Craving Adventure: A Year in Hungary

Most Sundays, I head to Makó for a second worship service in the afternoon. There is an older man who worships there that has been the organist for the congregation for a very long time, and he loves playing the music and signing. It is always fun to listen to him play, as there is the actual tempo of the song, the tempo he plays, and the tempo he sings. He also is the loudest singer in the church. It could be easy to be frustrated or annoyed with the imperfections of the music every week at church. It could be easy to insist he is getting too old and should retire. It could be easy to let the music ruin the service. But this congregation is so full of love and acceptance that they never say anything negative about this man and his music. They simply attempt to follow along the best they can, and let him lead the way. Providing music brings him joy, and that in turns brings all of them joy. Every week in Makó I find myself smiling as he plays. I see that love, acceptance, and...

On Sunday February 10th we had the third English speaking worship service. We had a small group, but it was a nice, intimate gathering. I had positive feedback from those in attendance of my message from the service, so I thought I would share it. *Disclaimer: I gave my sermon off of notes rather than a fully written script and this was typed post-service. There may be a few inaccurate phrasings, but the main ideas and points are all the same. Readings: Isaiah 6:1-8 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 Luke 5:1-1 When I was thirteen, I was in my last year of confirmation class, and my Pastor had the idea that he wanted all of the last year confirmands to lead a worship service. They would be the pastor, assistant minister, acolytes, readers, and ushers. There were plenty of parts for everyone to have something to do. Before class, my Pastor asked me if I would like to fill the role of pastor. It was a scary and big role to fill, but he felt confident in my ability to do so, so I sai...

Last week, January 20 - January 27, was Ecumenical week. This is a week for Christian churches of all denominations to put aside any differences they may have in theology and come together in worship and prayer. In Szeged, and to my knowledge across Hungary, Ecumenical Week is celebrated with a worship service every night at a different denomination’s church. A part of the tradition in Szeged is that a pastor from a different denomination is invited to give the sermon each night. For example, a Catholic priest may speak at the Reform church and a Methodist pastor at the Lutheran church and so on and so forth. While I did not attend every night, due to some of the churches being a little far to walk to as well as being in Budapest for a conference for part of the week, I did get to experience some of the different services. It was interesting to see the different styles of service, as each church that was hosting would use their own method of worship. Some churches had you stand d...