Calvin Synod Herald, 2009 (110. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2009-11-01 / 11-12. szám
6 CALVIN SYNOD HERALD King — Continued from page 5 warn that all people will give accounts before His throne at the end of this age. “Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” (Acts 17:31) D. Christians thank God for the gift of His king and acknowledge His government in both this world and the world to come. “And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.” (Luke 11:2) Dr. Edwin P. Elliott, Jr. In Memory of Rev. Dr. Edwin Elliott As we were going to press, we received the letter below from Izzi Elliott, Rev. Dr. Edwin Elliott’s daughter. More information will be in the Jan./Feb. 2010 issue of the Calvin Synod Herald. Our hearts and prayers go out to his loved ones. He will be missed beyond measure. May his memory remain blessed. Rt. Rev. Koloman K. Ludwig FAREWELL TO THE SHADOWLANDS Dear Friends, At 5:11 this evening (October 11, 2009) a great man passed from death into life. My father’s 62 years of patient suffering have ended, and he is now beginning his real story. He left behind an enormous legacy measured in the lives of those brothers and sisters in Christ who were touched by his merciful ministry and won by his changeless devotion to the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There is a new doorkeeper in the House of Our God tonight. In celebration, Izzi Elliott Yours, O LORD... Yours, 0 LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name. Tidings of Great Joy What does the human helplessness and earthly homelessness of the infant Jesus tell us? As the days of Advent and Christmas are near, it is my sincere hope that the through the “first Christmas story” God might speak to you as never before! Let’s go back to Bethlehem. There lies the Babe in the manger. Innumerable poets have sung His praises and countless painters have pictured Him. And since the days of our own childhood, we see Him through our inner eye, crowned with a circle of radiant light around His head - transfigured with the romantic effulgence that the art and the poetry of the human spirit poured upon that scene in the stable of Bethlehem. The reality of the Gospel message ignores all of this fictitious magic! In the tidings imparted to the shepherds, ONLY a twofold sign is named for them and for us. That is, there are only two matters that are significant for this child and His identification: a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. That is all. And what does this tell us? First of all, the child that lies there is no less feeble and helpless than any other babe bom into this world. The mother must care for him lest he perish; she must nourish him lest he die of hunger. So the swaddling clothes are a characteristic sign and presage for us the life of the man of whom it was said on a later day: “He saved others, himself He cannot save. ” (Matthew 27:42) In the second place, the manger likewise is no mere pictorial feature for the enhancement of the poetry of Christmas. It is again a sign of the homelessness of this babe for “...there was no room for Him in the inn. ” (Luke 2:7) The manger is also an omen, for the babe was to grow into the man who was forced to say of Himself: “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has not where to lay his head. ” (Matthew 8:20) These are the two signs given to the shepherds and to us. But if we look deeper - and ask what the human helplessness and earthly homelessness of the infant Jesus can tell us - then the tidings of Great Joy begin precisely here: God, the eternally wealthy and almighty GOD, enters into the most extreme human poverty imaginable! No one is so weak and helpless that God does not come to him or her in Jesus Christ, right in the midst of our human need. No one is so forsaken and homeless in this world that God does not seek him or her in the midst of our human distress. Here out of the swaddling clothes and the manger comes this call unto us: “Come unto me, all of you that labor and are heavy laden, and / will give you rest. ” (Matthew 11:28) Here takes place what the Apostle Paul comfortingly proclaims to us: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor. ” (2 Cor. 8:9) So let us come before Him with whatsoever gifts we have, and hear in the distance something meant for all of us - the sounds of earth and angelic anthems of Great Joy! For Christ is indeed, with us! Rev. Dr. Bela Bonis 1 Chronicles 29:11-13, KJv
