After not finding any existing hymns with...

After not finding any existing hymns with lyrics that extol the feminine side of God, the sometimes embattled United Methodist Hymnal Revision Committee has requested new work from a dozen hymn composers in England, America and Canada.

Marjorie Tuell of Glendale, who chairs the text committee that has set a June 1 deadline for submissions, said, “We weren’t finding hymns that were expressing an additional side of God;” that is, more than just the traditional Father or male imagery.

At the same time, the committee does not want to include in the new denominational hymnal a few existing songs which portray God as Mother, Tuell said.

“We wanted something that uses the feminine biblical imagery in which God acts like a mother. We want a simile rather than a metaphor,” she said. Scriptural examples cited by the committee include God as a mother who gives birth to Israel (Deuteronomy 32:18) and references to God the Holy Spirit giving new birth (John 3:5, 1 Corinthians 15:8).

The final meeting of the Hymnal Revision Committee will be in September. The group came under fire last year for eliminating “Onward Christian Soldiers” for its military tone. It later restored that hymn and some other old favorites. The final committee report will be submitted to the United Methodist General Conference in May, 1988, for approval.

“They can throw out the whole report, if they wish,” said Tuell, who holds a degree in church music. Her husband is Bishop Jack Tuell, who leads Southern California Methodists from the regional headquarters in Pasadena.

Coincidentally, the national Presbyterian Church (USA) hymnal committee, which is working toward a new book for 1989, will be holding its next meeting in Pasadena April 29 through May 2. The Presbyterian meetings, in contrast to the Methodists’ open-meeting policy, are closed sessions, said a denominational spokeswoman.

“They don’t plan to open their meetings until they settle on about 250 of the planned 600 hymns and they’ve only voted in a few so far,” said Marj Carpenter, a public relations official in Atlanta.

PEOPLE

The Rev. Daniel F. Romero, 41, associate minister for the United Church of Christ’s Southern California Conference based in Pasadena, has been appointed general secretary for the mission program of the 1.7-million-member denomination. The newly created unit of the New York-based world ministries will include work on international concerns, hunger relief and overseas personnel. Romero, who earned a law degree from Loyola University Law School in 1984, has traveled with church leaders to Central America, Cuba, Mexico, Israel and China while serving in the Los Angeles area. His new duties begin in July.

Marie Sorensen, a registered nurse, has been installed as the part-time “minister of health” for Hollywood Lutheran Church, which is located within a few blocks of several hospitals. The church has had a health education and advocacy committee for three years, with funding help from the Lutheran Church in America synod headquarters and the Los Angeles United Methodist Urban Foundation. Sorensen has been an active church member for 25 years--despite the fact that she lives in Downey and works at La Habra Community Hospital in Orange County.

DATES

German Theologian Wolfhart Pannenberg, considered one of the leading Protestant theologians in Europe, will give the annual Michalson lecture at the School of Theology at Claremont at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. Pannenberg is professor of systematic theology at the University of Munich, West Germany.