Calvin Synod Herald, 1979 (79. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1979-05-01 / 5-6. szám
8 CALVIN SYNOD HERALD recently published a little booklet on the “New Valamo Consultation — The ecumenical nature of the Orthodox witness.” This consultation was held in New Valamo, Finland, September 24-30, 1977, and was aimed, as Father Tsetsis put it in the foreword to the booklet “to give an Orthodox response to several ecumenical priorities, as they may have emerged since the 5th General Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Nairobi.” Besides the Consultation report itself, the booklet contains a series of comments on it made by people of different denominational backgrounds. Among these is a comment from the famous Reformed theologian Prof. Thomas F. Torrance, Scotland. Says Prof. Torrance: “I would like the Orthodox to make more seriously than they do in practice, the substantial relation of the local and the catholic aspects of the Church, especially when they relate rightly, the episcopate to this. The practice of the Orthodox in consecrating Bishops with relation to a titular See, e.g., an ancient See that no longer has any local community, is in contradiction to what the Orthodox express here. This habit is however an indication that the episcopate is given a structure independent of the interrelation of the local and catholic episcopate, which is dangerous, and misleading. In other words, the Orthodox need to have the episcopate more deeply related once again to the on-going worship of the local community.” RPS, Febr. ’79 FROM HERE AND THERE: THE LONELY DIME From Woodward Avenews, Central Woodward Christian Church (Detroit). Written by its senior minister, Bob Boyte. The dime was all alone, carefully placed in the center of the offering plate that was presented to the Elder presiding last Sunday. I immediately thought of the widow, observed by Jesus, who “put in more than all of them.” Then I realized we had not replayed the New Testament. When I saw the laughter in the Junior Deacon’s eye and noted that his father was the Elder in charge I discovered what was going on! But ij gave me quite a start. Suppose that dime was all the offering we had received that day? It would mean that some great disaster had attacked our group and wiped out our ability to share. Should that happen we would experience a new dimension to Christian fellowship. We would alert the office of the Week of Compassion offering and Church World Service and tell them of our need for food, blankets, and temporary shelter. We would see for ourselves that Christian fellowship is not only pulpit talk but also proteins, water, and wool. I hope it never happens, but being on the receiving end of Christian stewardship would give us a new viewpoint. The question that remains is this: “Were we on the receiving end of Christian stewardship would we be content to receive in the same measure that we have been giving?” Minister’s Bulletin (29:6) Church Finance Council Christian Church Ed’s Cl. March ’79 WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR LIFE? Perhaps you are a high school graduate with a year or more of work experience, vaguely dissatisfied with what you are now doing and open to the possibility of spending some time helping others. Or perhaps you are now in college but looking for a different way to spend your summer. In either case, you may be interested in the opportunities for community and institutional service currently being offered by our United Church Board for Homeland Ministries. There are nearly thirty opportunities on the current list being circulated by UCBHM. Perhaps one of them would be of interest to you as a way to “invest” yourself this summer and to learn about the possibilities of a career in community or institutional service. Contact your conference office or write to: SUMMER SERVICE United Church Board for Homeland Ministries 287 Park Avenue South — Room 81 New York, N.Y. 10010 Ed’s Cl. March ’79 METROPOLITAN PHILARET SUPPORTS THE REFORMED IN THE UKRAINE Budapest — Bishop Dr. Karoly Toth of the Reformed Church in Hungary and one of the three vice-presidents of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, was among the group which officially greeted Metropolitan Philaret of Kiev and Galicia, exarch of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Ukraine, on the occasion of his 50th birthday. Dr. Toth who conveyed the greetings of his Church and the WARC reported later that Metropolitan Philaret has the intention of providing a car as a gift tp pastor Paul Forgon, Bishop of the Reformed Church in the Carpatho- Ukraine, as the latter has to undertake very long journeys in carrying out his ministry. RPS, Febr. ’79 "WHAT CAN ONE CHURCH DO?" You may recall that the last General Synod of the United Church of Christ called upon us all to become more aware of persons who have handicaps. This has been one of our top ten denominational priorities for 1978 and 1979. Yours may have been one of the congregations in which this issue was discussed. All too often, however, such discussion has become the end of the matter. You may have asked, “What can one church do?” One congregation that has pressed the matter is the Garden City Community Church (UCC) in Garden City, New York. Early in 1977, the church formed a committee to explore ways of dealing with the issue. After six months of regular meetings, the committee reported five goals: — To consider the theological/Biblical basis for ministry with persons who are handicapped. — To sensitize our church community to needs and feelings of persons with handicaps and those of their families. — To work toward elimination of architectural barriers in our church and community. — To develop ways in which to help the congregation accept and integrate persons into our church who have handicaps. — To understand new public laws and to develop ways for implementation. If your congregation would like to discover just how these five goals have been implemented in the Garden City Church, you may be interested in obtaining the filmtrip, “What One Church Can Do,” now available from the Division of Health and Welfare, United Church Board for Homeland Ministries, 287 Park Avenue South, New York, N.Y. 10010. The price of the filmstrip and script is $5.00. You will discover that there is much that one church — your church — can do to work with and for handicapped persons. Ed’s Cl., Apr. ’79 i
