Calvin Synod Herald, 1975 (75. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1975-09-01 / 9-10. szám
4 CALVIN SYNOD HERALD Words of Response Fellow Christians and co-workers in Christ: Now that I am dedicated, installed, ordained, and consecrated to the office of Bishop in The Calvin Synod Conference of the United Church of Christ, I wish to return to a good old Hungarian Reformed custom and preach as a response to your trust and confidence. The text of our meditation is written in I Peter 2:25 as follows: “For you were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.” The apostle addresses these words to the household servants of the Christian community and reminds them that slaves must serve their masters faithfully, even bad ones, for this is following in the steps of Christ who as the servant of the Lord endured wrongs and even death for our salvation. We have a Bishop, episcopos, in Jesus Christ and therefore this is possible! We have a Bishop in Jesus Christ: this is a crucial, foundational, decisive fact. Otherwise, we would be like sheep without a shepherd: dumb, defenseless, lost creatures. No other animal is as dumb as the sheep; unable to find good pasture and still waters without the shepherd. It is the shepherd who leads them to proper nourishment. So it is with us. By ourselves we cannot find the nourishment for our souls! Bishop Jesus leads us to abundant life; as a matter of fact, He is the Bread of Life and the Fountain of Living Waters... The sheep is not only dumb but defenseless as well; weak. Any other animal can prey on him. Cannot run too well, and cannot defend himself effectively. The shepherd must always be around in order to fight for him ... So are we: very weak; easy prey of wild forces, evil passions, roaring emotions. But Bishop Jesus is the Good Shepherd who gave his life in defense of his flock and by the miracle of resurrection he is still defending us so surely that no one can snatch us out of his hand. And the sheep is not only dumb and defenseless, but lost as well: he cannot return to the flock once he strays away. The shepherd has to go after him and bring him back where he belongs. Again this is our picture. We are like lost sheep, but Bishop Jesus comes after us, shouting in the wilderness, calling us by our name, ready to bend down, put us on his shoulder and bring us joyfully back where we belong ... So, praise God that we have a Bishop in Jesus Christ and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand (Psalm 95:7); for otherwise this dedication, installation, ordination, consecration would be a fantastic self-deception and a fatal fallacy! However: now that we have a Bishop in Jesus Christ (and only inasmuch as we have returned unto this Shepherd and Bishop of our souls) — we can see the office of bishop in His Church! The COCU manual which was one of the resource materials for this service lists seven functions of a bishop: pioneer in mission, pastoral overseer, teacher and prophet, administrative leader, liturgical leader, responsible for ordination, and ecumenical leader. An awesome list indeed, which in my opinion, misses the point. A bishop as any minister of the church has one primary function and responsibility: to be a servant of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. (I Cor. 4:2) This is how Paul conceived his office of bishop which is interpreted by the Second Helvetic Confession as follows: “The apostle wants us to think of ministers as ministers, — uperetas — rowers who have their eyes fixed on the coxswain, and so men who do not live for themselves or according to their own will, but for others, namely their masters, upon whose command they altogether depend. For in all his duties every minister of the Church is commanded to carry out only what he has received in commandment from his Lord and not to indulge his own free choice. And in this case, it is expressly declared who the Lord is, namely Christ, to whom the ministers are subject in all the affairs of the ministry.” (Chapter XVIII) In other words, I do not believe that Jesus Christ transfers his Bishop office to anyone! (Mt. 23: 1-13) Again as the Second Helvetic Confession teaches: “This power (Mt. 28:18, Rev. 1:18, 3:7) the Lord reserves to himself and does not transfer it to any other, so that He might stand idly by as a spectator while his ministers work. For Isaiah says: “The government will be upon His shoulders (9:6). For He does not lay the government on another man’s shoulders, but still keeps and uses his own power governing all thing!” (Ibid.) The power of an office or of ministry, including the office of bishop, therefore, is more like a service than a dominion, “whereby the ministers of the church govern the church as the Lord has prescribed in His Word. When those things are done, the faithful esteem them as done by the Lord Himself!” (Ibid.) This is the nature, burden, and story of the Bishop’s office to which you prayerfully set me aside (consecrated) a never to be repeated way (ordained) legally (installed) and liturgically (dedicated). As a household slave (oiketas) of my Lord, Bishop Jesus Christ, I gratefully and fearfully realize the burden of this act and challenge you to join me in returning unto the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls. For only so can we: dumb, defenseless, lost sheep be the people of His pasture and sheep of His hand. Dr. John Butosi “You may have noticed the increased amount of notices for you to notice. Some of our notices have not been noticed. This is very noticeable! It has been noticed that the responses to the notices have been noticeably unnoticed. This notice is to remind you to notice the notices and respond to the notices because we do not want the notices to go unnoticed.” Reprinted from the United Methodist Church, Long Island, N.Y.
