The inspirational journey of a priest couple from Lovasberény.
If someone can be said to serve God and people with their heart and soul, that is certainly true of the Hajdú couple, who have been pastors in Lovasberény for almost twenty years. The couple has four children, they participate in the work of the local kindergarten and often visit families in need. Theirs is a valuable story worth hearing. We are watching the show "In the Hands of God".
Hajdú Szabolcs Koppány and his wife, Lívia Hajdúné Tóth, arrived in Lovasberény, located at the foot of the Velence Mountains, 17 years ago, where they threw themselves into work and service with great enthusiasm.
"There are mostly Catholic brothers in the settlement. Based on the most recent census, 484 residents declared themselves Reformed. This is a number that is not small in Transdanubian terms, but not very much either. Here, too, over the centuries, you could feel that the Reformed were less numerous, and therefore they always adjusted a little, there were back-and-forths. I am very happy to say that today there is no trace of any hostility that existed in the past centuries"
- said Szabolcs Hajdú Koppány. According to the pastor of the Reformed Parish in Lovasberény, they grew up together with the congregation.
"It is important to me that the history of this church did not begin with us and will not end with us. As young titans, we threw ourselves into work, which then brought a series of positive and, of course, negative experiences, and we learned a lot about ourselves. We are endlessly grateful to this community for putting up with all the little deviations and pathfinding of young people, and together we were able to get to the point where we are now."
- emphasized the priest.
The Reformed Primary School and Kindergarten was founded in Lovasberény in 2012, and the pastor couple also takes part in its work. Pastor Lívia Hajdúné Tóth is also with the children a lot. "I think that if something is boring for the children, they immediately respond. If I want to talk to them about God, but I do so in a boring way, their message will clearly be that God is boring.
I don't want to be an obstacle between the children and God, but a signpost,
and I really do my best so that the children love, enjoy the time together, and can participate in it. I try to infuse the word of God into their little lives," he said.
"Those families choose the kindergarten we founded, who have a very strong openness, for whom this Christian value system is important. They don't have to be only Reformed, many of their children have not yet been baptized, but the openness is there, and we have the hope that sooner or later we will arrive at the point where they will become active members of our churches."
- added Lívia Hajdúné Tóth.
Szabolcs Hajdú Koppány made the decision to choose a career as a pastor very early on.
"I remember that once - sometime in the upper grades of elementary school - while talking to my parents, it somehow came up that what would happen if I chose the career of a pastor. I then said: well, just not that! After that, roughly two years passed, and I don't know what changed, but I was clearly prepared for this course in the seventh or eighth grade."
he told me.
He also brought many fresh ideas to the Lovasberény community.
"I grew up in a church in Budapest, we held youth services there, we sang hymns accompanied by five or six different instruments. I thought that if it works there, we should quickly implement it here as well. We had to realize that they are opening for this, but not at the pace we thought. There was never any uneasiness or tension from this. Now we are at the point where we have a family service once a month, where a complete small church band accompanies the songs, which are not necessarily the usual traditional songbook songs, but youth songs that the young people are much more receptive to."
"Another favorite of mine is that in traditional churches there were seats for who could sit where. It also happened here that someone from outside came to the church and sat down. Well, yes, but the "owner" of that place has arrived. Politely or less politely, he indicated that it was his place and that whoever came in should sit in the back row. I said, dear brothers, that if this happens to us again, I think we should close the church door and throw away the key, because the Christian community and church is a welcoming community.
The many small decisions that a person makes add up to a personal life story and the life story of a community as well."
said the pastor.
The Reformed pastor couple had four children. Their three older sons study at the Reformed High School in Kecskemét. 9-year-old Zsombor says that he will also follow his brothers.
The Hajdú couple also talked about their relationship. "We met in theology. We were in third year when we were in awe of each other, and really
it was good to see the other's humor, determination, commitment to things.
The last year, the practical year, took place as we were rocking a small child, while we were writing the thesis, and in the meantime we had to do the exams somehow, so it was a very exciting period. This probably foreshadowed the kind of logistical ability that is needed even more with four children," they explained with a laugh.
The mother shared: service is stressful.
"When I know that I have to write a prayer, I know that I have to go up to the pulpit, then I obviously have a natural nervousness, and the children don't hear my most patient voice at that time. But if I tell them that I have to prepare now and they are understanding, then they really honor the honesty by keeping the boundaries"
Lívia said.
"Lívia graduated from the same school as me, she would have the same opportunities, but she was able to step back in order to raise our children and provide the family background - I have an indescribable gratitude for that," the husband emphasized. "If our children follow us, then we will be grateful for it, because it is a feedback that although they saw the downside and the advantage of this, it was still attractive to them for some reason. Our eldest son has a spiritual inclination towards this, and he is very consciously preparing to enter the service of a pastor," he added.
This young boy, Hajdú Koppány Bulcsú, told how he received an inner calling from God. "Once I just started to feel that it would be good to be a minister, it would be good to serve God in this way. At first I didn't take this very seriously, I thought I was going to fall asleep. Then I took a nap and it didn't go away.
In the end, I said yes to this inner call, and when I said it, I was overcome with an immeasurable calmness that I have never felt before after any decision"
he said enthusiastically.
Hajdú Szabolcs Koppány was also happy to talk about his motivation. "I couldn't imagine my life any other way. This is an inner fire that I experienced for the first time when I realized what God had given me. It makes you so grateful that you want to give back. Of course, you don't necessarily have to be a pastor for this. Moreover, I am convinced that those who do not live an authentic Christian life as pastors or religious teachers, their lives and their presence are at least as important."
