Tag: Keresztény Magvető

For full text go to the menu on top of the UnitarianTorch home page, click on Translated Transylvanian Unitarian Sermons line, and then click on the title: SermonYourSoultheGoodSoil.

Summary of sermon: The sermon was written in 2016.   The sermon is based on the parable of the sower; whichever is the current state of our soul, we have the power to change it to be the good soil that will produce a crop.    Székely Kinga Réka is an ordained Transylvanian unitarian minister serving as minister at the Homoródszentpéter church.  They are partnered with the Unity Unitarian Church in st Paul Minnesota.    Székely Kinga Réka was a Balazs scholar in 1999-2000.

For full text go to the menu on top of the UnitarianTorch home page, click on Translated Transylvanian Unitarian Sermons line, and then click on the title: SermonTheSpiritofHope.

Summary of sermon: The sermon was written in 2009, as a New Year sermon.   The sermon is about how we can look forward to a better new year if we place our trust into God, as he gave us the spirit of power, and not the spirit of fear.    Bálint Róbert Zoltán is an ordained Transylvanian unitarian minister serving as minister at the Mészkő church.  They are partnered with the Boise Unitarian Universalist Fellowship.    Bálint Róbert Zoltán was a Balazs scholar in 2009-2010.

For full text go to the menu on top of the UnitarianTorch home page, click on Translated Transylvanian Unitarian Sermons line, and then click on the title: SermonTheEmptyHand.

Summary of sermon: The sermon was written in 2015, and presented at the Fall Thanksgiving service in Kolozsvár.   The sermon is about how we might be grateful to God, eventhough we may not hold anything in our hands.    Pap Mária is an ordained Transylvanian unitarian minister who served the congregations of Szentivánlaborfalva and Kézdivásárhely.  She was a Balazs scholar in 2003-2004.   At the time of this translation she is the unitarian minister at the Old Meeting House Unitarian Chapel at Mansfield, United Kingdom.

For full text go to the menu on top of the UnitarianTorch home page, click on Translated Transylvanian Unitarian Sermons line, and then click on the title: SermonStandingfirm.

Summary of sermon: The sermon was written on December 3, 1956, and posthumously published in 2013.  This sermon has a very unique history, as this was one of the sermons that played a role in the 1957 arrest and interrogation of several Unitarian ministers by the Romanian Secret Police.   All of those ministers were found guilty of various “crimes against the state”, and sentenced to several years of labor camps. What was their crime?  You see, during 1956 a small group of Transylvanian Unitarian ministers put together a booklet of sermons that they were distributing throughout the Unitarian Seminary, and preached in Transylvanian villages. They were found out, and their booklet was confiscated, and the text of several sermons appeared as evidence of crimes, in the transcripts of the interrogations and the trial.  This is one of those sermons in that booklet;  the author suffered dearly just for speaking his mind.  So, who is this author?  Simén Dániel was a unitarian minister in the village of Lupeny till 1940, and after that he worked as a theologian, and a teacher in Kolozsvar.  He was imprisoned in 1959, and released in 1964.  He passed away in 1969.

For full text go to the menu on top of the UnitarianTorch home page, click on Translated Transylvanian Unitarian Sermons line, and then click on the title: SermonIntheLanguageoftheSpirit.

Summary of sermon: This 2017 sermon(published in 2018) is from Reverend Dr. Czire Szabolcs who is the teacher of Old Testament and New Testament subjects at the Protestáns Teológiai Intézet unitárius szakirányán (Protestant Theological Institute, Unitarian profile),  Kolozsvár, Transylvania.  He was a Balazs scholar in 2014.   The topic of this sermon is the story of Pentecost, and how it is still very applicable to our lives.  This sermon won the 1st place in the 2017 sermon contest organized by the Hungarian Unitarian Church at Kolozsvár.

For full text go to the menu on top of the UnitarianTorch home page, click on Translated Transylvanian Unitarian Sermons line, and then click on the title: SermonOurTraditionofRenewal.

Summary of sermon: This 2018 sermon is from Reverend Jakabházi Béla Botond who is the minister at Nyárádgálfalva, Transylvania.  He was a Balazs scholar in 2007-2008.   The central theme of this sermon is why we want ask the following questions: as people of Unitarian faith  “Who are we? and Who do we want to become?” .  The answers are coming from the rich cultural traditions of the Hungarian Unitarian Church, and the words of Jesus.  This sermon won the 3rd place in the 450th Anniversary year contest organized by the Hungarian Unitarian Church at Kolozsvár.

For full text go to the menu on top of the UnitarianTorch home page, click on Translated Transylvanian Unitarian Sermons line, and then click on the title: SermonOnTheWayThere.

Summary of sermon: This 2018 sermon is from Kovács Sándor, one of the theology teachers at the Protestant Theological Institute at Kolozsvár, Transylvania.   Kovács Sándor is also running the library at the headquarters of the Hungarian Unitarian Church at Kolozsvár, Transylvania.  The topic of this sermon is God’s promise to the Jewish leaders exiled to Babylon. This sermon won a shared 1st prize in the 450th Anniversary year contest organized by the Hungarian Unitarian Church at Kolozsvár.

For full text go to the menu on top of the UnitarianTorch home page, click on Translated Transylvanian Unitarian Sermons line, and then click on the title: SermonTheTriumph.

Summary of sermon: This 2018 sermon is from Szabó Előd, the minister at the Unitarian Church at Ürmös in Transylvania.  The topic is the commemoration of Ferenc David’s death at the memorial service. This sermon won the 1st prize in the 450th Anniversary year contest organized by the Hungarian Unitarian Church at Kolozsvar.

For full text go to the menu on top of the UnitarianTorch home page, click on Translated Transylvanian Unitarian Sermons line, and then click on the title: SermonHiddenTreasures.

Summary of sermon: This 1973 sermon is from Gellerd Imre, a great preacher and a great homiletics expert, and Unitarian historian.  His martyrdom seven years later during the communist regime in Romania ended the life of a tremendous person and the works of a world class expert in Transylvanian Unitarian history.  He is the father of Gellerd Judit (Zizi), who, through her own actions,  has changed the Unitarian world for the better.

For full text go to the menu on top of the UnitarianTorch home page, click on Translated Transylvanian Unitarian Sermons line, and then click on the title: SermonKolozsvarBlues.

Summary of sermon: This 2008 sermon is from one of the teachers at the Unitarian Section of the Protestant Theological Institute in Kolozsvar.  The sermon was presented at a youth gathering.  Once you read this, you will look at Kolozsvar with a different eye, and when you visit there you’ll be asking your host to show you all the locations referenced in this sermon.