Magyar Egyház, 1971 (50. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1971-02-01 / 2. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 11 Our Calling And Mission At the beginning of a new year people customarily review their situation. They look back at the past, evaluate their life and successes and look at the future to imagine their goals and to dream about their hopes. Past and future can be perceived in two ways, from God’s point of view or that of man’s. Viewed in human terms success may have in fact been utter failure —- in the eyes of God. At the same lime winning and success in the cause of God — in human perspective, may appear to he unintelligible, at the best a fight with no goal in sight. Church matter too can be seen front two sides. We can look at life of the material Church, the statistics, the human activities and accordingly determine the measure of its’ success or failure, or we can look beyond the physically visible objects, at the untouchable yet clearly revealed will of invisible and eternal God, and have it illumine our work. In the midst of the historical events of the 70’s which occur at an ever faster pace, when the moral pillars of the world are shaking, creaking and cracking, when the storms of history cause states, national order and churches to disappear, we still clearly perceive Gods’ intentions for our church. The Lord of history, who rules, directs, knows and sees the future, decades ago undertook the great job of the resettlement of His chosen people. He resettled them in foreign lands, hostile environments, under completely different circumstances, to guarantee survival of his chosen people, to ensure the continuation of the word of God, to make sure that the; church with a historical past should bring forth a new branch, through which the historical future might continue. (How sad, that even today some can only see the human, social or political side of this divine plan.) Later on, the Lord of history created for himself a new church out of the remnants of his chosen people. A new church which remained faithful to its past, made safe its inheritance and undertook the work and battle for the future. A new church which was unwilling to abandon its calling in exchange for a bowl of soup, earthly gains or the comfort of the modern life. A new church, whose excellent, divinely chosen leaders and magnificent congregants, have fought their own Hungarian reformation in America. Congregations were born, churches built, the word of God proclaimed, not because men wished it so, but because God was preparing the morrow through his faithful few. (How sad that there are those who to this day only can see the human side in all of this, the earthly fights, the success of personal or group desires or the opposition of brothers and Hungarians.) Then came the terrible historical hurricane, became a prisoner of a foreign world power. The remnant of the rescued and resettled chosen people began to flower, to grow, to spread, to multiply, mysteriously sometimes not unlike the biblical mustard seed. New leaders came and new church members, those who had seen the storm and had lived in the world of the ungodly, who understood and experienced the compassion of the Lord and realized, that God had a miraculous and holy plan for His earthly church. (How sad that there are those, who nonetheless, even now only view these events with human eyes, and instead of accepting God’s will, propagate their personal views, attempting to force them on others.) In reexamining the events of our day, we must conclude, that God called the Hungarian Reformed Church in America to His service and to the service of the future. He has given us holy duties, precious treasures, a blessed mission. We are the continuation of the Hungarian reformation. Only we can proclaim the word of God pure and true, verily, freely and truly Hungarian. It is our task to preserve the historical treasures of the Hungarian Reformation. In Hungary these treasures must be hidden deep in the heart, some easily forget them, others absolutely deny them. It can happen, that the Church bells will stop ringing, the preachers fall silent and the congregations will no longer exist in Hungary. It can happen, that the organized church, along with its visible symbols, forms and faithful Christians will cease to exist. It can happen, that the marvellous truth of Gods’ revelation will only flicker on in the hearts and souls. And it can happen, that God will someday cause His Word and Fire to be again rekindled in the Hungarian hearts, by us! This then is our mission: Forever to keep the will of God. To cling to the historical truths, under the most difficult circumstances, so that we may inherit the historical future. It is imperative that the ministers of our Church completely fulfill their duty, not only to keep the treasures of the Hungarian reformation, but to cause them to grow and multiply. Our members must, one and all, understand and
