Magyar Egyház, 1982 (61. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1982-11-01 / 11-12. szám
Mttwwasiawai^I 9. oldal light, when the church took over those customs such as gift-giving, decorating, sharing hospitality with food and drink, it purified them, rather than compromising itself. For through the work of the church, the unknown giver of gifts became known as the God of the universe, creator of heaven and earth, who had taken the salvation of humanity upon himself by causing his onlybegotten Son to be born in a manger. Today, we can scarcely think that we will slip back into the worship of Thor if we put up a Christmas tree in our living room. The real danger for us is that we will become so distracted with preparing for Christmas, so innundated with Christmas advertising, so familiar with the Christmas story, that we forget what we are celebrating: the miracle of the Incarnation. Christmas is not just a time to give gifts to the ones we love. It is not just a time to eat, drink, and be merry. It certainly is not just a time when we have to work late, shop late, and be driven half mad with the annoyances and inconveniences that pile up on us during the holiday season. A Reformed Christmas will not ask what is somehow pagan and what is not in its history. A Reformed Christmas will ask only this: Is what we do directed towards God and God-in-Christ, or does it have some other direction? Decorating, whether with a Christmas tree, or lights, or candles, or a creche, can be a form of thanksgiving for the bounty of Nature — even in Winter, Nature and Nature’s God/is bountiful — and a way to remind ourselves of the Christmas story. Giving gifts is not just a social obligation; it is a sharing of what we have in the name of love. The date on which we celebrate Christmas does not matter as much as what is in our hearts. In our Christmas celebrations we will be most true to the Reformed tradition if we orient our minds, our hearts, and our lives upon Jesus Christ. We must remember that the babe in the cradle died on the cross out of love for us. We must remember that we are as dependent upon God for our salvation, and indeed our life on this earth, as a baby is upon its parents. We must remember that everything about this season — its busyness, its commercialism, its seeming irreverence — can be reformed if we think and act in the service of God. Our times are grim enough. A celebration dedicated to make people happier can only be good for humanity. But the happiness of Christmas is properly the happiness that comes from the knowledge of the love of God. We find that love expressed in the Christmas manger, in the life and teaching of Jesus, in the cross on Golgotha, and in the empty tomb and the resurrected Christ. We find that love expressed most of all in the act of the one who divested himself of godhood and became one with us as our brother. Christmas is Christ, and a Reformed Christmas will have Christ in its center, the Christ who himself is the best reformer, because he makes all things new. David W. Johnson Roebling, New Jersey CHRISTMAS 1982 The Advent season has begun. To some it may be no more than a kind of “count-down” to Christmas, an agony to endure before the real celebration begins. The season of Advent has a much richer meaning than merely marking time for the coming of Christ at Christmas and not an end in itself, but means to a much greater end — the redemption of the world. And so the Advent season serves to remind us also that Christ who came to redeem us will come again to receive us unto Himself. As you begin to prepare for the holidays, spend some time in earnest preparation thinking about all the preparations God went through to alert the world to His greatest Gifts — everything from ancient prophecies to angelic announcements. Recall the Saviour s Advent promise, “I go to prepare a place for you”. Jesus was born in a specific place, a Judean sheep-town that is called Bethlehem. A town that can be located on the map and visited in person. The Good News of God’s love of Jesus Christ therefore is not a kind of “once upon a time in a magical kingdom” story. Perhaps this is God's way of telling us that our Christmas celebration is not a kind of “suspension of reality” a few days or weeks of fairy-tale pretending, but that the coming of Christ (both at Bethlehem and at the end of the world) signals a real blessing — for He is always coming — Christ is continuously coming and is born in the hearts of men. This is what our Christmas celebration is all about. His love for us, His death for us, His resurrection for us, His promised return to receive us unto Himself— to fulfill his promise of Covenant with His children. Yet how easy it is to overlook Him or to pass Him by in the confusion and concerns of the season. Our thoughts and preparations are filled with shopping, cooking and baking, decorating with candles and carols, and unless all these somehow point to the cradle of Christ and direct our attention beyond that — to His cross, we miss the whole message of the celebration which with the coming of December in this year 1982, begins in earnest. Therefore, as early as it is in the season and all the preparations are yet to be done, today is the day to resolve that everything Christ will be the focus, the reason and the goal of all our Christmas activities... and all of our lives. SMT WHAT DOES THE PASTOR DO?; “The pastor teaches, though he ' must solicit his own classes. He heals, though without pills or knife. He is sometimes a lawyer, often a social worker, something of an editor', a bit of a philosopher and entertainer', a salesman', a decorative piece for public functions, and he is supposed to be a scholar. He visits the sick, marries people, buries the dead, labors to console those who sorrow and to admonish those who sin, and tries to stay sweet when chided for not doing his duty. He plans programs, appoints committees when he can get them', spends considerable time in keeping people out of each other's hair', between times he prepares a sermon and preaches it on Sunday to those who don’t happen to have any other engagement. Then on Monday he smiles when some jovial chap roars, what a job—one day a week!” — Anonymous
