Magyar Egyház, 1992 (71. évfolyam, 1-5. szám)

1992-01-01 / 1. szám

12. oldal

MAGYAR EGYHÁZ

THE REV. SYNGMAN RHEE NEW PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHURCHES

The Rev. Syngman Rhee was elected president of the National Council of Churches of Christ, the ecumenical body of over 30 American Churches, at the November 1991 General Board meeting held in Indianapolis. Rev. Rhee, a minister of the Presbyterian Church (USA), came to the United States as a refugee from communist North Korea in 1950. He succeeds the Very Rev. Leonid Kishkovsky of the Orthodox Church in America and will serve during the 1992-1993 term. Rev. Rhee’s successor was also elected in Indianapolis in the person of the Rev. Dr. Gordon L. Sommers of the Moravian Church in America, for the term of 1994-1995. The Rev. Joan B. Campbell is general secretary of the NCCC since 1991. The Hungarian Reformed Church in America is a constituent member of the NCCC.

The Rev. Syngman Rhee said in his inaugural address: ,‘I am going to hang onto the ministry of reconciliation. That is precisely the call of God to me ... I have learned over and over again that only Christ’s love and God’s gift of unity are great enough to heal hurts in our lives and divisions in our society and churches.”

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INVITATION

The Eastern Classis

of the Hungarian Reformed Church in America hereby extends a cordial invitation to the Officers and Elders of the Classis for the

1992 ANNUAL MEETING

to be held at

THE HUNGARIAN REFORMED CHURCH of Perth Amboy, New Jersey

SUNDAY, MARCH 1st at 3:00 P.M. Respectfully,

Stefan M. Török, Dean

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DISCERNING THE SEASONS

Text: Eccles. 3:1-14.

“What gain has the worker from his toil?” There is something in us that resists this question.

Let’s look at this question and the whole notion of life’s seasons. Some of us may be making resolutions today — and perhaps some of us are already breaking resolutions. What is the point of this toil, or this struggle to better our lives? Ecclesiastes suggests an answer. And our Gospel lesson provides an example of how one person — Joseph — found the point of his toil and struggles to safeguard the newborn Christ. So let’s look at the poetry of Ecclesiastes and try to unpack this jarring, mysterious question.

First, Ecclesiastes says that the seasons of our lives are of God’s creation. The seasons described in these lines are the deep, life-changing moments — moments when we acutely sense that our life is swept up in something bigger than ourselves, something that connects us to all things, living, dead, and even eternal. These are the sacred moments.

But then a question may arise within us. “Are

we supposed to be resigned to the seasons of our lives, since God has ordained them, and you can’t fight God?” Is Ecclesiastes really only weaving poetry around a philosophy of defeatism? Are these verses merely an expression of resignation to the rule of a tyrant God?

The answer is, emphatically, no. To believe that whatever comes our way must be God’s will is to confuse God’s will with our will. To believe that whatever is must be divine, is to destroy the distinction between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of earth. That is the crux — to see the seasons of our lives as God creates them, and not as we would pervert them. The point of life is to live in the seasons of God’s creation — that is what Ecclesiastes means. The point is not our toil but our obedience. The point is not our achievements but our submission to God’s will. The point is not what we effect in God’s good season so much as it is faithfully living in that season of God’s.

Life does not culminate when we reach our “high earnings” years, when our children marry, when we retire to the good life. Life has its apex in our death. Death certainly brushes away any notions of our effectiveness, our productivity, our