October 26, 2008 by admin.

콜롬비아 장로교회
www.cpcdecatur.org

2008년 10월 26일, Reformation Sunday

예배학 교수로서 다른 교회를 방문하여 리포트를 쓰라고 학생들에게 숙제를 내어 주지만 나 자신이 리포트를 쓰기는 아주 오랜만이다. 2007년 크리스마스에 미국에 도착하여 매주 여러 교회들을 방문하여 보았지만 방문교회의 예배에 대한 글을 써 정리하여 보지는 못하였기에 기회가 되는대로 미국교회의 예배모습을 일요일 교회탐방의 모습으로 소개하고자 한다.

먼저 집에서 가장 가까운 교회부터 시작하는 마음에서 같은 블록에 위치한 걸어서 3분 거리의 콜롬비아 장로교회를 선택하였다. 사실 내가 근무하고 있는 미국장로교 산하의 콜롬비아 신학대학원
www.ctsnet.edu 의 건너편에 위치하고 있는 이 교회에 학교와 관계된 여러 사람들이 다니고 있지만 주일예배 참석은 이번이 처음이다.

교회는 1946년에 설립되었는데 근방에 위치한 2교회가 노회와 협력하여 콜롬비아 신학대학원 캠퍼스 옆에 개척교회를 시작한 것이었다. 그래서인지 학교의 여러 행사 중 개강예배를 비롯하여 많은 인원이 동원되는 모임에는 교회 예배실을 사용하고 또한 교인들에게 학교 프로그램에 참여하는 혜택을 주고 있다.

그러나 많은 미국교회들이 그렇듯이 이 교회도 교회성장이 멈춘 가운데 현상유지의 안간힘을 쓰고 있는 모습을 감추지 못한다. 아름다운 건물과 파이프 오르간, 그리고 인근에 위치한 학교의 인적자원들이 풍부한 교회의 주일예배 모습을 관찰하여 보았다. 마침 오늘은 종교개혁주일을 기념하는지라 예배시간 15분전에 입구에서 백파이프를 불며 스코틀랜드의 전통을 기억하는 잔치로 시작하였다. 참 교회주소와 우리 집 주소가 모두 Kirk Road이며 스코틀랜드 말로 ‘교회’라는 고어임을 기억할 때에 이 지역의 주민분포를 알 수 있지 않겠는가?

약 500석의 예배실에 70-80명의 교인들이 분산되어 예배함은 회중 찬송소리가 파이프오르간에 덮여서 잘 안 들리는 결과였다. 백파이프의 연주와 함께 Kirkin’o'the Tartans 예식이 시작되었는데 십자가 깃발, 성경을 높이 든 Beadle, 교회깃발, 성직자, 그리고 성가대원들이 각 가문의 문양을 상징하는 깃발인 Tartan을 들고 차례로 입장하였다.

타르탄이라고 불리는 문양은 깃발에도 사용하고 남자들도 입는 치마의 문양에도 사용한다. 그 문양에 따라 각 가문을 상징한다고 한다. www.clansofscotland.org 이것을 미국에서 교회 예배예식으로 처음 1943년도에 사용한 사람을 Peter Marshall 목사라고 하는데 이는 스코틀랜드 이민자로서 콜롬비아 신학교를 졸업하였고 미국의회의 Chaplain으로 유명한 설교자이다.

사실 미국의 역사가 이민교회 역사인만큼 스코틀랜드와 아일랜드 이민자들이 미국에 장로교회를 가져왔고 영국이민자들은 해변가를 중심으로 정착하였다면 정치적 힘이 없던 이들은 인디안 원주민들과 접촉하는 산맥을 중심으로 중부와 남부에 정착한 것이다. 그리하여 오늘 종교개혁의 날 스코틀랜드 개혁자 존 녹스를 기념하며 그의 기도문과 고백문(ScotsConfession, 1560, http://www.creeds.net/reformed/Scots/)을 사용한 예배를 준비하였다.

종교개혁주일을 지키며 지역주일의 민족성을 살리고 계속 개혁함을 외치는 의식을 통하여 교회가 개혁을 안 하면 결국 문을 닫고 말아야만 하는 미국 기성교단의 현실을 보는 것 같았다. 개혁교회의 모습에서 이민자들이 등장하는 새로운 교회의 출현을 예고하며 담임목사는 본인의 인종인 백인남자의 안경을 벗고 예수님의 시각으로 사랑을 나누자고 성서정과를 따르는 오늘 본문인 마태복음 22장 34-46절을 설교하였다. 이는 16세기의 종교개혁으로 끝나지 않고 21세기의 개혁으로 이어짐을 말한다며 의미심장한 내용을 전하였다.

스코틀랜드 민족성을 바탕으로 발전된 미국장로교 전통예배에 매우 충실한 1시간 예배를 통하여 한국 이민교회의 방향성을 엿볼 수 있었는데 이민교회에서도 한국 민족임을 나타내는 상징과 요소들이 기도와 함께 어우러져 예배드려짐이 앞으로 기대된다. 오늘 예배에서는 스코틀랜드 문양만 소개되었는데 한국문양을 비롯한 여러 다른 민족의 문양이 추가된 의식이었다면 하는 아쉬움을 뒤로 한 채 입구에 마련된 Scottish Short Bread Cookie를 집어 들고 그 달콤함에 잠시 매료되었다. (허정갑)

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October 26, 2008 by admin.

ON THE HORIZON is a monthly e-mail newsletter designed to inform, to inspire, and to nurture ongoing communication between the General Assembly Council/Executive Director’s Office and middle governing bodies.  Your feedback is strongly encouraged, as is your input for future editions.  You are invited to share the information and stories in this newsletter with your own partners in ministry.

 

Lives Transformed

“Bringing more voices to the table” – The Rev. Paul Junggap Huh

by Emily Enders Odom

Associate, Mission Communications

Presbyterian Church (USA)

DECATUR, GA, October 22, 2008 – Having long ago “fallen in love” with the art of creating worship resources, the Rev. Paul Junggap Huh found himself newly articulating one of the great paradoxes of the faithful.

“Which comes first,” Huh wondered, “one’s passion or one’s calling? I believe they work simultaneously.”

Where passion and calling have most recently converged for the editor of Come, Let Us Worship: The Korean-English Presbyterian Hymnal and Service Book (Geneva Press, 2001) [http://www.pcusa.org/korean/resources.htm], was witnessed on September 23 by a host of exuberant worshipers at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville as Huh was commissioned – alongside fourteen others – to serve on the national committee to develop the next Presbyterian hymnal [http://www.presbyterianhymnal.org/HymnalSplash.asp].

“Being introduced to the work of General Assembly changed my life,” Huh said. “Not only did the Korean-English hymnal I edited open the door to my serving here at Columbia Seminary, but my experience with it also led people to support my application by recommending me for this new opportunity to work with the Presbyterian hymnal project. It’s all connected.”

Huh, assistant professor of worship and director of Korean-American Ministries at Columbia Theological Seminary [http://www.ctsnet.edu/], said that the hymnal committee’s greatest challenge would be to identify the “new song” that the Presbyterian Church (USA) is singing at this stage in its journey.

“As a committee, we are open to the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in leading us to new texts and tunes for our time and beyond,” Huh said. “In its day, the 1990 hymnal was both an entryway and a symbol for uniting the former Presbyterian Church in the U.S. and the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. We very much face the same task now, to identify what divides us as a church, whether it be theology or worship styles, and to design a hymnal that will help us to be united with one another.”

Huh observed that the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation (PPC), which is assuming all costs for the development and production of the hymnal, including the expenses of the Hymnal Committee, took great care to appoint a diverse committee to the task. Mary Louise “Mel” Bringle, professor of philosophy and religious studies and chair of the Humanities Division at Brevard College in Brevard, NC, serves as committee chair. David Eicher, a member of the PPC staff, is the new hymnal’s editor.

“What we develop may not please everyone,” said Huh, “but we can attempt to bring more voices to the table to find that new entryway to bring us together.”

Undaunted by the anticipated 5-year commitment, Huh is instead looking forward to what the new hymnal will both represent and achieve. “Written documents help us to agree with one another,” he said. “By addressing and bridging our cultural, language, and other differences in creating a new hymnal, we can say and we can proclaim that we are one.”

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October 26, 2008 by admin.

Preparing the Way:

CTS’ Korean American Program Gets Underway

Korean Church Pastors in Atlanta area (front row, from left to right)

Sam Young Kim, Bong Jang, Byung Ho Choi, and Soon Hong Kang

Korean-American Ministries (Paul J. Huh, Director) with Lifelong Learning at Columbia Theological Seminary offers a lay leadership program for training newly elected candidates of elders and deacons for their ordination requirement. As the Korean speaking churches in the Greater Atlanta area have struggled with providing quality education and training programs for nurturing ordained lay leaders, this certification program seeks to equip and prepare the ordination for officers in Korean-American Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

For 10 weeks on Mondays from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., the class meets at Bethany Presbyterian Church (Marietta, GA) & Columbia Theological Seminary campus. First class began on September 22 and the last class ends on December 1 with a graduation ceremony on Saturday, December 6 on Columbia campus. In addition to 20 hours in class time, 10 hours of off-class project with a report is due on exam day, which is required for a passing grade.

Preparing the way for the immigrant church education happens very late at night after people return from their work late in the evening. At 8 PM, most of the participants have not had a chance to go home from work that Bethany church prepares each week a light sandwich dinner for the hard working students. Currently there are 43 registered laypeople from 3 different congregations in greater Atlanta area. The program plans to repeat the course next Spring for new students from different congregations and offer a different curriculum for those who may want to continue.

The lectures focus on understanding the core value of local church for which all the candidates are called. And it helps to consolidate their identity and goal of the local church which the candidates are represented. This particular emphasis is instructed by the Rev. Byeongho Choi, pastor of Bethany Presbyterian Church in Marietta. The church administration lecture explores how to moderate meetings with better understanding of bi-laws and church organizations including the role of session and presbytery. The instructor is the Rev. Young Kap Kweon, pastor of Good News Garden Presbyterian Church in Norcross.

The pastoral leadership session studies the uniqueness of pastoral leadership from general principles of leadership so that all the candidates can have an awareness of the critical virtue of pastoral leadership in the local churches. The session is led by the Rev. In Soo Jung, pastor of Korean Community Presbyterian Church in Duluth and a long standing board member of CTS. On stewardship for elders and deacons, the session addresses the dimension of spirituality of church leaders in their leadership and deal with how to improve the stewardship. Instructor for the session is the Rev. David Hoonjin Chai, Asian Leadership Associate from General Assembly in Louisville, KY.

Worship course leads the students to have a deeper theological understanding of the worship service and the meaning of Sacraments for the local churches on the Lord’s Day. Instructor is Dr. Paul J. Huh, Worship Professor at C.T.S. and director of Korean American Ministries. The class on history of Presbyterian Church offers a glimpse of how Presbyterianism has evolved since 17^th century until now. The instructor is Dr. Dent Davis, Dean & the Vice President of Lifelong Learning Center.

A Session on confessions of Presbyterian heritage introduced historical evolution of theological confessional perspectives which have developed in Reformed tradition. The instructor is Rev. Dr. Kimberly Clayton, Director of Lifelong Learning Events. The essence and mission of Korean-American Church lecture explores the theological essence of the church in Korean-American context so that the prospective elders and deacons may have a broad and historical perspective on the mission of the church.
Instructor is the
Rev. Sam Young Kim, the pastor of the Korean Presbyterian Church of Georgia in Jonesboro.

Polity course will cover the essential parts of polity described in the Book of Order with its instructor, the Rev. Bong Jang, pastor of Korean Central Presbyterian Church in Chamblee. The committee system of Presbyterian denomination and the characteristics of team ministry are covered by the Rev. Soon Hong Kang, a newly installed pastor at Hanbit Presbyterian Church in Duluth. The last class on sharing dreams with the participant’s church pastor based on submitted project report is instructed by the Rev. Jae Hong Kim, the coordinator of the Lay Leadership Training Program for Korean Immigrants. And Graduation and Commissioning Service is planned for Saturday, December 6, joining Portuguese and Spanish Immigrants track of the Lay Leadership program.

Korean American Ministries at Columbia stands to serve the churches of Jesus Christ in South Atlantic area advising Korean, Korean American, and Asian students in all degree programs of the seminary, providing Lifelong Learning Programs for Korean American, Korean and other Asian American churches, and raising Korean American and Asian theological voices in U.S. and global context.

Being an immigrant child and raised in U.S. from 8^th grade in middle school, I was brought up in both worlds of Korea and America. These two cultures often pull me apart in different directions, and at the same time they provide a creative tension in developing a new identity. We live in two worlds at once, the one always informing the other. The followers of Jesus Christ are to be truly in the world and at the same time live in the world of the Bible preparing the ways for others to follow.

The Lifelong Learning Center and Korean American Ministries will prepare the way of Jesus Christ’s coming in providing conferences for the Korean Pastors on March 2-5, 2009 and the Calvin Institute of Worship granted event of “Korean Conference on Worship & Music,” August 3-6, 2009. A number of other ministry resources including quarterly academic journal of Korean American Ministries is also preparing the way for its very first printed issue. It is an exciting time to be at Columbia!     (Paul Junggap Huh)

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