Magyar Egyház, 1969 (48. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1969-06-01 / 6-7. szám
8 MAGYAR EGYHÁZ Church anymore. It may be you reached the point when religion became a burden. When the whole business seems to be a dead weight on your shoulder. When you wonder whether it is worthwhile to struggle any longer? When this happens it is time to stop, think and check, because something is wrong. Before Christ one of the most religious peoples of the world were the Babylonians. They worshipped very faithfully their stone and wooden gods. From early morning to late night every moment of their life was controlled by their gods. They carried these big and heavy stone and wooden gods into battle on their shoulders. Today, Christianity which came to solve our problems became a problem for many. Why? Because we try to carry religion on our shoulders and we do not let Christ carry our problems, our hopelessness, sufferings and sins. Our Christian mission in the world today: to understand God and his work, to understand life and its meaning and to understand the other man and his problems. To try to comfort someone after a funeral if we do not believe in the eternal life is absolutely ridiculous. To start to speak about Jesus Christ to a dying man, if we do not believe that Christ is alive is nothing more than a fairy tale. To comfort old people if we do not believe in the spiritual world is a hopeless task. To advise young people if we ourselves do not set an example for them is nothing more than hypocricy. If a Christian does not believe in Christianity he is a liar. And if there is something our world does not need today: more liars! But our world badly needs the truth! The truth that Christ will understand our human problems, because he knows us, and he can solve our problems because he knows God! If we will find the living God, we will not need the false gods anymore. If our young people will find Christ, they will not need LSD or similar drugs anymore. If our adults will find the Holy Spirit, they will not hate each other, or kill each other, or drink day and night. The lonely, the hopeless, the sick, the old will find understanding in the Bible, will find comfort in the words of Jesus, and will find eternal life in God the Heavenly Father! You have a great job at hand: to build tomorrow’s world today! To build a better world! We cannot start this great job with modern buildings because sin can destroy the best home, the most modern city, and the proudest nation! If we want to have a happier future we should start to work with the soul, the spiritual side, not with the drawing boards, with stones or bricks! If we really want to create something, we should follow God! We should understand Jesus! We cannot build a perfect world with imperfect people. We cannot build a sinless world with people who are full with sins! We should improve ourselves if we want to improve the world! Someone said once: “If you want to improve people better begin with the grandmothers!” If we want to see a better world tomorrow, we better start the work today! Today we have a big gap between the advance in the scientific and technical world and the chaotic situation in the moral and spiritual world. We must narrow the gap! We must close the gap! We must lead the people! Back to God! Back to each other! You must remember: life is burden without God, religion is burden without Jesus Christ, and every sacrifice for others is burden without the Holy Spirit! You must remember: behind every criticism of Christianity there is a man full with burdens, without rest and without peace in his soul! You must remember: today we are overburdened with everything, we need God, Christ and the Holy Spirit more than ever before! I sincerely hope, that this day will be a turning point in your life! A day on which you will give your burdens to Christ and will accept His relief through which you can be blessing for other! You say you are only a little man. You cannot do too much. But... A little man can be a very big tool in the hand of God. If you feel that you are too little to change the world, you must remember: you have a great God on your side, if you are ready to live for Him and work for Him! It is not the world, the church, the school, we must change. We need only one great change: to change ourselves! Christ is here to change you! To change your life, to change your future! Christ is here to change history! Christ is here to bless you! He is here to take over all your burdens! This sermon was preached by the Rev. Tibor Dömötör to the Graduating Class of 1969 at the Baccalaureate Service held at Copley High School on June 8. QUALITIES OF A BISHOP In connection with the naming of a new bishop to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brentwood (England, covering parts of the Greater London area) the Council of Clergy— the official representative body of the diocesan priests— voted in favor of a survey among the clergy of the diocese the qualities the priests expect in a new bishop. The survey shows that the priests want a bishop who has spent a considerable time in parish work. 64% want a relatively progressive bishop and only 5% want a relatively conservative bishop. This is significant: the clergy are generally held to be middle-of-the-road conservatives. The priests want a bishop to speed up liturgical reform, and to make rapid progress towards Christian unity. They think the bishop must see lay-people as partners with him in the work of the Church. Also, women must have a greater share in this work as they do at present. And they want the bishop to be distinctly concerned with the problems and hope of young people. A peculiar way of showing neighborly love is being practiced by Dino Volpi from Rome, Italy. Each day he calls five total strangers on the phone and tells them some nice things. He says that everybody welcomes! a friendly word from a stranger; he, in turn, looks forward with the joyous expectation of a child to each day’s five calls. The picture on our cover shows the title page of “God Reconciles and Makes Free” published by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches as a bible study guide for the churches in preparation for the General Council of the Alliance to be held in Nairobi, Kenya, in August, 1970. Copies of this study guide can be obtained from all church offices of the Hungarian Reformed Church in America. A Hungarian translation will soon be prepared by Dr. Ilarsanyi.
