Calvin Synod Herald, 2007 (108. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2007-07-01 / 7-8. szám
CALVIN SYNOD HERALD 3 “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness! ” (Matthew 25:21) Dear Friends: Each of us yearns to hear these words from our Creator, and we hope to have this be the final judgment upon us when we finally meet Him who gave us life. Whether or not we receive this “blessing” is not guaranteed today, since we have not yet finished our pilgrimage in this world. While we can look back and point to some of our life as being in accord with His desire for us, the fact is that this final judgment depends upon our whole lives, not just the portions we would prefer to remember. We are still on our pilgrimage. Each and every day we are given new “talents”, and called to account for those we received yesterday, and the many “yesterdays” before. There are some things about the disposition of some of those gifts of the past which we can not change, which we can not remedy at this late date. Thankfully, we have a loving and forgiving Savoir, and he looks kindly at the mistakes we made when we were immature or uninformed; He looks kindly upon our mistakes when we were in distress, or in times of “weaknesses of faith.” However, the Apostle Paul spoke of the “maturity of faith” which should lead us to change our attitudes, and our lives. “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways.” Today we are not “children” in faith, uninformed or unknowledgeable about God. We can no longer claim the exemption, the forgiveness offered to “children.” So what are we doing with our “talents”? Each of us is affiliated with or in relationship with a worshiping congregation, a fellowship dedicated to be followers of our leader, Jesus the Christ. And the “talents,” the gifts, the opportunities and the responsibilities charged to us by our leader are abundant. Please note that as Christians our “leader” is Jesus the Christ, and He is the one that determines the purpose of our fellowship. His leadership must be the foundation, the central issue, in every decision we make in our local faith fellowships, in our congregations. What are the “talents” at this point that our Lord has given us for His work? I often sense that there is no real appreciation of the talents we have available in our local congregations. Our congregations are rich in tradition, rich in their heritage, Calvin Synod welcomed two new men: Rev. Dr. David Bowman can be reached at MDBowman@MSN. com Rev. Mr. Chuck Huckaby can be reached at Chuck. Huckaby@Gmail. com Please notify the Business Manager: Wilburn A. Roby Jr. if you changed or are about to change your address. Change of Address form is on page 10. rich in resources of the true talents, skills, determination and faithfulness of our members. Our members are affiliated with our congregations because they believe it is there that their faith can be best expressed, it is in our congregational fellowships they feel the power of the Holy Spirit acting in their lives. Our members want to be part of that wonder that is the Church of Jesus the Christ, they want to bring to life the talents they have been blessed with. We are called to help our fellow Christians actualize the desire to serve Him in a meaningful way. Yet often we concentrate on the “budget,” we see the glass as “half-empty,” and we are paralyzed into not acting for fear of running out of funds. While our monetary strength is actually a small part of the “talents” our Lord has given us, we often determine our ability to serve Him by what the “bottom line” says. In the process, we discount the tremendous resources each of our congregations has in their faithful members who came to serve the Lord. This year Calvin Synod made a decision at its Annual Meeting to offer each congregation a “grant” to mobilize its membership toward more involvement and activity. Each congregation is being offered an extra “talent,” to be used toward the growth and renewal of your congregation. Use it to renew the activities of your members, to spread the Word of our Lord Jesus Christ, to evangelize, to grow as a church community. Rt. Rev. Koloman K. Ludwig, Bishop Special Features of The Spiritual Power Scripture reading: Acts of Apostles 2:1-9, 12-13. Text: Jesus said his disciples just before he had ascended into heaven: “But YOU WILL RECEIVE POWER when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts of Apostles 1:8. The expression of “power of the Spirit” appears in the New Testament in Luke 4:14, Romans 15:19, and Galatians 4:29. In Luke 24:49 we read this: “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with POWER FROM ON HIGH.” At Pentecost the disciples had received special power or gift that enabled them to speak in tongues and reach the hearts of those who listened to them. Please study our scripture reading. If the apostles were blessed with the power of the Spirit, how can we receive it and utilize it? POWER AND ENERGY Power is manifested in our lives in various ways, for instance, we talk about the strength of the motor of our car, namely how many units of horse power does it generate? Or, we also talk about muscle power, that is, how strong we are? We also know that energy is needed to become powerful. Not counting physicists Continued on page 4
