Magyar Egyház, 1989 (63. évfolyam, 1-6. szám)

1989-11-01 / 6. szám

10. oldal MAGYAR EGYHÁZ snow; there was more smoke than fire. And they were cold and tired. With their hands numb from cold they were un­able to fan the fire and as Joseph wanted to blow it was hut weak panting. In despair, he spoke to the donkey: “Come on, blow, give life to this fire!” But the poor beast wasn’t stirring, it was sleeping. Then, a hush in the air and a tiny bird landed in their midst. Small, brownish-grayish, a dull little bird; it was a robin. It quivered and shivered from the cold. But then, the litle bird made a few steps toward the flickering fire, ruffled up and fluffed out his feathers and began to beat with his wings like with a fan. And lo, suddenly a flame leaped from the fire, right at the tiny breast of the little bird. Though burned it didn’t shriek back but kept on beating its wings until the fire was fully glowing and shedding warmth around. Mary cried: “Oh, dear little bird! You gave warmth to my baby. May the Good Lord bless you forever!” And the Lord did bless the little bird: from then on and forever the robin, the red-robin, wears the badge of honor on its breast. Brownish­­grayish is the little bird but its red breast makes it so very pretty. Another day passed by. Now the wanderers proceeded slowly and safely. What happened the next evening and the next morning turned into another legend. They were in the desert already and the oasis they reached at eventide was full of blooming flowers. The air was full of intoxicat­ing fragrances, here were white lilies, there violet lilacs, further on clusters of flowers on an acacia tree. Being on the road for many days Mary thought she would wash some clothes, particularly the swaddling diapers of the Baby Jesus. The washing was easy but where to hang them to dry? Not on the ground for that was sandy. The lilies were weak to hold up the clothes; the lilacs too high for Mary; the acacia tree was thorny. Mary looked around and saw a small shrub she didn’t even notice before: no color, no flowers, no fragrance — it was a rosemary shrub. But it held up the swaddling diapers beautifully. Next morn­ing the clothes were dry and sparkling white. Mary couldn’t help to sigh a small prayer: “Thanks, 0 Lord, and bless the rosemary!” You know that the Lord heard her prayer for the rosemary as we know it has beautiful blue clusters of flowers and if you rub the leaves in your fingers they have a sweet aroma. And so they continued on their journey. By day they saw many wild animals from far off but they never came close. One evening, however, it was earlier than usual, as they reached an oasis they found all kinds of animals drinking from the cool pool of water. They built their fire from a safe distance but, lo, all the animals slowly stepped closer: a lion, a deser fox, a gazelle, a zebra, a wildcat and some others, too. First the wanderers were scared but the animals just stared at the baby. The Baby Jesus loved that. He toddled to the animals and while Mary and Joseph watched him with their blood almost frozen in their veins (but did not dare to utter a sound) the Baby Jesus stroke every animal one by one. They all uttered some loud cry, again and again as if they were singing their animal song. Except the wildcat, why, why not only a hoarse trembling sound came from its throat. Then, as slowly as they came, the animals left and wandered off into the desert night. Except the wildcat. It stayed close to the fire, kept staring at the Baby Jesus from his slit yellow eyes. In the morning as Mary woke from her sleep saw the Baby Jesus sweetly sleeping with his head resting on the fur of the curled up wildcat. “Bless the cat, O Lord,” Mary whispered. And from that time the cat left the wilderness behind and stayed at the fire with man contently purring. At least this is what the legend says. All this time, of course, the donkey was with them. The faihtful animal who carried Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem, who swiftly sped them away at the first fright of their flight. The legend tells that this donkey stayed with them in Egypt and after some years happily carried them back to Nazareth when King Herod was already dead and they were safe to return to their homeland. You can guess how many times Joseph and Mary gave thanks to the Lord for this dumb beast and asked the Lord to bless it. How the donkey was blest is no legend anymore. You can read it in the Holy Bible: it had the honor to carry the Lord Jesus from Bethany to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday; it became the royal beast on which the King of Kings rode on the way of man’s salvation. Trees and flowers and animals — who met the Little Lord Jesus, who served Him the best they could, they were blessed by the Lord of all. Because the Lord is love and He loves not only men but His whole beautiful creation. Andrew Harsanyi TO THE MEMBERS AND FRIENDS OF THE HUNGARIAN REFORMED CHURCH OF SAN FRANCISCO After many years of preparation and waiting, the Ma­gyar Reformed Church of San Francisco and Vicinity, with the help of God’s grace, can finally say that they now have a church building of their own. We ask Almighty God to help make this earthly “vessel” truly God’s tabernacle, where He is together with his own. May this building serve all Hungarians, Hungarian Americans as a spiritual home: may it also serve the Hungarians, Hungarian Americans of the San Francisco Bay Area as a place for edification, en­lightenment, enrichment. This church building came into our possession on August 1, 1989. Throughout the month of August, we cleaned and painted. The first worship service in this our very own church was held on September 3, 1989. The con­secration of this church took place on the first Sunday of November by the Bishop of the Hungarian Reformed Church in America and the Dean of the Western Classis. The purchase price of our church was $260,000.00. We have a 20 year mortgage of $100,000.00, with monthly pay­ments of $915.00. We must meet our financial obligations, we must pay our debts. We therefore respectfully request that our members and friends demonstrate their generosity, their support, their good-will toward our endeavor with kind and generous donations. (Donations are TAX DE­DUCTIBLE.) Remember the Scriptures: “for God loveth a cheerful giver.” (2. Corinthians 9:7-8.) With Christian Love THE CHURCH COUNCIL Donations should be sent to: Free Magyar Reformed Church of San Francisco and Vicinity 102 Laurel Street, Redwood City, CA 94043 Tel.: 415-365-1535

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