Magyar Egyház, 1969 (48. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1969-04-01 / 4. szám
12 MAGYAR EGYHÁZ MAGYAR CHURCH Bertram J. Sathmary: “3 am pairing a gooö time” In days when walking was popular, I was hurrying along the street on an errand of mercy. To my surprise I met one whom I had confirmed some years before but who, unfortunately, had refused to live the vows he had made to God. To all my pleadings he would always reply, with a laconic smile, “I am having a good time.” His mother and brothers pleaded with him, but all to no avail. Neither prayers nor tears from his loved ones touched his heart, which had become so hardened with sin that he only ridiculed things spiritual. I often called on him, but he refused to be seen. Meeting with him on the occasion referred to, I paused long enough to plead once more with him, but all in vain. The same reply,—“I am having a good time.” He appeared this time at his worst,—shabbily dressed, unshaven,—so intoxicated that he staggered. Tears came to my eyes at the realization that with all my best efforts, here was at least one who had not been rescued from the horrible pit of sin. Comfort, however, did come from the thought that even Jesus was unable to save all, and commissioned the Apostles and others that through them “some might be saved.” This comfort increased as I beheld, Sunday after Sunday, at all of the church services, many young men and women whom I had confirmed during the years of my pastorate, who had lived their vows made to God, and who had kept the faith, being ’rnong the faithful workers in the church. Every minister of a large congregation, doubtless has had similar experiences. For the one who may have forgotten and broken the vows made to God, the same minister has many others who rise up and call him blessed. Not only because he led them to know Christ as their Saviour, hut because he was a friend to them in times of sickness and great sorrows. They who spend their time “in riotous living” soon find out that there are plenty of spenders of other people’s money, leaving the poor victims friendless, hungry, in rags. There is no such thing as “having a good time” doing wrong. ANNUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE EASTERN CLASSIS Dean Dr. Andrew Harsanyi and Chief Elder John Nemish presided over the Annual Assembly of the Eastern Classis held in the Bethlehem church on March 23. Dean Dr. Harsanyi introduced his annual report with this question: “Will the disciples ever fulfill Christ’s missionary command, make disciples of all nations?” Let us believe this will happen. In our present age, however, the Church is yet a very small group within the family of mankind, and in an age when everything is moving forward—technical progress with a breathtaking pace— the Church seems to be standing still; in an age when there is an amazing growth in population the Church does not keep pace with this growth. The faith-community feels frustrated and in the midst of rising crime-rate, national and international crises, wars and riots, it puts the bewildered question: Why can’t the Church do better, or: Where did the Church do wrong? In many things, at many places, at many times, of course. Conscious of this the Church is trying hard to find a new voice and new ways by which it can regain the spiritual influence in today’s world which it has apparently lost. Updating, restructuring, heavy involvement in contemporary social actions are all part of this effort. It seems to me, however, that the only way the Church can go is to follow the original action-plan of Christ with full strength: train people—with precept, prayer and example—to carry forth the ministry of Christ: impregnate the world with the spirit of the gospel. The old-fashioned name for this is missions. Let us not frown at the old name but rather put new vigor to its implementation: each member of the faith-community must be a missionary, at all times, in all places making God’s love truly operative in the world and doing this in such an impressive, such a winsome way that others willingly join in becoming missionaries themselves. “All this goes for our Hungarian Reformed Church in America to which congregations in our Eastern Classis loyally belong. Needless to say that to be fit for the plan of Christ we must be a faith-community.” In his report, Dr. Harsanyi stressed the importance of the impending revision of the Constitution and By- Laws and commended the Eastern Area Elders’ Association for its diligent work in this field under the direction of its president, Chief Elder John Nemish. Reviewing the highlights of the congregational reports, Dr. Harsanyi listed the following statistics for 1968: 43 baptisms, 39 confirmations, 26 weddings, 61 burials; 1,818 on the lists of voters, constituency 3,275 (est.); congregational income—$229,000, expenditures $209,000. It is particularly gratifying that $135,000 of the receipts were from direct personal contributions of church members (the rest was from receipts from affairs, rents, interests, etc.) The Dean discussed at length the question of pastoral salaries, “embarrassing as it may be.” He pointed out that even the highest pastoral salaries in the Classis are below the moderate standard of living as just recently set by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Washington (9,977). Dr. Harsanyi also pointed out that these
