Magyar Egyház, 1969 (48. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1969-11-01 / 11. szám
14 MAGYAR EGYHÁZ the other groups. How many times the American authorities have tried to melt in and “assimilate” the small immigrant churches! How many times they planned to abolish and discontinue the Hungarian language altogether! These Churches in American denominations were saved from the forceful “americanization”, because there was and still is an independent Hungarian Reformed Church in America. On this 45th anniversary we reiterate with humble faith and hope this goal of our church and ask our brethren living in this the structure of other denominations, to find the way towards a United Hungarian Reformed Church in America. May the Lord bring closer the day when all Hungarian Calvinists in the free world can serve Almighty God in a self-supporting and independent denomination. The emphasis of the Hungarian Reformed Church has always been laid upon the confessional standards of our ancient faith. The Second Helvetic Confession and The Heidelberg Catechism have been influential upon the life and work of our ancestors. Perhaps the confessions are not too important to some churches, and they change their standards, hut these valuable guidelines have always been very close to the heart of our people in the past 450 years. Acknowledging the value of our treasured confessions, in 1968, the newly established Bethlen Press in Ligonier, Pa., selected for its first publication the English translations of these documents. Let me mention two congregations that will help to make this 45th anniversary year of our denomination very meaningful. Our Duquesne, Pa., church burned the $100,000 mortgage paper on October 12th. The Trenton, N. J., church celebrated its 75th anniversary on October 26th. This is the oldest congregation among our churches. For the anniversary they redecorated and renovated their beautiful church and Sunday School building and Social Center thereby bearing testimony to their faith. Many influences and good works in the life of American Hungarian Reformed Christianity originated from this church. When we reach the forty-fifth milestone in December I would like to ask that special services and intercessions should be held. Let every church remember in prayer the many blessings God has bestowed upon us and unitedly ask Him to pour out His Spirit upon all our members and renew our churches with more vigor, zeal, and enthusiasm. May God grant us faithful and loyal members who will be ready to serve and live and die for their faith. The future of our church is in the hand of Almighty God. He guided us, protected us, and blessed us in the past and we ask nothing more than that He should lead us in the future and forever and ever. Let us pray. ... We Pray Thee, O Lord, our God, to vouchsafe to us that which we need. Our Father, search the hidden sin and forgive, the unuttered grief and give grace to bear. Our experiences are different, yet we are united in a common infirmity and by a common need; do Thou let us hear the whisper of the Most High; our hope is in Thy everlasting bounty. We pray that our hearts may beat to that greater heart of which we are only fragments. We praise Thee for the eternal promise: Surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives and we will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. Almighty God, bless and preserve in safety the youth of our land which is in our midst. May the light of Thy truth shine in growing brightness upon them. Blessed Lord God, shelter and keep them in the knowledge of Thy teaching. We pray that they may be prepared for clean, courageous, and patriotic citizenship. Make our fathers and mothers grandly conscious of their responsibility for the sake of our homes, our churches and our country. For the love of Thy only Son, Jesus Christ. Amen. Bertram J. Sathmary MORTGAGE BURNING IN DUQUESNE The occasion of mortgage burning is not the time to summarize a church’s past history, yet there were so many claims to past achievements of our congregation by other communities that I feel that certain historical facts have to he published at this time. This is why a historical summary of our past is in order. As part of the history of our denomination it is a well known fact that Duquesne received the honor of being the birthplace of our church on December 9th, 1924, and in 1958, it was again at a constitutional meeting held in Duquesne that the name was changed to Hungarian Reformed Church in America and our first bishop was elected and installed in office in our new church. It is not quite as well known, however, that the Duquesne congregation has acclaimed independence from any church authority as early as 1920, and that the first official record of this decision was dated March 13th, 1921, when the congregational meeting officially decided to continue its life as an independent congregation. There were two more meetings with similar decisions before the famous documentary letter was sent to the General Synod of the Reformed Church of Hungary (its first copy is kept in our safe
