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Pillay reflected that the Great Church of Debrecen is more than a beautiful building. “These walls carry the memory of generations,” he said. “They have heard prayers in times of joy and in times of sorrow.”
Debrecen occupies a special place in the history of the Reformed Church, observed Pillay. “This city has been a centre of Reformed faith, theological reflection, education and Christian witness,” he said. “When the world is confused — look to Jesus.”
Christian hope is grounded in the resurrection, noted Pillay. "Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ is with us. And Christ will come again,” he said. “Therefore, death does not have the last word.”
God has the last word, Pillay emphasized. “And God's last word is life. And God calls us to affirm the gift of life, especially where life is denied or destroyed,” he said. “The Christian response must be reconciliation.”
This does not mean ignoring injustice, he continued. “Peace without justice is not true peace,” he said. “Reconciliation does not mean pretending that suffering has not happened. It means refusing to allow the wounds of history to determine the future.”
We must listen to our young people, said Pillay. "Many young people today carry enormous burdens,” he said. “We must give them more than information. We must give them a vocation. We must say: Your life matters.”
We also face a profound ecological crisis, Pillay noted. “The earth is not merely a resource to be exploited,” he said. “It is God's creation.”
We cannot love God while destroying God's creation, Pillay said. “We cannot love our neighbour while ignoring the ecological crises that disproportionately affect the poor,” he said. “We are called to walk. We walk with Christ. We walk with one another.”
