February 2011: Passing on the Mantle
February 2011 Bulletin Insert Format [PDF]Febrero 2011 en español
May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, as the gentle rain upon the tender grass, and as the showers upon the herb. Deuteronomy 32:2
The Kálvin Tér Reformed Church here in Hungary has long been known as “the Bishop’s Church”, so serving there in any capacity has been an honor. This Church is also where “our” Károli Gáspár University Theology students progress to doing their practice preaching in a Thursday evening worship service throughout the school year. We enjoyed a quiet but note-worthy worship service there this last Sunday.
Our nephew, young Balázs, was filling this rather august pulpit for the three months that the Sr. Minister, the Rev. Pál László, would be on sabbatical. We sat on each side of Balázs’s young wife. Behind us was the Rev. László Kovacs, visiting from our Calvin Synod Conference of the United Church of Christ in the US.
Though Balázs was a bit nervous, he preached well, meaningfully, helpfully, with especially good exegesis, and the congregation listened, actively. And, he was wearing my ‘palást’ (clergy robe), as his sister wears one of Coralyn’s every Sunday in “her” church. After the service the whole family gathered and we all shed a few tears of joy together. It’s no small thing to launch a new young minister who is both our own nephew and one of our past students! It is a worthy thing to participate in the beginnings of a new Hungarian Reformed clergy, and it certainly shows us that we are passing on the mantle –
Laslo and Coralyn Medyesy are missionaries with the Reformed Church in Hungary, based in Budapest, Hungary. Laslo serves as professor of theology in the Department of Theology of the Gaspar Karoli Reformed University in Budapest. Coralyn T. Medyesy serves as a teacher of Social Work and Diakonia at the Nagy Koros School.