Still trusting

2015. július 29., szerda

The development of our faith is never straightforward. Trust leads us to a bright space but we have to walk through dark tunnels. When everything is breaking down, we have to search for the small pieces of our heart which can still be used for something. We have to build our trust in God again and again - said Zoltán Sóskuti in his keynote speech at the Main Stage. 

When we were children our trust in God depended on our parents’, grandparents’ and friends’faith added the keynote speaker, emphasising that mature faith depends on our experiences. When we are hesitating, the only point we can attach ourselves to is God. Despite our doubts we must not let go off the Bible. Because it is not telling us great stories about big heroes, because they were humans. They made mistakes, but they were attached to God. So they were also able to say ‘I love You God'.

As Zoltáncontinued, he pointed out, that living in trust is important so we can say that I AM GOD’S! But why can’t we  then say ‘Oh Lord, my Creator!’ together with a boy who is suffering from Down-Syndrome? Trust is the first step to say it out loud and towards loyalty. The life of the people lived before us is a sign to say I still trust in God. What do we need to have or to feel to say this still?

After discussing the theme in small groups and having lunch the international delegates sat in for  the third presentation of the theme “The Church behind Starpoint", presented by Dániel Osgyán, who is the Director of Hungarian Reformed Church Aid. He was talking about the Aid and it’s scope of activities, by introducing their national and international work. At the end of the presentation there was a quiz on Hungary with the two best groups receiving the famous Hungarian dessert called Túró Rudi and a key-holder.

Late afternoon, the participants took part in a presentation by Feri Pál, who is a Catholic priest and a mental health professional. He based his talk on the questions: ‘is love a perpetual or a temporal thing?’ and ‘how can we prevent and handle breaking up?’ This is because we think that someonewe found at the altar whom will make us happy every day. But it is not true, because first, when we fall in love, we idealise the other person. Second, a few years later we can demonise the people we fell in love with. But the third, state is to see our real selves and the each other. So we can say: you are brave because you marry me, the one who is totally defective.

Later, at the beginning of the evening devotion Katalin Novák, State Secretary for Family and Youth Affairs of the Ministry of Human Resources in Hungary greeted the attendants and expressed her maximum trust in the youth.

The evening devotion was presented by Sándor Molnár, a pastor from the Budapest-Külsőkelenföld congregation. He was talking about why we trust. We trust to get something from somebody, to get something from God. Sometimes we can see that it  became the essence of religion. We want to meet God’s expectations, because man has a guilty conscience. So we want to present an offering for ourselves.  Following this thought, Sándor added that, this behaviour is a sign of seeking solutions. He quoted Blaise Pascal who said that ‘There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.’ If I accept it, I can learn dances I thought I  would never be able to do.

At the end of the evening devotion there was a very touching dance performance in which a young man Tamás Kulcsár living with physical disabilities danced with his nurse Zsófia Győri. This brought tears in the eyes of many in the audience.

After the evening devotion the attendants could watch a really interesting African drum presentation. Later there were numerous chances to visit the concert stage of a famous Hungarian band called Magashegyi Underground and many other great concerts and programs offered. 

Maria Porcs

 

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Reformed Church in Hungary

Address: H-1146 Budapest, Abonyi utca 21.   

PO Box: 1140 Budapest 70, Pf. 5

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Our church through American eyes

We encourage you to read our  former GM intern Kearstin Bailey's blog about her time, spent in Hungary.