Paul Huh on Interview

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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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