Calvin Synod Herald, 2005 (106. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2005-11-01 / 11-12. szám
6 CALVIN SYNOD HERALD Hungarian Scout Jamboree August 13-14, 2005 Fillmore, New York Rev. Zoltán Kelemen of the West Side Hungarian Reformed Church (Cleveland, Ohio) spent two weekends in August in Fillmore, New York, with over 600 scouts from all over the world - Venezuela, Brasil, Argentina, Australia, Germany, Sweden and Hungary, Canada, and the USA - at the Hungarian Scout Federation Jubilee Camp, which comes together every 5th year. They relived the era of Louis, the first ruler of medieval Hungary. Under his rule, the borders of the Kingdom reached three different seas. This proud area of our history provided an excellent chance to the organizers of the camp to teach the “virtues of the knights” to the participating children, who, divided into three different age groups, formed six major divisions, three boy and three girl. Between August 4 and 14 they worked, slept, sweat, and breathed together! And they enjoyed every minute of it! The atmosphere was magical! They a had king, a queen, a bishop, a chancellor, a whole court of the king, tent, a castle, not to mention the dresses, swords, shields and other small but important items. According to the story: the main army of the Hungarian king fought abroad with Lithuanian knight, while the evil Visconti of Italy attacked and stole precious things from the Hungarians. The king was in a great need of help. He invited the ordinary people to join a “boot camp” so that after a quick training the prospective knight could fight for their country, and regain the stolen goods. Obviously, the little scouts became knights, and they had to learn and earn their virtues. On the last evening, they took an oath to serve God, their people and their king, and received their swords. Yes, each and every one of them got a beautiful, noble, and real souvenir! We held a short worship service with our Catholic brothers and sisters on the two Sunday mornings in the Evergreen Cathedral. We then had our own separate Protestant worship services, with Communion, on August 14th. About one tenth of the campers were Protestant, and the organizers extended an invitation to me so that I could preach about “the Armor of God” based on Ephesians 6:10-17. It was a great experience, even for me as an “outsider”! Imagine the children who literally lived in a different age and time-traveled! Praise the Lord for all this, and for the fact, that Hungarians, who live in a diaspora all over the world, can still come together, can summon their young ones, and that they are still able to show strength! Rev. Zoltán Kelemen West Side Hungarian Reformed Church Cleveland, Ohio Hungarian Scouts - Rev Kelemen speaking Hungarian Scouts in the woods Hungarian Scouts marching
