Calvin Synod Herald, 1998 (98. évfolyam, 1-6. szám)

1998-01-01 / 1. szám

CALVIN SYNOD HERALD- 7 -AMERIKAI MAGYAR REFORMÁTUSOK LAP)A

Our well-known columnist, Rev. Alexander Jalsó, retired from his church in Brownsville, PA on January 31,1997.

He served at that church for a quarter of a century. His home will be close to his former church. He will remain our beloved columnist, as well as that of the Brownsville Newspaper.

His message to us from the Christmas of 1997 is sent to all us as quoted below:

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” Revelations 22:13.

The Bible quotation came to my mind as I was thinking about our Christmas greetings to our beloved ones and good friends this year.

Bethlehem was the beginning and Golgotha was the end, or the Old Testament prophecies were the beginning, like: “I see him, but not now: I behold him, but not near - a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel”; Numbers 24:17, and His second coming will be the end.

If you were unfortunate this year, we hope that things will get well again, and if this year was excellent, please, let us not forget to be grateful to the Almighty. Through His Son we received the most, the forgiveness of our sins and our salvation to eternal life.

MOURNING HUMANITY

By Bishop Kalman Csiha

Oh, man, who lost in oil and steel your bright intellect

Became a world-stripped sad inmate,

A lonely, orphaned derelict;

Now your soul turned into a thing inanimate.

If you only knew your deep bereavement, What a beggar your are, deceased and dead. Your brilliance became abandonment,

This rude life had you thoroughly ransacked.

Sobbingly would you so to seek The Dream anew and the Song And no one would hinder you indeed.

You would again defeat agony and death So that with your soul stirred-up, hopeless You would find God of all instead!

Declaration has historic Reformed roots

by Rev. Dr. Paul H. Sherry President of UCC

The 23rd General Council of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches met this past Summer in Debrecen, Hungary. The following “Declaration of Debrecen", adopted by those of us privileged to be present at that gathering, is both deeply rooted in the Reformed tradition which we of the United Church of Christ share and reflects the continuing vitality of this tradition. You may wish to incorporate the Declaration, informed by the witness of the Heidelberg Catechism, in the worship of your congregation.

WE BELONG - BODY AND SHOULD, IN LIFE AND IN DEATH - NOT TO OURSELVES BUT TO OUR FAITHFUL SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST. We confess our theological and moral failures, our complicity in adding to the world's burdens, our inadequate witness to God’s purposes. We ask forgiveness from God and from each other for these transgressions, and also for the injuries we have done to one another. Claiming the new life which forgiveness makes possible and relying on God’s promises that the chains of injustice can b' broken, we declare:

WE ARE NOT OUR OWN. We belőne, to the living God who made all thing and declared them to be very good. We will not exploit and destroy that creation. We will be stewards of creation for God.

WE ARE NOT OUR OWN. We believe in Jesus Christ, who died for us and was raised for our salvation. We confess that no human ideology or agenda holds the secret to the ultimate direction of history. We are in all things dependent on our Redeemer.

WE ARE NOT OUR OWN. We know that in Jesus Christ we were bought with a price. We will not patronize, exclude or ignore the gifts of any person, male or female, young or old. We declare our solidarity with the poor and with all who are suffering, oppressed or excluded.

WE ARE NOT OUR OWN. We believe in the Holy Spirit who will guide us into all truth. We refuse the false assumption that everything, including human beings and their labor, is a commodity and has a price.

WE ARE NOT OUR OWN. We are called to be built into a new community in the Spirit of God. We pledge ourselves to a simple lifestyle which bears witness to God’s ordering of the household of life.

WE ARE NOT OUR OWN. We do not despair, for God reigns. We will continue to struggle against injustice in this world. We look forward to the Holy city in which God will dwell with human beings and be their God.

WE ARE NOT OUR OWN. With Christians of the Reformed faith through the centuries, and with the whole people of God, we join our voices to proclaim:

SOLI DEO GLORIA!

(The United Church News, Nov. 1997)