Magyar Egyház, 1971 (50. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1971-05-01 / 5. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 7 halls and educational facilities, at least here in America, hut what we need more is the blessing of the Holy Spirit, its power and lifegiving energy. Brethren in the Lord, let us examine ourselves and see that we need this power of the Spirit! Let us earnestly pray, with one heart and mind, that God send His Spirit upon us, His children, and upon our churches, that our members may be active and our churches filled with zeal for the cause of our Lord. Let us prayerfully sing our hymn in this Pentecost holiday season: “Come Holy Spirit, heavenly dove, With all Thy quickening powers; Kindle a flame of sacred love In these cold hearts of ours.” Dezső Abraham ☆ ☆ PENTECOSTAL FIRE “And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Acts 2:3-4). What a sense of awe must have possessed those who were gathered together on the Day of Pentecost, the birthday of the church as they saw fire coming down out of heaven, from God to man. The only difference between mediocrity and excellence, in whatever direction we may look, is that excellence has “the spark.” The fire has fallen on it. In music is an abundance of singers with welltrained voices — “made” voices, we sometimes call them. But occasionally there appears a singer, the thrill of whose tones sends vibrations running up and down our spines. That singer has the spark. In leadership are many with executive capabilities and a well-wrought plan, but somehow their plans fail to catch fire. Then suddenly there appears one of no remarkable abilities and with no unusual plans but with the spark. The fire falls and the movement races forward to success. It is true also in churches, and that is the difference between the church at Pentecost and the church of today. They had the fire. They had little else. They had no organization, no educated ministry, no fine cathedrals, in fact no buildings at all. They had no clear-cut plan of procedure, no well defined objective toward which they were moving. They had only one thing — the spark, the divine fire! Like wildfire the movement raced from heart to heart, from town to town, from country to country, from race to race. It jumped barriers of creed, class, color and sex and bound them into a community so well knit that they survived the ravages of persecution and death for generations to come. In fact, they thrived on the hardships — because they had the fire! Fire is divine. There is little wonder that some of the more primitive races have been fire-worshippers. Man can provide the fuel, but only God can strike the fire. No man, by taking thought, can add one cubit to his spiritual stature. He can lead a good life but he cannot lead an inspired, or an inspiring life. When man gets out of the way and lets God get in his work, then the fire falls. Only one thing keeps the modern church from sweeping like wildfire across the map of this disillusioned, disheartened world, and that is another Pentecost. Wre are too sensitive in our ways, our rights, our prerogatives. We have become so interested in the trough that we shall build around our little bonfire, how much or how little water it shall contain, that we have provided everything but the one indispensable — the fire itself. The church of Jesus Christ has the answer to every last one of humanities crucial problems today, but still they go unanswered and will go unanswered until the fire falls. Tibor Toth TWELFTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE UNITED CHURCH WOMEN The Twelfth Annual Conference of the United Church Women, Hungarian Reformed Church in America, Eastern and New York Classis was held on Sunday, May 2 in the Perth Amboy church. 97 delegates registered but total attendance by the evening was 115. The theme of the conference “Jesus and Women” was presented by Reverend and Mrs. Imre Bertalan in two groups, English and Hungarian. A lively discussion followed after which the official business meeting took place. The following officers were elected: President, Miss Elsa Petro, New York City; Vice President, Mrs. Helen Nemish, Carteret; Hungarian Secretary, Mrs. Joseph Ivan, Carteret; English Secretary, Mrs. Helen Cutler, Staten Island; Treasurer, Mrs. Helen Nagy, Roebling; Chaplain, Mrs. Margaret Silagyi, Perth Amboy.
