Calvin Synod Herald, 2013 (114. évfolyam, 3-12. szám)

2013-05-01 / 5-6. szám

4

CALVIN SYNOD HERALD

Dear Readers of Calvin Synod Herald!

Bishop Poznan,

Pastors,

Officers,

Members of the Congregations!

It is my pleasure to greet the readers of the official organ of the Calvin Synod Conference, UCC. Thank you for asking me to write an article for your newspaper. I am honored to share my thoughts with you regarding a very important matter of our church bodies, and to deliver the greetings of the pastors, elders and congregations of the Hungarian Reformed Church in America.

I always think about the great commission of Jesus, who showed the right way for the disciples after his resurrection. He said: „Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples... and I will be with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20.

I would like to tell you that the most important service in my life is the mission. For us, Hungarian Reformed Churches in the United States, the mission has to be the most important as well, to reach the Hungarian people with the Word of God, with love, be united and serve together for the kingdom of God.

The two Hungarian Reformed Church bodies in the U.S. became the center of attention and everybody is interested to learn the multifaceted nature of our American-Hungarian Reformed service divided into two separate denominations. Our history and formation is known, along with our separation and the current efforts for reuniting. We spoke many times about the issue in the last eight decades, and I would like to thank the progress which we see in our common service. The talks were long and the steps small, but it all resulted in definite progress. I would like to list these achievements.

The Calvin Anniversary year was opened jointly on the East- Coast at the two New York congregations in October of 2008, and later in many local churches. The closing service was held on Reformation Day, October 31,2009, at the Ontario congregation, in California with the service of Bishop Ludwig.

In honor of the Calvin Anniversary and based on recent new proposals by the Uniting Task Force Committee, the two church bodies plan to publish a joint publication. We are eagerly awaiting the first issue, let us work on it together.

The elders of the two church bodies came to an agreement and we are ready to establish a Ministerial Qualifying Committee to allow for better church placement for the pastors arriving from Hungary and other countries abroad.

There were discussions to hold a joint Synod meeting in the near future, where both entities can discuss issues related to service, mission and church polity.

Through a common decision both church bodies were represented at the Diaspora Conference in Budapest, on November 17-18,2008.

Also, both bishops of our denominations represented the two denominations in Hungary at the Diaspora Council organized by the Hungarian government.

These few steps are greatly responsible for the possibility

of the American Hungarian reformed unity, which has to be the number one issue in our duty of mission. During my Bishop’s visitations I always inform our congregations of the possibility of this, which our leaders endorse and promote as well. The promotion and support of the Hungarian reformed union is our future.

We have another task in this unity, which started 20 years ago by the World Federation of the Hungarian Reformed Churches and the Consultative Synod of the Hungarian Reformed Churches and is being continued by the General Convent of the Carpathian Basin. We have to know how dispersed we are in the world and how little we know of each other, Hungarian reformed people in the Diaspora. We need to encourage each other, pray for one another, because we are all one in Christ. We have waited long and were finally able to experience the embrace of the mother church on May 22, 2009 in Debrecen, Hungary at the Constituting Synod. Our church has officially voted to join the Hungarian Reformed Church. I ask and encourage the Calvin Synod to also be part of this spiritual union of the Hungarian Reformed Churches.

Also, I recommend to send representatives from your congregations to the very first North American Hungarian Diaspora Conference to be held at Niagara Falls, ON, Canada on May 22- 24, this year. Bishops, pastors, lay persons, church members will represent their church bodies from all over the world, and also distinguished government officials will address the representatives from Hungary. This occasion will be a big opportunity to meet with other Hungarians.

Our progress is determined in part by our past. For nearly 100 years, we Hungarian Reformed congregations have lived out of a truth: in Christ Jesus we are one. Since the beginning we have voiced the validity of our mission, to pass the Word of God to our Hungarian brethren. Today one description of our way of sharing that good news is: we are Hungarian Reformed, a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world. God is calling us to him, in this broken and injured world, we do have the option to live a Christian life. This is attitude. It’s prayerfully focusing on God’s blessings; it’s deciding to live according to God’s will. Choosing the Christian life is also action. It’s caring for the body. For individuals, this means attention to exercise the faith. For church, caring for the body, means attention to the covenant by which we are related to God and each other. This is our mission and our duty as Hungarian Reformed Churches. It is important for us to serve with you, for which there are many examples already in practice.

I wish God’s blessing for the life and service of the pastors, elders and members of both the Calvin Synod and the Hungarian Reformed Church.

With brotherly love in Christ:

Sándor Szaho, Bishop