Calvin Synod Herald, 2014 (115. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

2014-07-01 / 7-8. szám

12

CALVIN SYNOD HERALD

Text: "For where two or three are gathered in my name I am among them." Matthew 18:20

A Communion Otherwise Unknown

All life is meeting,” said the philosopher, Martin Buber. Happy is the child who has a mother and father who bond with him or her in the first days of life. Out of that experience of “we are” the child gains the experience of “I am.”

Jesus, knowing the mind of God, comes to us drawing us out of our loneness, out of our separateness, into companionship. We call it the church. The ecclesia, the gathered and assembled ones, “Where two or three are gathered together . . .” When church buildings are destroyed by storm, the congregation knows more deeply the meaning of church—the gathered community.

This sort of meeting, this sort of communion, is difficult to achieve in our broken world. People seek to find shared caring with a drink and companionship in “singles” bars. Broken marriages litter the landscape.

In a play by Gabriel Marcel, “Le Monde Casse” (The Broken World), each character seeks to break out of loneliness. Marcel himself writes as a man who after WWI worked with the Red Cross in search of isolated and lost loved ones. He came to realize that brokenness is not just the calamity of war but is a part of our human condition.

Our churches know brokenness as well. Various traumas sap the life of congregations over the years. But the faithful do not despair, knowing that when we gather in his name he is in the midst of us, the divine phoenix lifting us out of the ashes of our near death experiences.

Are you finding such communion in your congregation? Let us hope so. The psalmist exalts such a condition: “How good and pleasant it is when brothers and sisters dwell together in unity.” (Psalm 133:1) The old rabbinic saying went, “If two sit together and the words of the Law are spoken, the divine presence rests between them.”

The Christian faith is a social one. Jesus calls us not just into singular relation with God but into the heart of a covenant people restored to God’s favor.

Read the New Testament. It knows little of solitary faith. Jesus called together his disciples. Christian faith requires gathered community. This is why regular attendance in worship is vital to community, to know God in the midst of us. The Hebrew epistle reads, “Neglect not the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is.” (Hebrews 10”25) Irregular participation in the assembly of worship is an injury to the Body of Christ.

Our text is from St. Matthew’s gospel. Remember that St. Matthew’s gospel opens with the promise of a child who is Immanuel - “God with us.” (Matthew 1:23) That same gospel closes with the Lord’s promise - T am with you always even to the close of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)

We call it Holy Communion because Christians have found the Lord’s presence to hover about the loaf and the cup. We see in this sacrament the continuing work of our ascended Lord beyond his earthly ministry.

James Cleland, former chaplain at Duke University, tells

of returning to his alma mater, Amherst. There a ceremony takes place at 9:30 p.m. on the eve of baccalaureate. Seniors, capped and gowned, and accompanied by representative alumni, form a circle in which stands Amherst’s President, the Dean, along with the President and Marshall of the Class. Two seniors carry silver chalices. Then they sing the school song:

Strangers once, we came together,

Sons of a mother wise and true.

Now we ’re bound by ties that cannot sever,

All our whole life through.

And the chalice is passedfrom hand to hand and each drinks to the college and to the class.

Cleland asks, “Is it a sacrament?” He answers, “Almost.” So we gather regularly around the loaf and the cup. This is His table. He is the host. We are his guests, strangers to each other, now bound together because of him. Our communion is with each other and with him. We are bound together in fellowship with one another under God, in Christ.

Let us then keep the feast. It is the communion made holy by his presence which offers hope to the world. This is the great alternative to our loneliness. Here is the Holy Communion that makes sacred and stable all our other communions.

David B. Bowman

Calvin Synod Homeland and Overseas Mission

USA 1. We encourage our congregations' youngsters to attend the annual Calvin Synod Summer Youth Camp.

2. Support the Bethlen Communities Heritage Center Museum and Archives.

TRANSYLVANIA 1. The Szekely Miko Reformed High School in Sepsiszentgyorgy is asking financial support for their school.

2. The Backamadarasi Kiss Gergely Reformed High School in Székelyudvarhely is asking financial support for their school.

3. To support the widow of Rev. Jenő Katona and his family.

4. Fund Reformed schools and help poor people in Transylvania via Transylvania Reformed Assistance Committee (TRAC).

5. Ms. Gabriella Nádas - Donate to School Fund in Kolozsvár.

6. Fund charitable and mission work as requested by Rt. Rev. István Csűri in Nagyvárad.

7. Fund request by principal Zsolt Tőkés to support the school in Székelyudvarhely.

8. The Hungarian Reformed Church of Nagykároly-Kertváros (Carei) in Transylvania is asking for donations for their construction project of a new church building and parsonage. Further info available at the following website: http://kertvaros.freewb.hu/

9. The Székelyudvarhely Reformed High School in Transylvania is asking for for donations for their school building's roof.

UKRAINE 1. Support the Good Samaritan Orphanage and School in Nagydobrony in their mission work.

2. Support the food pantry named Crumbs for Lazarus to feed the hungaty in Csap as requested by Rev. János Balogh.

Please send donations to the Calvin Synod Treasurer:

Rev. Viktor Toth

3220 Merril Drive Apt. 37 • Torrance, CA 90503 Tel: 714-333-5300 - When sending your donation, please write the name of the Mission in the Memo section of your check.

For more information nlease contact:

Rt. Rev. Dr. Csaba Krasznai, Homeland and Overseas Mission Coordinator, 14530 Alexander Road, Walton Hills, OH 44146.

Email: revkrasznai@gmail.com-Tel: 440-221-5334.