Magyar Egyház, 1977 (56. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1977-10-01 / 10-11. szám
8 MAGYAR EGYHÁZ MAGYAR CHURCH A SUNDAY WORSHIP SERVICE in our Hungarian Reformed Church “I was glad when they said to me, Let us go to the House of the Lord..Psalm 122 Different Christian churches have different liturgies, customs, ceremonies and orders of worship services. Our Hungarian Reformed Church also has its customs, traditions and order of worship service, which we love very much not only because we inherited it from our forefathers but because we feel that the simplicity, dignity and meaningfulness of our worship service agree with the requirements of God, in the Bible, as to how we should worship Him. In this short writing we summarize the basic elements of our worship service. 1. For us, as for most of the Christian churches, Sunday is the day of the Lord when we come together to worship Him. Of course, we have other special Christian holidays, too, when we come to church. (Christmas, Good Friday, etc.) 2. When we arrive into our church we remain standing for a while to say a short prayer, as if we would greet God whose House we entered. This is as proper as to say “good morning” to the people whose home we visit. Also, after the service, we again say a short prayer, thanking God for the blessings we received from the worship service. 3. According to the Bible, God is present with a congregation which came together to worship Him. Therefore, before the service starts we turn our attention to Him, by praying, reading the Bible or the hymnal or meditating. It is not proper to have noisy conversations with one another in the church. It would indicate disrespect toward God and His House, and would disturb the other worshippers. 4. One of the main features of the worship service is the reading of the Bible by the minister. The Bible is like a letter to us from God. We should wholeheartedly listen and understand what the minister reads from the Bible .... as we eagerly read a letter from our loved ones. 5. Another feature of our worship service is singing. Everybody should sing. In the congregational singing we express our adoration, our thankfulness toward God. No one needs to be an “opera singer” to join his brethren in singing. And we should sing with understanding. Our Psalms and hymns contain beautiful thoughts and truths. We should be aware of them. 6. There are congregational prayers, led by the minister. When the minister prays, the congregation prays with him silently. 7. Preaching of the Word of God, of course, is the most important part of our worship service. True preaching means that the minister with his own human words conveys and explains the message of God from the Bible, to the congregation. If in a sermon there is no message from the Bible, it is not a sermon, it is not preaching. The success of preaching depends as much on the congregation as on the minister. If someone comes to church with the most sincere desire to hear and learn something from the Bible, for him preaching is always meaningful. 8. In our Hungarian Reformed Church both baptism and the Lord’s Supper are integral parts of the worship service. We baptize and administer the Lord’s Supper during the worship service. It is just natural that when we have the Lord’s Supper the whole congregation attends the Lord’s Table. It cannot be otherwise since our Lord Jesus said: “Do this in remembrance of Me.” And He said this to everybody. 9. Also, at the worship service we help our church with our voluntary donations. The amount of our donation should be according to our ability, and what is even more important, according to our faith and understanding of the sacredness and importance of our church for us. These are the parts of a worship service in our Hungarian Reformed Church. Rev. Stephen Kovács
