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

2005-10-01 / 4. szám

I 4. oldal ADVENT Luke 3:1-6. Today, John the Baptist stands before us - bold, loud, and energetic. He asks us to check our spiritual com­pass to check the direction of our lives. He implores us to make sure we know where we are headed - that we are clear about which direction we are carrying the message of our lives. He assures us that it is not too late to repent - to literally turn around. No, it’s not too late to change the direction of our lives - so that we won’t miss the New Life that God is promising to bring our way. Luke’s version of the John story begins in the immedi­acy of history. It begins right where we are. In our time, in the year 2005, the word of God comes to us in the wilderness. Pre­pare a way for the Lord. Examine your life - examine your priori­ties, your values, and your behavior. Check out your emotional, your spiritual, and your ethical life. Are you headed in the right direction ? Are you headed in the direction of God ? And if not, then repent. Turn around. Change direction. How is your family life ? Is it balanced, honest, open, connected ? Or is it stressed, precarious, lonely, brittle, broken ? Repent. Turn around. Change direction. What about your work - whether volunteer or paid - is your work rewarding, creative, compassionate - or is it tedious, overwhelming, demanding - dis­connected from your vision and your dreams, an unsatisfying use of your gifts and your energy ? Repent Turn around Change di­rection. And what about your faith ? Is it vital, growing, healing, and serving ? Or it is small, tired, tepid, dull ? Repent. Turn around. Change direction. My friends, if we want God to come warmly, humanly, simply into our lives - then we need to get ready. We need to pre­pare. We need to repent. We need to change. Yes, today John speaks uncomfortable words to us - in a season when we yearn to be comfortable. There is a medieval legend about a man who was deca­dent and irresponsible in many ways but who had enough grace in him to want to be good. He went to a costume maker who gave him a costume to wear - complete with a halo wired to his head. As the man walked dawn the street he was tempted to act and react in his normal, shiftless way - but then he remembered the halo on his head. So he decided to act differently: He gave money to a beggar on the street. He treated his wife well. He refused to cut corners at work. Eventually he returned the halo costume - but as he was leaving the costume shop he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror - and he saw a permanent halo glowing above his head ! It seems that he had become what he did—that his repentance had made possible God’s forgiveness and transfor­mations in his life. Yes, by turning around and beginning to be­have in a new way - this man found a permanent new direction for his life. Through our baptism we receive a halo that is perma­nently attached to our soul. But we need to be about the business of looking in the mirror of our days and polishing that halo with repentance and intent. S. Sz. Christians Worldwide Mark First Day of Advent Christians worldwide observed the first day of the sea­son of Advent on Sunday, Nov. 27, marking the time for reflec­tion, introspection and preparation leading up to Christmas. Ad­vent, the liturgical period preceding Christmas, begins in Western churches on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, and in Eastern churches in mid-November. It is observed by many Christians as a season of prayer, fasting, and penitence. In recent years, many churches have started to treat the season of Advent as a Decem­ber version of Lent, the 40 days of prayer and fasting leading up to Easter. Advent concerts, retreats, prayer services and peniten­tial services have become common in many Roman Catholic, Lu­theran and Episcopal churches, as well as some Presbyterian and Methodist churches. In Eastern Orthodox churches - where it is also called the Nativity Fast, Winter Lent, or the Christmas Lent - Advent lasts forty days. In Western churches, the earliest Advent can begin is Nov. 27 and the latest is Dec. 3. Very often Advent begins on the Sunday after the American day of Thanksgiving. The Christian Post Joint Statement from Five Mainline Protestant Leaders Under the heading, "Congress Should Defeat Budget Reconciliation Once and for All," five leaders of mainline Protes­tant denominations have released the following [edited for space] statement: "Christians have begun the Advent Season in which we prepare to celebrate our Savior's birth - the Savior who began his public ministry by proclaiming that God had anointed him 'to bring good news to the poor.' We view this as a time for purpose­ful reflection, recognizing that we live in a fractured and fearful world, but seeking to find hope for ourselves and to give hope to those without hope. Throughout this year we have asked that the Federal Budget be recognized as a concrete statement of our na­tion's values, and as such that it 'bring good news to the poor.' We have viewed the budget through the lens of faith and found the FY '06 Federal Budget wanting. Now we ask that it be defeated once and for all. The traumatic events of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita showed the nation and the world the faces of poverty in this country. The statistics from the most recent U.S. Census Bureau report on poverty presented hard numbers of 36 million Ameri­cans living below the poverty line. Yet Congress continues to make decisions which benefit the rich but are paid for by the most vulnerable in our land. We pray that Congress will use this Advent season for purposeful reflection and in so doing conclude that the compromises required are unfair and will only cause greater hardship and suffering. Then, Congress and the President should come together to present a budget that brings 'good news to the poor,' reflecting our nation's historic concern for justice and the least among us." Signing the document were: the Most Reverend Frank T. Griswold, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church; The Reverend Mark Hanson, Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; The Reverend Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, Pres­byterian Church, (U.S.A.); The Reverend John H. Thomas, Gen­eral Minister and President, United Church of Christ; Mr. James Winkler, General Secretary, General Board of Church and Soci­ety, United Methodist Church. MAGYAR EGYHÁZ Religion News Service

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