Calvin Synod Herald, 2016 (117. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2016-05-01 / 5-6. szám
CALVIN SYNOD HERALD 2 I was not able to visit every church this year, so this is an opportunity to speak to those who are truly interested in the life of their congregation. The importance of Christian Fellowship is an absolute necessity in our local congregations. We are "Called" by Christ to live together in His service, demonstrating and bringing to life our faith in how we treat our fellow man. This happens in our fellowship, our common life as Christians. The Apostle Paul instructs us on how we should be treating each other when we are together in Colossians 3:12- 13: "Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience, forbearing one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive." This is the model for our Christian lives. We cannot ignore this command on how to live with each other, how to treat each other. This is an imperative! In the second chapter of the Letter of James, versel 7, James remarks "...faith by itself ifit has no works, is dead. "It is in fellowship with others that we bring to life our Christian faith. Today there are many in every congregation that are no longer able to join in weekly gatherings. This becomes our opportunity, as a congregation, to bring our faith to life in reaching out to those who can no longer come to church - visit those who are homebound! James 1:27 writes: "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows..." This is an important aspect of our calling as a fellowship. In my visits to congregations during my nine years as Bishop, those congregations that kept Jesus' teachings as the central purpose of their fellowship stood out. There is harmony in these congregations, things seem to work well, the fellowship is strengthened and the members look forward to opportunities to be together. There is no scarcity of volunteers for programs and tasks in the congregation. They enjoy volunteering, they enjoy being together. They look for opportunities to do mission work, both with their time and in finding causes to which they can donate funds. These are living congregations - not because they follow the "letter of the law," but because Christ's spirit lives in the individual members, thus He leads the life of the congregation. 1 wish for each of you the Blessing of Christ in your life. Renew your relationship to that Christian fellowship to which Christ has led you. If there are difficulties, allow His Spirit and love to guide you in all that you do. Christ's Spirit beckons each one of us to be an active member of His Body. Accept His vision, accept His invitation to the "living fellowship" where He is present even today! Rt. Rev. Kolomun K. Ludwig, Bishop The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost In all honesty, there has been a debate among Biblical scholars as to just when the outpouring of the Holy Spirit occurred. According to the Gospel of John, it happened on Easter evening, when our risen Lord first appeared to his disciples as they were gathered in the upper room behind locked doors, fearing for their lives. The Gospel of John tells us that Jesus, whom the disciples had seen die on a Roman cross and buried in a rock-hewn tomb, suddenly appeared among them, saying "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you. " And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." But according to Luke, as we read in our first lesson for this morning, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit occurred forty-nine days later, on the Jewish festival of Pentecost. Again, the disciples were huddled together in one place, perhaps still fearing for their lives, certainly still trying to understand their experience of Christ’s death and resurrection, when the Spirit of God came upon them. And even if one might question Luke’s dramatic description of the rush of a mighty wind and the divided tongues of fire resting on each disciple, or the actual date that the gift of God’s Holy Spirit was given, something profound took place that enabled that frightened cadre of persons to begin to comprehend God’s gift of redemption in Christ’s death and resurrection, something which empowered them to unbolt the doors behind which they hid, and go out into the street to proclaim the Gospel. Just think of the irony, the reversal of expectation that the Holy Spirit brought into the life of Peter. Here was a man, who, on the night our Lord was betrayed, arrested, and taken off on a course of events that would result in his crucifixion, was so afraid for his own life, that he denied three times that he even knew Jesus. But through the power of the Holy Spirit, this same man who cowered in fear for his own life, became the first person to publicly proclaim that through Christ’s death and resurrection, God had acted to redeem the world from sin and death. He preached the first Christian sermon, and as a result of the inspiration he received, the Christian church was bom. On Pentecost Sunday we celebrate God’s gift of his Spirit. All of our lessons on this day focus on the gift of God’s Spirit - from our Lord’s promise that the Spirit would
