July 25 – 26, 2019
Location: Craig Chapel, Seminary Hall
Worship in the Borderlands: Welcoming the Stranger in Liturgy and Song
In the face of rising nationalism, fear of the “other,” and race hatred, how does worship speak to the spiritual values that shape meaning in this time? As leaders, demonstrating the central tenet of hospitality in the music we sing, the prayers we pray, and the sermons we preach, we reflect and remember the Judeo-Christian heritage that guides and transforms our understanding of “welcoming the stranger,” reminding us that we are all strangers in a strange land.
Schedule
Thursday, July 25
8:30 AM – Registration
9:00 to 10:00 AM – Opening Worship, Gathering and Song
10:00 AM – Break
10:15 AM to 12:00 PM – Keynote Speaker: Ana Hernández – Spiritual practice, storytelling, and tune writing
Noon – Lunch will be provided in Seminary Hall, Atrium
1:00 to 3:00 PM – Lydia E. Muñoz and Tanya Linn Bennett: Words, Music, Ritual Worship for the Public Square
3:00 to 3:30 PM – Break
3:30 to 5:00 PM – Carlos S. Reyes Rodríguez & Dreamers
5:00 to 6:30 PM – Dinner and International Feast in Seminary Hall, Atrium
6:30 to 7:30 PM – Concert, Songfest and Stories from the Borders
Friday, July 26
8:15 AM – Meditation in the Labyrinth Hall of Sciences
9:00 AM – Gathering Music & Prayer; Stories from the Borders
10:00 to 11:30 AM – Detainee Visitation Training—First Friends
11:30 AM to 12:00 PM – Korean Songs about Shalom presented by Youngkwang Jun & Sooah Na
Noon – Lunch will be provided in Seminary Hall, Atrium
1:00 to 3:00 PM – Ana Hernández
3:15 to 4:00 PM – Closing Worship
Speaker Biographies
Keynote Speaker: Ana Hernández
Ana Hernández is a song leader, liturgist, theomusicologist, and teacher of chanting in group settings as a way to build community and to ground activism in contemplative practice. She collects, composes, and records chants and short tunes, and is a song leader for the NYS Poor People’s Campaign. Ana believes deeply that there is a leader in every chair, that God welcomes absolutely everybody (there are no others, just us). She loves poetry, beauty, mischief, being here now, diving deep, play, and a good laugh.
She’s recorded eight CDs and is the author of The Sacred Art of Chant: Preparing to Practice (Skylight Paths/Turner). Her hymns and chants are published in numerous places, and she can be heard on iTunes and CDbaby listed as Sending You Light, The Miserable Offenders, HARC (with Ruth Cunningham), and Eternal Spirit. For more info, please see: www.anahernandez.org. To listen, visit: www.soundcloud.com/anahermusic.
Rev. Lydia E. Muñoz
Rev. Lydia E. Muñoz is an Elder in the Eastern Penn Conference and currently serves as the lead pastor of Church of the Open Door in Kennett Square, PA. Open Door is a 15 year old new church start that was developed as an intentionally inclusive and diverse congregation from its inception. She is a graduate of Wesley Theological Seminary and is currently working on a Doctorate of Ministry at Drew Theological School focusing on Public Theology. Among her experience developing ministries of justice among marginalized and multicultural communities, Lydia has been involved in leading worship for 20 years in varied and diverse settings, both locally and nationally, including for the World Council of Churches Assembly in South Korea in 2013, the United Methodist General Conference in 2012, and the Festival of Sacred Arts in Falstbo, Sweden. She has a passion for following the Spirit’s lead in the creation of sacred moments and spaces for emergent communities, where together as the gathered we can experience the transformative power of God. Her general rule for worship is that the Church needs to worship and live incarnationally, which means we live what we sing and we sing what we want to live and what we are working to become—God’s Reign on Earth.
Lydia lives with her husband the Rev. James McIntire, Esp. and her son William Gabriel Caraballo Muñoz, Lindsay McIntire, and their dogs Ella and Mac!
Rev. Carlos S. Reyes Rodríguez
Carlos Samuel Reyes Rodríguez is a Commissioned Deacon & GBGM Missionary serving as Coordinator of Hispanic Latino Ministry in Pen-Del and at Wesley UMC in Dover, DE. From Barranquilla, Colombia, Carlos is passionate for the expansion of liberating narratives “made flesh” that powerfully free people from oppressive systems. “These narratives are intersections of justice on earth with the divine,” he says. After graduating from Wesley Theological Seminary in 2016 with an MDiv, Carlos continues building bridges, seeking justice for the “realization of the true peace as reflection of God’s manifestation in a diverse body.” He is currently walking with and learning from the resilient spirit of the immigrant communities in the U.S. “They are the revolutionary face of Jesus on earth.” With Dreamer students from Delaware State University, he visits churches who are willing to hear their stories so the self-proclaimed followers of Christ can recover their sight.Carlos lives with Kaylee, his wife, in Dover, DE. Besides playing soccer and watching independent movies, Carlos enjoys monitoring the news from around the world—especially newspapers and podcasts—as habit of his journalist degree with emphasis on political and economic communication: a bachelor degree earned at Universidad Autónoma del Caribe in Colombia, in 2006.
Youngkwang Jun
Youngkwang Jun was born and raised in South Korea and moved alone to New Jersey in 2014. YoungKwang has dedicated his life to music ministries since he was 5, starting his piano accompanist career at his childhood church. Young earned a Master of Arts in Ministry with emphasis in Music and Worship from Drew Theological School. In addition to his current role as Director of Music and Worship Arts at Denville Community Church, YoungKwang has had the privilege of traveling the country leading worship sessions along with other talented church musicians at United Methodist annual conferences and occasions for years.
Sooah Na
Sooah Na grew up in a pastor’s family in South Korea. Since she found a call to ministry at a young age, she has served Korean Methodist Churches in South Korea and United Methodist Churches in the USA, as a children ministry coordinator, a music director, and a student pastor and now she has served the Community Church of Hoboken as a local pastor. She has great passion for teaching children about Jesus’ love, sharing God’s grace through music and caring for the world through mission. Sooah graduated from Methodist Theological University in Seoul, Korea with her bachelor’s degree in Theology, and received a Master of Divinity from Drew Theological School. Her hobbies are playing piano, reading books, and singing.
First Friends of New Jersey and New York
First Friends of NJ and NY upholds the inherent dignity and humanity of detained immigrants and asylum seekers, providing compassion and hope through volunteer visitation, resettlement assistance and advocacy.
Director
Rev. Dr. Tanya Linn Bennett
Rev. Dr. Tanya Linn Bennett serves as Associate Dean for Vocation and Formation, Associate Professor in the Practice of Public Theology and Vocation at the Theological School at Drew University. She is committed to creating education and experience to shape prophetic, professional religious leaders for the future of the church and the world. In her academic discipline of Sociology and Religion, she teaches in the area of church and society, including urban ministry and asset-based community organizing. Tanya’s research interests include emerging adults and religion, urban community organizing and advocacy, liturgy for non-traditional worshipping communities, and feminist approaches to public theology. She often serves on the worship writing and design teams for jurisdictional and general conference events in the United Methodist Church (UMC), and was the lead writer for the United Methodist Women General Assembly and Mission U 2018. She graduated from Allegheny College with a BA in Communications, and from the Theological School at Drew with her M.Div. and Ph.D., and is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church. Tanya lives with her husband Kenneth and Boston terrier Mick Jagger, and enjoys spending time with her adult children, Caty, Liza, and Teddy.