Fraternity-Testvériség, 1963 (40. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1963-10-01 / 10. szám
FRATERNITY 3 The first portion says, “in order to strengthen the feeling of fraternal unity.” This is the one point which comes closest to realization. There is a fraternal spirit which exists at these meetings. I believe that is why the old timers like my father keep coming back. I believe that is their old friends, have a few drinks, tell a few jokes and go home for another year. But, I wonder if there is unity? We exhibit such a spirit externally, but are we all Dr. Jekyls and Mr. Hydes, and when we get back to our congregations, do the Free Magyars go on hating the Magyar Synod and the Magyar Synod the Presbyterians and around the circle? It is not enough to have unity at Ligonier — we've got to have it in Trenton and Cleveland and in every other city where a Hungarian church exists. The By-Laws also say that we are to “strive to find solutions and plan united action at these conferences to aid the work of the congregations more effectively.” But, there are problems that are facing the Hungarian churches right now, problems which need solutions. Are we resolving those problems? Does this Association carry so much weight that if a resolution were passed, all the churches would abide by it? I don’t think so. The last part states, “in general — to endeavor to make the Hungarian Reformed churches in America better and more efficient instruments of the spreading of the Kingdom of God on earth.” This is a wonderful and a marvelous aim of this Association. But, is anyone here naive enough to think that those churches which are not represented by men here today are not spreading the Kingdom of God on earth as well as your church is? Perhaps some of them are doing even a better job. I think that we all want to see our churches be more efficient instruments of God, but Christianity should not be tied to any nationalistic spirit. Not only have our times changed, but our presbyters have also. Today the consistory, or church council, in many churches is organized in such a manner that the presbyter is on a committee. He begins to consider himself a specialist in a particular field. You ask him to do something around the church, and he begs off, because that doesn’t belong to the Finance or Religious Education or whatever committee he happens to be on. Many of our presbyters do not listen very carefully to the words of their installation vows. In the past we may not have had specialists, but we had dedicated men. Are you dedicated to the total program of the church, or just one segment of it? Many of the American-Hungarian presbyters feel that if this Association meeting were conducted as a workshop, in both languages, and dealt with the specific problems that they are faced with in their churches, then they would support it. This is the sort of thing that is keeping them away from Ligonier. Within the Synod that my church belongs to, we have these workshops and our men attend in good numbers. They feel it is unnecessary to travel this far just to hear speakers. I feel that the Association can and will continue for sometime, even in its present form. There are still enough men who like to gather together to reminisce and to argue. I feel also that there is
