Pentecost message of the Presidium of the General Convent to all congregations and institutions of the Hungarian Reformed Church and beyond in the year of the 100th Anniversary of the Peace Treaty in Trianon, Paris.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13)
DEAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN THE LORD,
The Holy Spirit transforms our lives and our thoughts, strengthening our faith. Those who never get to know the Saviour live without hope. It was when we accepted Jesus that He filled our hearts with hope. This is what we must sustain and protect, especially today when we are experiencing great tribulations. May the Lord maintain our hope in Christ by the Holy Spirit, even amid such trying times.
While celebrating Pentecost in 2020, we are seeking our Saviour in this pandemic-ridden world with our mind’s eye and with eager hearts. Seeing the terrible suffering of our fellow humans prompts us to deepen our faith and to take action. We should not, however, let the sight of agony cloud or shake our faith. Now, more than ever, we need the public witness of believers of the Christian Church. Our Almighty God has a plan with everything. The trial that the current pandemic represents is not an accidental one, on the contrary, it helps to reinforce the certainty of our faith.
What, then, is the truth that qualifies us to remain hopeful in such a hopeless world? It was a hundred years ago that the Treaty of Trianon was forced upon us. Our church and our nation has been separated by man-made borders ever since. And yet, despite all hardships, the Lord of church and history has preserved us.
We can rest assured that just as the Almighty God stayed with us and our forebears, He will preserve our progeny in the time to come. The basis of our hope and joy is the fact that we have a living God, a redeeming Christ who, by His Holy Spirit has always been and will always be with us.
4 June is not a day of mourning for us, but the day of hope and unity, proven by the fact that by the grace of our Lord it has been eleven years now that we, the Reformed community of the Carpathian Basin formally adopted a common Constitution and was officially reunited in a single Hungarian Reformed Church. We have never lost this unity in a spiritual sense, but the unified Hungarian Reformed Church has been striving to strengthen and tighten this spiritual unity.
May the Holy Spirit of our Lord be our guidance. May we all have a peaceful and blessed celebration of Pentecost.
Pentecost 2020
With brotherly love,
Bishop Dr. István Szabó and Lay President Sándor Veres
Danubian Reformed Church District
Bishop József Steinbach and Lay President Dr. Pál Huszár
Transdanubian Reformed Church District
Bishop Béla Kató and Lay President Dr. Zoltán Dézsi
Transylvanian Reformed Church District
Bishop Péter Szenn and Lay President József Kel
Reformed Christian Calvinist Church in Croatia
Bishop Sándor Zán Fábián and Lay President Béla Nagy
Sub-Carpathian Reformed Church
Bishop István Csűry and Lay President Lajos István Bara
Királyhágómellék Reformed Church District
Bishop Béla Halász and Lay President Károly Székely
Serbian Reformed Christian Church
Bishop László Fazekas and Lay President Vince Fekete
Reformed Christian Church in Slovakia
Bishop József Csomós and Lay President Tibor Ábrám
Cistibiscan Reformed Church District
Bishop Dr. Károly Fekete and Lay President Dr. Gusztáv Adorján
Transtibiscan Reformed Church District