P+R: Pray and Rejoice

The Buda Reformed Congregation of RCH left its community hall, turned into a studio lately, behind, and held a drive-in church service on the morning of April 19 in a P + R car park in the outskirts of Budapest. While fully respecting the protective measures against the coronavirus epidemic, members of the congregations were able to meet not only via Youtube stream and Zoom, as usual in these days, but also in person.

The church building at the Szilágyi Dezső Square, near the Danube, being under construction, this is not the first unusual place where congregation members gather for worship. Earlier they moved the Sunday evening services with contemporary music to an event boat on the Danube, in front of the church. In the Advent season they gathered for worship in the Entertainment Hall of Buda, a public building nearby. On the last Sunday before church services were suspended, and the congregation could still meet with reduced audience, they met in the churchyard. However, since a month, similarly to other congregations, they have been streaming their events online, therefore it’s not surprising that the idea of ​​celebrating Sunday worship in an almost completely empty parking lot was so popular.

“In the past couple of weeks we have felt how much we missed being together in fellowship and meet each other,” said Dávid Illés, dean of the presbytery and “mastermind” of the event. The senior pastor of the congregation began to develop the idea of ​​a personal, still safe way of worshipping while he was on his daily walk. Together with his fellow pastors they had chosen the parking lot behind the Kelenföld railway station. They also managed to get the permission of the authorities and to set up the necessary technical equipment very quickly. “This is a special opportunity and it is a great gift of God who has allowed us to be together like this,” he said at the beginning of the service.

In advertising the outdoor worship, they also proved creativity. P+R, instead of Park and Ride, stood this time for “Pray and Rejoice”, as internationally known, or “Park and Hope”, in Hungarian. The walls of the surrounding blockhouses echoed the words of the sermon spread through the micro. Although church members only greeted each other from the safe distance of their cars, for many it felt like freedom they haven’t experienced for a long time. They expressed their good wishes and personal statements by gluing them on the windshields of their cars.

Under the open sky, it was even more palpable to reflect on the Ascension of Jesus, the resurrected Lord who is yet present among his people. Due to the pandemic, many started to ask themselves, Does God really care for this world, where sickness, misery, and death prevail.

“Jesus could have said that he was done with humankind because they executed Him. Yet while he was ascending he blessed us,” emphasised the dean of the Budapest-South Presbytery.

In this situation we feel deprived of so many things, but at the same time we realize what are dependent on, what we need to let go, and what is really valuable. Although Jesus returned to his Father forty days after Easter Sunday, He is still present everywhere by His Spirit: “As a farewell, he blessed this world not with prosperity and comfort but with fellowship with him. We can be in relationship with him anywhere, and anyone who opens its heart to God can hear him. As Apostle Paul teaches us, "your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God".

Jesus is also present in this world through the Church, the community of the believers, reminded the minister his audience. “Christ wants us to be His hands, His feet, His eyes, His heart, so that through us He may walk, speak, act and love in the midst of this world. If we offer ourselves to this ministry, he will show himself to other people in and through us.” The pastor thanked the members of the congregation for helping each other in these difficult times: talking with elderly people, shopping for them, allowing them to join the worship services over the phone are ways how we pass on God’s blessing to each other.

Participants of the worship expressed their gratitude to those who are fighting the epidemic and are ensuring the continuous operation of basic services in the country and in the capital by honking their horn. Leaving the worship, participants did not forget about the offering either. At the exit of the parking lot, they said goodbye to each other in the hope that God has a purpose with this novel situation, and will lead humanity through it. In the meantime, if circumstances allow, in a week — even if only on wheels — they will praise Him together again.