Service Feeds on Thanksgiving

How did the year start in Transcarpathia?

We are thankful for God's protection over the past year as we have heard the unmistakable, incredible sound of the air raid siren countless times. On the first of January, we gave thanks for the preservation, for the strength we received for the trials and for all the consolation and support that our fraternal communities have given us to encourage and help us in our lives. Looking ahead to this year, we do not know what lies ahead, we always hope for better than what has been, despite the fact that, although it may sound pessimistic, it is true: in recent years, it has always been worse. But now, we look not at our experiences and the way the world is going but at the promises we have received from God. We have, therefore, started this year with even more hope and confidence. It was a joy to see that, although it was midweek, we had a good number of church members attending the service on the 1st of January, even though the New Year's Eve service is usually "full house,” while usually fewer people come on the first day of the year. In the Transcarpathian churches, however, people got up and came, standing before God as 2025 began. We asked for fullness and protection in our prayers and for guidance and blessing for this year as well. Even the cantors chose such hopeful, encouraging hymns at our services... For me, it was a good start, a good beginning, the first service, the first meeting this year, and also the importance for people to begin the year with prayer, listening to God, and asking for God's guidance.

Last year was a year of renewal in the Reformed Church in Transcarpathia. How would you sum it up?

From the war years onwards, we choose a theme and a motto for each year. In the first year, 2022, we focused on how grateful our people are, and in 2023, we focused on how rich in hope our church, our congregations, and their members have been. Renewal was not in buildings or highway miles but in retention. As Jeremiah says, our hope has been renewed because God's grace renews us every morning. We have kept our hope despite the fact that several rocket attacks have hit Transcarpathia, but no one has been injured. This is a spectacular sign of grace, of our salvation.

Meanwhile, we also worked to strengthen family ties, and looking back, I see that we succeeded. These relationships are under a lot of attack because of war, because of distance, because we cannot celebrate birthdays together or pay our respects or mourn our dead. In the spring, a time of renewal in nature, we tried in many churches to give seeds to people to plant in their small backyard gardens. There is an important psychological aspect to this, because if you have a good garden, if you have planted seeds, you will care for them, look after them, and look to the future with hope. We also tried to dust off and clean up the familiar in the year of renewal, so that we can enjoy it again. Because we are used to having connections, friends, church, school - and how good it is to have them. We can think of each day as a gift, along with what we have to live with that day. It was good to experience, in the midst of all the rethinking, all the burdens and disappointments, that God does not change.

The year 2025 is the Year of Service in the Reformed Church in Transcarpathia, and its theme song was chosen from Psalm 100: "Serve the Lord with joy, and come joyfully before him." How does this relate to the Year of Renewal?

Renewal cannot be an end in itself, especially when it comes to the Church, to the life of faith, and to communities, for there are always impacts. This is what we had in mind, and this is why the Missionary Commission prayed: that the community would be renewed with renewed strength and vigour, not for itself, but for the benefit of others, for the glory of God, and this is why 2025 has been designated the Year of Service. The hundredth psalm was our guiding song in the year of Thanksgiving, and all the congregations in Transcarpathia learned to sing it. Communities can serve God, 2025 can be a year of war, but it can also be a year of peace. Every action that proclaims the glory of God is a service: it must be spent on what is necessary, what preserves, and what protects. Our ministries can be comforting, reassuring, and supportive, all of which involve sacrifice on our part, but also offer the other a chance to stand to prosper. We will pay particular attention to saving lives, spiritually as well. The responsibility for souls must be borne by the Church, never to be forgotten, no matter what surrounds us. The message of saving souls must be in our hearts, and our ministry must focus on it. We can really save lives by doing this, for example, by helping the sick or contributing to the cost of an operation as a community, but also by maintaining institutions. In Transcarpathia, we run several social kitchens and have organised a volunteer fire brigade. Although our church has a wide range of activities, we do not want to be a service company, but God's people are ready to do something here in Transcarpathia.

What programmes and initiatives are planned for the year?

Among other things, we would like to thank the elderly ministers, teachers of the faith, pastors and deacons for their commitment. They will be invited to a diocesan day of silence, where they will receive a medal and a certificate of appreciation. Last year, in the Year of Renewal, we thanked our teachers and those who work in our schools for their work in a similar way. Thirty-one years of Reformed education in Transcarpathia in 2024 was our way of expressing our gratitude to those who founded schools, who trusted, and who not only waited for renewal after the atheistic era of socialism but also acted for it.

What role can young people play in the Year of Service, and what do you expect them to do?

Involving the generations is a tradition in the Carpathian Basin, but in Transcarpathia, youth work and keeping young people active is particularly important because there are hardly any adults in Transcarpathia; young women are already leaving to study abroad, and there are no young men at all. Only minors are free to move around in our country at the moment; they are the ones who are not threatened by military mobilisation, so we are counting on them in many cases. For example, during the spring period, around Easter, we would like to form teams to help people who live alone, for example, to clean their homes or to do manual work in social institutions. We have a hundred and eight congregations, so if we have only ten young people in each parish, we will have a team of a thousand.

The churches in Transcarpathia are facing many difficulties as they lose their young people and their fathers. Can the Year of Service bring relief to Reformed communities and families?

I think so because if we follow the central message of our theme, it will also help those who do not know what they can do in the church for the cause of God. For them, we are trying to find answers and possibilities more emphatically than in previous years. For example, in the Nefelejcs centre in Mezővár, which is concerned with the education and development of children with special needs and disabilities, there are many windows. Still, we have no cleaners because the war has taken away half the staff. We have advertised several times for community cleaning in the church, and it was good to see how many people came, cleaned the windows, washed the curtains, tried to make everything in the best condition, and then sat down for lunch together. I know of more than one member who, not counting this occasion, sat at the table alone all year. However, the above situation also helps when a congregation takes on the task of baking communion bread for neighbouring congregations. For example, in Verbőc, the women get together, knead the bread together, tear it out together, put it in the oven, and then take the baked bread to the second, third or fourth congregation on Saturday. Often, we don't even see what we are doing to bring joy or strengthen people. We need to look around our communities to see who we can recruit into ministry. This could be anything from visiting families, caring for firewood, helping the needy, to volunteering at the soup kitchen. But it's not just in our communities, we should also look within our own families, where kindness, thoughtfulness and service can shine a light, and if the family is cheerful, happy and joyful, it has a better 'immune system', it is more protective, stronger and less likely to be destroyed by adverse circumstances. We see the family as the smallest community ordained by God. And the congregation is the same community on a larger scale, just like the Hungarian nation - whether one lives in Cluj-Napoca or here in Berehovo or Budapest. We are a big family that sticks together, that can serve and help each other, and thus become better disposed, stronger against the influences that work against our survival.

Over a thousand days of war have tested pastors both mentally and physically. How can the church support them?

Already last year, we received substitute ministry from the pastors of the Dunamelléki Reformed Church District, who took over the duties of a long weekend from the pastor of a congregation, including substituting on Sundays and preached the Word in places where a Transcarpathian pastor had not been able to reach for a long time due to circumstances. Thus, our people had a pastor and interlocutor for a weekend; they were not preaching to them but for them, strengthening their souls. This year, the relief work will continue: in a few hours, Bishop Zoltán Balog is due to arrive, who will come for two months and will minister where it is needed. He will thus become part of our thematic year. In the second half of January, six pastors will arrive from the Cistibisan Church District in Hungary, and we expect to receive this kind of help every month, not only from the church districts in Hungary but also from Transylvania and Slovakia.

In the long term, what impact do you expect from your year of service?

People can discover that they can be useful in many different areas. And here I am thinking of our elderly people who are still at home, who often feel that they are no longer needed, even though we are now very much dependent on the activity and work of the retired. Many of the younger generation have left, and those who have stayed at home are overburdened. Service feeds on thanksgiving. If someone is grateful to have hands and feet and notices a person who has lost a limb, for example, it is easier to stand by. Despite our own neediness, we all can find people around us towards whom we can serve. A year of service can help people discover their gifts, which they can use to lighten the burden of others. In the past, we have also asked members of our congregations to call someone they know, or someone they know who is a friend, every morning and ask them what they need.

Looking further afield, we have two options this year: either the war ends or it doesn't. If it continues, poverty will increase, and the need to support each other will increase. If peace comes, it will also mean that the borders will be opened, and many of those who have been in fear and hiding for three years will leave. For us, this could mean an even greater loss. The question is whether those who return will compensate for those who leave. In this situation, service is even more important. We would like to see peace as soon as possible, but we do not know what will happen next: even if the war in Ukraine ends, there may be some kind of large-scale reconstruction programme, but we also see a chance that nothing of the sort will happen, and the economic situation in the country, the demographic crisis, which is huge in Ukraine, will cause great trouble. In the Year of Service, interdependence should reinforce the sense of volunteerism and responsibility for each other. Because whatever comes, whether it is war or peace, we have to stay on our feet. The Hungarian Reformed community's love of life and desire to live cannot be taken away. We would like to strengthen this by giving of our time, energy and money in the service of God for His glory and for the benefit of our fellow human beings. Because we believe that it will bear fruit, and that fruit will not be bitter.