Hungarian Church Press, 1957 (9. évfolyam, 14-15. szám)

1957-11-30 / 14. szám

HCHP XI*30,1957, Vol. DC/14

160- 4 -means for us, with merciless precision, that everything that happened, is happening and will happen to us, came, is coming and will come by the will of God the Lord who reigns supreme over the universe and whose will is holy, good and true.

If He chastises us, His people, with utter humility, can only confess: "True and just are thy judgments". This is faith. But wherever faith is lacking in this utter humility of repentance, there the path before us not only narrows but comes to a dead end. According to all self-disclosures of God in the Scriptures, the only attitude commanded and approved by God is to humble ourselves under the mighty arm of God, It is only for such an attitude of repentance that God opens the door of grace, that is, the only door that "no man shutteth". We have passed through many tribulations. The meaning of all suffering - that of individuals and collective entities - is that God seeks the hearts of those who repent, heeding tho stern warning of Jeremiah the prophet: "They have turned unto me the back, and not the face"! God tum.3, in Jesus Christ, His blood-streaked face to us in order that we,too, turn our faces toward Him, God has one condition which He has never altered: He promises and gives life and mercy to all who rep ont and turn to Him, This condition cannot be changed for "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever". His reply to all, and to us also, when we beleaguer Him with complaints, doubts and despairs, is the same today as it was to those scandalised by Pilate*s cruelty and the fall of the tower of Siloam - and remember that a much bigger tower than that of Siloam fell on us, and we were more than eighteen that remained crushed under it! - "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish".

It was in my first report, in November, 1948, that I, as bishop, presented this conviction which had cost me so many prayers and struggles to formulate. I am convinced that even today, in November, 1957, we may accept, word by word, the same guidance for our present situation, And also the conclusion of ny 1948 report applies, word by word, to the present situation: "... I have tried to point to the narrow path which is a promising path because it is appointed by the Lord, The essential meaning of this narrow path is that our Reformed Church in Hungary has warded off the teiptation of undertaking what is but a political action in ecclesiastical camouflage,,. When we have resisted this temptation, we have, at the same time, preserved our inner independence and evangelical freedom. This is the only line which the government and management of the church pan and may foliar, It was with the sinoere hope and prayer that I accepted my watch pqst t&at we, as church, will march forward in unity and With courageous hope on the road that has become illumined for us,,. The life a£ our ohurch - humanly speaking - will depend on the answer to the question whether we are and shall be the miserable battlefield of divergent forces, or the forward-looking and believing people of God that accepts the gracious judgment of God with full humility".

It seemed that, by the years 1955 and 1956, this conviction and this obedience of faith had struck roots in the wide circles of our church members and had been proving its validity by fruitful activity and the inward and outward enrichment of the congregations* life. Yet it was exactly in 1955 and. 1955 that the inner crisis of our church life became acute. We were on the way ccf resolving and healing this crisis, yet our progress in this was halting, partly because of the cumulation of unterward circumstances and tasks and partly on account of the reluctance of our slothful and sinful nature. We must not emphasize either of these two factors at the expense cf the other. It 'would be quite easy to paint a picture for the public of the church district, sharing that the moderate speed in the work of healing and rectification, for which the responsibility rested, first of all, on my shoulders, was fully justified by the outward oircmstonccs then obtaining and the accumulated rasks which we then faced. However, I could also perform a piece of vivisection which could prove that there was nothing in what we left behind but