Calvin Synod Herald, 1978 (78. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1978-11-01 / 11-12. szám
REFORMÁTUSOK LÁPJA 5 sions. Often he put his accusing finger on Western civilization for the woes of China and dared to confess social sins even if they were practiced by Hungarians in Erdély... O how we need this courage today! 3. Perhaps it is significant enough to mention here the advantages Rev. A. Babos had as a Hungarian in China. Almost everywhere the Chinese people appreciated the fact that he was not an Anglo- Saxon, but a Hungarian whose ancestors once lived in Asia. In popular understanding it meant that he was a fellow-Asian and in one village his arrival was announced with these words: “Come and hear a Chinese from Europe!” ... Often this fact generated trust, further inquiry about Hungary, Erdély, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. No wonder that when all the other missionaries had to leave as World War II spread to China, the Babos’s could stay and even secure a territory for future Hungarian Reformed Mission work in China (Mutan Province) ... “He who has an ear let him hear.” Often times we think that we as Hungarians only have disadvantages in the mission of our Lord, or we are so arrogant about our ancestry that the Lord cannot use us! But I know that even today, in many parts of the world, the fact that we are Christians of Hungarian Reformed persuasion can be an asset for the Lord! ... Do we utilize it? 4. But one of the most significant discoveries of Rev. Alexander Babos in China was that of the nature of mission work. Before Hendrik Kraemer published his famous book, “The Christian Miessage in a Non-Christian World” (1938), Sándor expressed the same conviction, namely that “neither Christendom nor heathenness are any longer geographical terms. The Christian Church in the West as well as in the East is standing in a pagan, unchristian world and has again to consider the whole world its mission field in the literal sense of the word.” Home and foreign, national and international missions are outmoded terms as we never do mission outside the church; we only notify persons whom the Lord elected before the foundation of the world that it is so! . . . Especially when he returned to Erdély in 1936 for an extraordinary furlough, was he clear to proclaim his conviction. I quote him: “The mission work is a natural function of every Christian if we seek His glory!... The Gospel should be preached not only in Manchuria, but in Erdély as well. The mission is not the extra good deeds of some pious Christians somewhere among the wild, pagan people, but it is the work of the church everywhere, that is in Erdély, too, and always, that is today, as a ministry rendered at the command of God... We do not convert any person, it is the work of God’s Holy Spirit!”... “He who has an ear, let him hear” again what the Spirit says to the churches. While the concept of Christendom has some validity, the identification of the Kingdom of God with any kind of system here on earth can be done only at the betrayal of the Gospel! 5. Of course, his furlough to Erdély was extraordinary from another viewpoint, too. While he was preaching in more than 100 congregations, in one place he found a special listener: the field secretary of the Women’s Guild of the Transylvania Synod, the Rev. Maria Lörincz. As she described it later on, her work was just as pioneering in Erdély as Sándor’s in Manchuria. But this is exactly why they were married in 1937 ... Máriskó was Sándor’s alterego even before they met; her call, preparation, assignment by Bishop Makkai were closely parallel to those of Sándor. Thus when they returned to Manchuria, they were not only huband and wife, but also a missionary team, coworkers in the vineyard of the Lord... The Lord blessed them with three children, all bom in China, Sándor (1938) and Enikő (1944) in Mukden, László (1939) in Hulan, but the greatest blessing for the Babos’ was that together they could repeat what Joshua of old confessed: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!” (Joshua 24:15) In their education and life-style the Babos children captured the faith and insight of their parents ... He who has an ear, let her hear: you do not need to worry too much about the faith of your children if you keep the candle burning ... 6. The book, “Under the Shadow of the Pagodas” covers the work of the Babos’ until 1940-41. From 1941 until their arrival to U.S.A. in 1947 we do not know too much about their work. But in his biographical sketch, Sándor recorded one experience: “Beaten and interned by the Japanese at the time of Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima.” I am sure, he did not put down this sentence to create sympathy. He was in similar circumstances before. All this is only for the purpose of underlying the fact that there is no mission work, no Christian discipleship anywhere without carrying the cross ... Perhaps this is why he loved to say with Mrs. Miskelly, an Irish missionary in Manchuria and a poetess: “Lord, I will be happy if the lantern of my life will be extinguished because of you ...” Again: he who has an ear... III. America. Testing and Growth (1947- ) On October 1, 1947 the Babos Family arrived to U.S.A. During the 28 years, after the initial promotional work for the Board of National Mission of the E&E Church, the Rev. A. Babos served in 3 places: (1) in Fairfield, Conn (1949-60), (2) Pittsburgh, Pa. (1960-68) and (3) Bethlehem, Pa. (1968-75). In all three places they were engaged in beautifying the outward apparances of the church buildings (in Fairfield the new edifice was erected during his pastorate) and also in the building of the inner nature of the congregations. Rev. Maria Babos served not only in these churches, however, but also in other congregations: St. Marks Memorial Church in Pittsburgh, the Hungarian Reformed Church in Uniontown and especially the Hungarian Reformed Church in Coatesville, Pa. since 1969. Both of them combined
