Magyar Egyház, 1965 (44. évfolyam, 2-12. szám)
1965-08-01 / 8-9. szám
10 MAGYAR EGYHÁZ MAGYAR CHURCH THE TEMPLE OF THE BURNING BUSH Bishop Louis Nagy preached this sermon at the church dedication at Akron, Ohio, August 8, 1965. Read: Exodus 3:1-15 Have you ever noticed the face of a young mother who holds her child in her arms for the first time? Who can describe her feelings? Now, as we look at your beautiful new church and see your happy faces, who can describe what is in your heart? Your glistening eyes and radiance tell us that your chalice of gratitude overflows. Thank God who permitted you to reach this day. I don’t know whether or not there is anyone here who took part in the building of the first church. If so, I place before you the flowers of honor and love of the third generation. I would like to look into the hearts of those who faithfully and sacrificially built the second church. What a blessing, to have been permitted to participate in the building of it. Through the lips of Haggai, God speaks this to us sweetly “The latter splendor of this house shall be greater than the former” says the Lord of hosts “and in this place I will give prosperity.” Now from this sweet little church I will take you to a smaller church which was built by God in Mt. Horeb. A church which consisted of just a wild rose bush. In the Hungarian translation it is called the dog rose bush. The English translation refers to it only as the burning bush. I will tell you what happened at the burning bush and in this you will have my dedicatorial sermon. What makes a church a church? What makes it sacred? I visited the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris and I prayed there in my own Protestant war I was amazed at the beauty of the Bahai temple in Evanston. But I did not feel there what I have felt so often in many small churches both in Hungary and here. Where is the church? It is where God speaks to His children. Why do we build churches? De we want to meet with God or does He want to meet with us? In the church of the burning bush we learn that God wants to meet with us. There He tells us who He is and what His will is, and there He gives us His sweet consolation. Wherever God is, there is a church; and He sanctifies the place with His own majestic presence. I. The wise Solomon, who built the first church, knew well that God does not dwell in temples made with hands. To that great God, Whom the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain and to Whom the earth is only His footstool— to such a great God—what kind of church can we build? How peculiar is all of life! The mighty God, Whom the heavens cannot contain, is able to dwell in the contrite heart of the repentant man or in the soul of an innocent child—He can rest amidst the lilies of the field or He can choose for His abode a burning bush of wild roses. Can you imagine a little church building covered with wild red roses? In the wilderness, where lightning does not flash, where people do not walk—suddenly—Moses sees a flame arise, a flame whose origin has no explanation because it does not consume. Like a magnet it draws curious Moses to itself, and suddenly he hears a voice call his name. He starts toward the burning bush and meets with the living God. The wild rose bush became a church because God was in it. Moses covered his face and stood reverently at a distance. In this meeting we are told the history of salvation, God's and man’s relationship to each other, the meaning of life and the aim of all churches and worship. God created us for Himself and He calls men to Himself, perhaps in a sudden, unexplainable, burning bush; perhaps through tradition, custom, curiosity or education; perhaps at a time when the pampered child of life is burning from the hot rays of trial and suffering; perhaps in youth or maybe at twilight, in some way He will call us by name to Himself. Then we will realize with surprise that life was nothing more or less than a preparation for this meeting, and we will see just as much of the face of God as we need. This church will never become empty because God’s enflamed bush can never be avoided by man and because His namecalling invitation cannot be silenced. This is a stronger pealing than the ringing of the church bells. At the burning bush we learn that God sanctifies the church with His presence. The place where He is, is sacred. We separate this place from everyday living and come here with fear and implicit trust in God and stand in awe because we are on holy ground. When Moses stood before God he felt his nothingness. A miserable sinner stands before God feeling fortunate to have escaped so long without punishment. When we come to God’s house, we must come in humility, trembling at the thought that we will stand before the majestic God. Those who seek God diligently, will find Him here. God wants to meet with us and speak to us tenderly in this place. II. In the burning bush church, God Himself proclaims the Word. He tells us who He is, what He warts, and what His plan and consolation is. He tells us first that He is the God of our fathers, whose hearts have turned to dust, but whose souls are with Him. He tells us that He loved our fathers, that He accepted their faithfulness and has not forgotten the covenant made with them. He expects nothing more from the sons than a reliving of the faith of the fathers. Moses met with his father’s God, who is the God of our fathers too. He demands from us their faithfulness, their faith, their proven pietv, and expects from us that we worship, serve, and obey Him as our fathers did. We begin here, in this place, to sing a new song which praises Him in the same way that the Hungarian
