Fraternity-Testvériség, 1982 (60. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)

1982-01-01 / 1. szám

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Note: This hymn is a translation of the Hungarian Reformed Communion Hymn "Szállj le most mennyből". The actual translation was done by members of the First Reformed Church of South River, and I set it to English rhyme last year. DJM

COMMUNION hymn

Tune; Genevan Psalm 32

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1. Come, Bread of life, come down to us from hea-ven,

2. Come, Liv- ing Wa- ter, come to us from hea-ven,

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Ab man-na to your hun-gry chil-dren gi-ven. Re-fresh-ment for your thir-sty chil-dren gi-ven.

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Oh, come and feed us in the wil-der-ness, Come maiké a ri-ver in the wil-der-ness,

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And with un-end-ing life your chil-dren bless. A well to sa-tis-fy our thir-sti- ness.

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The ho-ly bread be-fore us is the to-ken The ho-ly wine be-fore us is the to-ken;

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By which you give your pre-cioue bo-dy bro-ken. Thus we o-bey the word our Lord has spo-ker

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Who - ev-er eats this bread, Oh Lord, we know Who bids us drink, and deep-ly drink-ing know

Will ne-ver die and ne-ver hun-gry go. That liv-ing wa-ters shall for- ev-er flow.

May, 1981

The above translation of a favorite Communion hymn “Szállj le most mennyből” was sent to our editorial offices by the Reverend Daniel James Meeter, pastor of the First Reformed Church, South River, NJ (formerly Hungarian). Reverend Meeker, who is pursuing a PhD in Liturgies, has made several timely comments — “I must tell you that the world is ignorant of the rich tradition of Hungarian Reformed worship. The Hungarian ministers, as I see it, must waste no time in finding some intelligent bi-lingual students to do graduate level work in Liturgies, filling the void among American scholars concerning the history and development of your Liturgies. It also makes me very sad that your matchless collection of hymns

remains untranslated and unknown except to yourselves. Will you allow this to continue?”

Will we accept this challenge? Of course, the Reverend and Mrs. Kalman Toth had published a booklet, Geneva Psalter, which many of our churches are using and around 25 hymns were translated into meaningful English and set to music. Most recently, Stephen C. Molnár, an Elder of the Toledo Calvin United Church of Christ, has been working on this project and some of his works were submitted to the Liturgical Committee of Calvin Synod. But there is room for others to make the Hungarian Reformed tradition in music well known to others.

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