Magyar Egyház, 1993 (72. évfolyam, 1-5. szám)
1993-02-01 / 1. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 3. oldal STEPS RETRACED One Lenten tradition has been that during this period each year devout souls retraced the steps which led Jesus from the quiet obscurity of the Nazareth carpenter shop to Pilate’s judgment hall and Calvary’s cross. For the truly devout, the steps would be retraced in the prayerful hope that one might enter a little more deeply into an understanding of Jesus, might absorb a little more of his assurance of God and his compassion toward men, and might inch his way a little closer to the goal of St. Paul in II Cor. 5:17. James E. Wagner ACTIVITY AND DISCIPLINE The Lenten season is a time in the Christian calendar during which we seek explicitly to meditate on that action of God in Christ, by which we were found, and on the consequences in strenuous Christian living of that fact. Part of the problem that people have in understanding the Christian faith is that they seek to understand it as if it consisted of doctrines which they must believe and religious practices which they must keep. Doctrines and practices there are, but the essence of the Christian faith and life is that it is an activity. The New Testament speaks of it as a race to be run, a war to be waged, a wrestling to be undertaken. The whole business involves strenuous activity and vigorous discipline. Daniel T. Niles in “The Power at Work Among Us” (Philadelphia Westminster Press, 1967) LENTEN CLIMAX It is a wise thing to introduce our special observances of Lent somewhat slowly. Establish one and get it firmly fixed. Then move on to the next. We need to remember that this was the process through which our Lord went. It moved toward a climax-the Cross and the empty tomb. Do not exhaust yourself spiritually before you reach these two climaxes. Many start the Lenten season with great spiritual fervor. But soon it begins to diminish until by the time Holy Week is reached, the urge of these great forty days has left them. L. Wendell Fifield PENITENCE AND LOVE Text: “God commandeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Rom.5:8 I. Ash Wednesday is the church’s great penitential day. Penitence is a note of the Christian life every day, but we need special times and places to bring home to us in dramatic form that which becomes so routine that has no force in our lives. II. On Ash Wednesday we are called upon to face up most seriously to the contradictions and conflicts within our own hearts and the disruption of relationships between ourselves and other people. We are called upon to face up to the sins of omission and commission which mark all of us. III. Ash Wednesday is the church’s great day of hope. Through God’s help we can face the cause of which so often separates us from him, from each other, and from ourselves. We have the confidence of being loved, even though we often do unlovable things on the one hand and often think ourselves unlovable on the other. In this awareness we can face the reality of God’s forgiveness and newness of life. IV. Ash Wednesday begins another Lent. May our observance of this holy season rest on a shared confidence of God’s acceptance, forgiveness, and love for each of us and for us all together, so that in the strength of this confidence we can face our divided lives and a divided world with both honesty and hope. Charles D. Kean WORLD COUNCIL AND NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHURCHES Team Visitation in Los Angeles An ecumenical team of leaders of the World Council of Churches joined by local church people conducted a visitation of Los Angeles last June, assessing the situation in the wake of the tragic disturbances in the city. At the request of Bishop Harsanyi, the Rev. Zoltán Vass, pastor of our Hollywood congregation, actively participated in the work of the visitation team. Our church is located on the borderline of the Hollywood ethnic neighborhood. Our picture shows the Rev. Vass with the Rev. Emilio Castro, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches. (Last year Dr. Castro concluded his service as General Secretary of the WCC; Dr. Konrad Raiser, a German theologian was elected to succeed him.)
