Hungarian Church Press, 1950 (2. évfolyam, 4-13. szám)
1950-04-01 / 6. szám
Hungarian Church Press «*Ö*Let us7 therefore, listen He addresses to the two generations at a time when as ye~t the two are seeing each other, May those who are my elders hear this word as well as those who are younger than I. This succession of generations is a very personal affair, an experience of the’ father with his children and that of the teacher with his pupils, A very personal experience, and it is particularly you who are affected most strongly by it,in your families and in your school. How. oould one find a more appropriate occasion to speak about this than this student service in this church school where, more than anywhere else, all problems of our church must claim our keenest attention? And it is this closing service of your Youth Conference, where a preceding generation has tried - well or less well - to give an account of its life and faith, that offers the best opportunity to apply God's word upon this problem. It is this very occasion that we should try■formulate our problem in the right way and to find the right answer to it. The passing away of Elijah and the emergence of Elisha was more than an ordinary succession of generations, A great age was passing away with Elijah, and an entirely new age was coming upon the scene with Elisha. You may not realize how new the age is from the bank of which you are looking back upon the receding period, and we, your seniors, hardly realize how old really the age was to which we belong. The real significance and the dimensions of this succession are beyond our ken, I venture to say that there have never yet been, in the whole course of our history, two generations which, in their succession could have involved a greater Change, than my generation and yours. let us speak about the actors of such a succession, about the passing Elijah and coming Elisha, - that is, about us and about you. First, about the old generation. What was Elijah's attitűd in this succession? He asked a question: "What shall I do for thee, before I be taken away from thee?" Think of Elijah, the experienced fighter, the great champion of faith, seeking the advice of a beginner. This attitude points to a familiar mistake which is likely to occur when the old generation meets the new. We are inclined to see our duty in assessing what we deem lasting and worthy of survival in our personal, national and ecclesiastical history, and in trying to pass on all these, at all costs and regardless circumstances, to you. We are tempted to burden you with our problems, with what we regard as real questions, that is, we try to impose upon you. What the passing Elijah does, is the very opposite of this attitude. He seeks the advice of the rising Elisha and makes him to say what he, Elijah, can do for this young man. The lesson is that we must ask you as‘'to what we are to do for you. But this request must be a sincere and real question. Just as Elijah's question was a real one. Not a teacher's prompting which excludes all unforseen and undesirable answers. Like Elijah, one should preserve the full freedom for the answer: "Ask what I shall do for thee".The
