Hungarian Church Press, 1968 (20. évfolyam, 2. szám)
1968-06-01 / 2. szám
r* If. -nomic jlisidj?©y—the- slow progress of the cause of disarroament, or its near— starvation, inevitably raise for us the question concerning the effectiveness of the churches peace services We believe that the church is. responsible for the divided state of the world,, The time has come to add to this; we are also responsible for the unsatisfactory progress of the work trying " to heal these divisions.) It is this recognition which prompts us to scrutinize ourselves about our peace service, and we ask all those haviig responsibility for this activity of the church to do the same, a) We must raise the question concerning our theological.«ffarts? Have we really succeeded in seizing up comprehensively and' expertly, the problems of our age, and have we properly, that is, theologically reacted to the problems and needs of the new age which is called the Atomic Age? let our main problem is not this? The main question is whether or not we have got as far in our theological efforts as to be able to perceive at what points and with what attending message does the Word addressed t® us, the vertical-' ly coming Gospel message, intersect the horizontal line of the present stage, of human history? Can we utter the word which contains the message cf the Lord of history and of the church to mankind in the present situation?- Has our theological effort in this way actually enriched our preaching, in the congre gptions? bY But self-scrutiny is also in order with regard to our ecclesiastical and 'inter-church declarations. It seems to be a temptation to qpt, instead of courageously taking the risk of prophetic preaching, for Christian declarations narked by the spirit of neutrality and well-balanced f objectivity which reflect rather the "ecumenical balance of forces" and the results of "ecclesiastical diplomacy" then the message of the living Word' . of ,Godo i Then, while we perform our peace service and keep on drawing Up statements which are likf the documaits of "second-class diplomacy", how can we expect to be reckoned with seriously by "first—class diplomats"? But pne has to be still more concerned about the fact that" the declarations of churches'' and church bodies can' count on but a scant support on the part of the congregations. We believe that the ecclesiastical and ecumenical declarations would have more relevance for the people of God if they more strongly reflected the timely message of the prophetic'and apostolic witness, c) Similar questions of self-scrutiny are in order as far as the Christian actions are concerned. Have we ever succeeded in organising on some urgent Issue a forceful movement really comprising and moving the whole world of Christendom? In raising these questions of our heart—searchirg, we again and agp.in touch upon preaching, our congregations, the cause cf Christian unity and on obedience or lack of obedience to the recognized ethical imp er at ivos* That is, on matters that point to the genuine Christian character and content of our peace service, to the contribution which only Christians can make to the cause cf peace? It is particular ly this feature of indispensability that makes necessary the rethinking of our peace service?
