGYAR CHURCH Pentecost 1960 The six presidents of the World Council of Churches have called on members of the Council’s 172 member churches to observe Pentecost—or Whitsunday—as a day of universal prayer. The annual Pentecost message of the presidents of the world organization will be read in many churches and many languages throughout the world on Sunday June 5, the day on which Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican member churches in the Council will observe Pentecost in 1960. A Message from the Presidents of the World Council of Churches As presidents of the World Council of Churches we greet our brethren in all the member churches at Whitsuntide. We rejoice in the gift of that oneness in Christ which enlightened His followers when they day of Pentecost was fully come. As we recall the first assembly in the history of the Christian Church, we are uplifted by visible signs of that oneness renewed in the history of our time. As members of one body all over the earth, we have committed ourselves to stay together and to grow together toward newness and fullness of life. This year we are confronted with the spiritual task of making straight the way for a great gathering, the first assembly to be held by the World Council of Churches in Asia in 1961. While there are religions and philosophies, new and old, resurgent in Asia and other consents, we have our firm foundation in the promise given by our Lord on the day of His ascension. Wherever His people may be, they shall receive strength to overcome the world. When He, the Holy Spirit, comes in our midst, we are new beings. Our self-absorption and our fears are taken away. Our contentment with something less than true unity in the Church gives way to a deeper and fuller appraisal of God’s design. We are thus called to be partners all with one accord in God’s creative work. We seek each other in a new way because God has found us in a new way. For as many as are led by the Spirit, they are the sons of God. As sons and fellow-workers with God, we become true brothers, bearing one another’s burdens. The Church, which has the promise of victory, is called, with one spirit and one heart, to reach out to the millions of men and women who struggle for a life free of fear, hunger, injustice, dispossession, persecution, and political or spiritual oppression. In view of this great mission, we who work for the greater unity and strength of the Church humbly proclaim this year’s Whitsuntide as a day of universal prayer, so that God’s spirit may be brought to those who “were far off and peace to those who were near” (Eph. 2:17, RSV). With a renewed faith, with love and compassion, we call upon all the chruches of Christ and all Christians to reconsider their duty in the light of the Spirit given to us, and to rededicate themselves as witnesses to Christ. “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is from God; that we might understand the gifts bestowed on us by God” (I Cor. 2:12). THE PRESIDENTS OF THE WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES Dr. John Baillie—Edinburgh Bishop S. U. Barbieri—Buenos Aires Bishop Otto Dibelius—Berlin Archbishop Iakovos—New York Metropolitan Juhanon Mar Thoma—Tiruvella Bishop Henry Knox Sherrill—Boxford, Mass. J DR.K A G A W A | (Tokyo) — Dr. Toyohiko Kagawa, Japan’s famous Christian leader, died of a heart attack in his home in Tokyo on April 23, at the age of 71. He had been bed-ridden at his home for the past year. Dr. Kagawa was an outstanding evangelist, a distinguished social worker and a leader of labour movements and co-operatives. He was converted to Christianity at the age of 15 and began his work on Christmas Eve, 1909, in the slums of Kobe where he spent several years devoting himself to the care of the destitute. Later, after studying briefly at Princeton Theological Seminary in the United States, he returned to Japan to work among the poverty-stricken farming communities and in mining and fishermen’s districts, establishing churches, missions, kindergartens, nurseries and gospel schools. He described himself as a scientific mystic. He was an ardent pacifist, a Christian poet and the author of 180 books on religious, social, scientific and other subjects. He had travelled widely throughout the world on evangelistic missions. (EPS, Geneva)
