Magyar Egyház, 2005 (84. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)

2005-07-01 / 3. szám

MAGYAR EGYHÁZ

§. oldal

GOD WANTS OUR FELLOWSHIP

We read in James 4:8. ’’Come near to God and he will come near to you.” What a blessed promises this is! It means that each of us can come close to God, with the assurance that he will come close to us - so close that we become conscious of his presence. We are sinners, we disobey God’s commandments, we do not live by his rules, and we do not give a proper place for him in our hearts, yet we can have a close relationship with him.

Fellowship with God is available to everyone. No matter where an individual finds himself, God is there and a personal relationship with him is available. This loving relationship can exist between our heavenly Father and us.

But for most us this is not easy. Life presents us with too many distractions and we just don’t find time to be alone with God. Children, work, television, busy schedule, the computer, even church activities drain away our time.

Maybe we will have to readjust our priorities. Maybe we will have to get up a little earlier in the morning and be alone with God. Maybe we will have to say ”no” to certain activities or demands. Maybe we do not need to spend so many hours front of our television. Whatever it takes, we need to make time to be alone with God.

Jesus was a very busy man. But we read in the gospels that he went away to a lonely place and there he spent time with God. We may follow his example. Our souls demand fellowship and communion with God. Only God can completely satisfy the hunger and thirst of our souls because they were made for him. We should not starve our souls.

’’Come close to God.” And this does not mean a step or

two - it means all the way. When the prodigal son decided to go back to his father, he went all the way and the father was waiting for him with open arms. We need to come to God completely.

Remember: God wants our fellowship, and he has done everything possible to make it a reality. He has forgiven our sins at the cost of his Son. Ha has given us the Holy Spirit to help us and priceless privilege of prayer and worship.

We can enter into a loving relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Without him we are excluded from this fellowship. The Lord Jesus made this clear when he declared, ”1 am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). It is either by him or we do not get there. It is either by him or a life without fellowship with the Father.

Close relationship with God includes daily prayer. God speaks to us through the Bible, and we speak to him in prayer.

Regular church attendance brings us closer to God. When we sing together, bring our needs to his throne of grace together, read his word together, listen to the sermon together and offer our gifts to his glory and for the benefit of our church together, our relationship with God reaches its highest level. It gives meaning and purpose to life.

When we keep God’s commandments, follow his ways, cleanse our hands, purify our hearts, we live in a personal fellowship with him.

When we are close to God, we are better Christians, better husbands and wives, better children, better parents and better church members.

God will come close to us, if we will come close to him.

Rev. Barnabas Roczey

Annual Meeting of the American Hungarian Reformed Ministerial Association

The annual meeting of our Ministerial Association was held at the usual place, which is the Conference center of the Bethlen Home in Ligonier, PA on Labor Day weekend according to the traditions.

The closing event of the American Hungarian Presbyters’ Association Meeting and the opening event of ours was identical; a Spirit filled worship service with an uplifting, encouraging message from the Rt. Rev. Andor Demeter, Bishop of the Hungarian Reformed Church in America and the Rt. Rev. Koloman K. Ludwig, Bishop of the Calvin Synod and participation by all in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.

A beautiful and touching service of dedication of the new building of the Bethlen Home followed. The Rt. Rev. Louis Medgyesi spoke eloquently, than Rev. Imre A. Bertalan Executive Director touched upon the history of ministry at the Bethlen Home, its past, present and future. We also herd from the Executive Board, the Building Committee, and the Firm that made the pans and the Construction Company. Several residents of the orphanage and current residents were recognized during the beautiful service.

After the delicious lunch-picnic, provided by the Bethlen Home our meetings began with the recognition of our guests and Rev. Dr. Imre Bertalan spoke about the history of our Ministerial Association from its inception until today.

For the rest of the afternoon, introduced by the Rt. Rev. Demeter, the Rt. Rev. Ludwig and the Very Rev. Barnabas Roczey, we talked about what the statistics tell us about our Hungarian Reformed Churches in North America, in a session of open discussion.

At the conclusion of the day Rev. Imre A. Bertalan brought to us a report of the latest events happening at the Bethlen Communities.

On Tuesday, following our morning devotions the Rev. Dr. Eva Lukacsi presented us with her study and the Rt. Rev. Louis Medgyesi contributed to the broad subject of “Networking Churches — A spiritual experience of Hungarian Reformed Churches.”

Then we revisited the theme of “How we evaluate our environment and ourselves with respect to the challenges our Churches face.” Opening presentations were given by Rev. Dr. Attila Kocsis and Very Rev. Frank Varga before the discussion.

Our conference was concluded with a report from the Youth Conference by Miss. Priscilla Hunyadi and Rt. Rev. Koloman Ludwig and the installation of the newly elected officers of the Ministerial Association (President: Very Rev. Frank Varga, Vice President: Rt. Rev. József Vásárhelyi, Secretary: László Ujj, Treasurer: Rev. Dr. Attila Kocsis ).

All thirty-six (36) of us present were grateful to the Lord for this opportunity to gather together in this historical place to worship, and to be encouraged in our ministry.

Rev. Frank Varga, President