Magyar Egyház, 1978 (57. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1978-05-01 / 5-6. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 7 MAGYAR CHURCH ... BUT A MOTHER WHO FEARS THE LORD ... MOTHER’S DAY 1978 As we celebrate Mother’s Day year after year, and extol the virtues of a good mother, read passages from the Bible, and meditate upon wonderful persons who exemplified motherhood, I was thinking that the real heroes of the Christian church are “MOTHERS”. Let me ask the question, where would the church be without good, Christian mothers, godly women, about whom we find such a fine description in the Book of Proverbs chapter 31? Can anyone picture a loving home without the gracious influence of a good mother? What can the husband do in a home, among friends without the cooperation rendered by a good wife? The children need the training and proper supervision and discipline of a good mother, and how much they suffer only God knows, when the mother is taken away from them. Consider our Hungarian Reformed Churches from the point of view of mothers, you can picture what would have been our fate and future if, women would not have been loyal and faithful as they were from biblical times down through the ages? The real heroes of the Hungarian Reformed Church in America are the women who helped to organize the first churches in the United States of America, and worked under difficult circumstances to raise large families, and keep the fire of the churches burning. I would like to pay tribute to those pioneer women in the churches from shore to shore, who arrived from the “OLD COUNTRY” without earthly possessions, who worked endless hours to supplement the meager earnings of their husbands to secure the daily bread and necessary funds to send their children on to higher educational institutions. We cannot mention any one particular name, for there are thousands who were equally industrious and diligent. I still remember the ones I met 30 years ago, when I arrived to the United States of America after the Second World War, as they narrated the heroic struggles for life. One hard working mother taking care of six, eight, or ten and sometimes even more children, beside maintaining the “Boarding house” where she cooked, cleaned and cared for a group of immigrants who had no family... No washing machines, no modern appliances, no other help, still they taught their children the love of God and respect of fellowmen, the whole family went to church and prayed and sang together. If I would be a sculptor, I would carve a beautiful statue portraying such mothers, that would herald their great deeds for all posterity to see. If I would be a poet, I would compose a beautiful poem, to pay tribute to those wonderful women, so they would live for all times to come. Before it will be too late, and opportunity will pass us by, let us recognize those women who feared the Lord and let us praise the name of our Savior for such dedicated mothers, who helped to shape and mold the lives of their children, in the Hungarian Reformed congregations from New York City, to San Francisco, from Canada down to Florida. As we recall the dear memories of those mothers who have gone home to be with the Lord, we can only thank God who granted us MOTHERS, dedicated Christian WOMEN who built the kingdom of Jesus Christ in human hearts, and in mining towns, and industrial metropolitan cities. Let their names be engraved into the hearts of grateful children, for the innumerable kindness and goodness that flowed out of their hearts and filled the Hungarian communities with inspiration. Mothers today, may I ask you to learn from our heroic ancestors; be strong in the faith as they were adamant; be immovable in your Christian convictions, that no winds of modernism and godlessness may change you; be steadfast and never grow weary with the many problems confronting you in our modern every day life. I magnify and praise the name of God, that we were blessed by the gracious influences of Christian mothers and women in the past, and pray that He may send worthy successors of grandmothers and great-grandmothers, that today and tomorrow, we may have God fearing mothers whose children shall rise up and call them blessed. Dezső Abraham, Bishop
