Lowering the boom.

The shame is that this man is acting alone. ///

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Happy Easter from the Red State Team!

Luther Lee and four other ministers of the Methodist Episcopal Church left that denomination in 1843 because of their opposition to slavery to form the Wesleyan Methodist Connection. I was reminded that, as Wesleyans and as Houghton College, we are part of a tradition of Christians who believed that the Gospel of Jesus Christ ought to shape not only our personal morality but our politics. Unlike today, when research would suggest that politics shapes religious preferences in our society (See, for example, Robert Putnam, American Grace, 2010) rather than the other way around, Luther Lee and his colleagues believed that the Gospel shakes up our world as well as our personal lives. //

Houghton College was born out of this tradition. Willard J. Houghton, in 1883, founded an educational institution to prepare bold Christians whose transformation by the Holy Spirit gave them a passion to “fix up the world.” There was for him no divide between a “personal” and “social” Gospel.

I invite you today, as alumni and friends of Houghton College, to live up to the calling of our heritage in the Wesleyan Methodist tradition and, above all, to live up to the bold, adventurous and sometimes risky calling of the Gospel.

Our religious liberty never proceeded from attempts at neutrality. It came precisely from the privileged position that Christianity has held in the West.

Christians need to understand that relying on screens and other technology is not leading to better worship, it’s ruining it. //

Hymnals are a wonderful legacy of Western Christianity. They’ve been housed in pew racks in church sanctuaries for centuries. Since they first appeared in the United States during the 1830s, hymnals have been indispensable for worship—objects of treasure both in the sanctuary and in households. //

the appeal of worship screens is easily explained. The downside is that as we eliminate hymnals from the worship life of the church, we lose everything they contain and represent.

It becomes difficult to teach new songs on a worship screen, primarily because there are no notes. Screens only work when worshipers already know the melodies. Worship “playlists” at contemporary services are often meager because the same songs tend to be sung over and over. //

As hymnals fade, theology also suffers. The rich repository of religious wisdom contained in hymns will be lost. The old-fashioned language of hymns may strike some as unusual, but their text teaches the Christian faith far better than most of the praise choruses that dominate contemporary services. Old hymns were carefully crafted with theology at the forefront. Traditional hymns present doctrine clearly and beautifully convey the gospel story of saving grace. //

Screens represent a move away from permanence to the transitory. The words contained in a hymnal were printed in a book that was published with care. Inked on the paper accompanied by notes and staffs, hymnals were real. The words on the screens may look like the words in the book, but they lack substance. They’ll disappear the moment the switch is flipped off. //

Those who wish to see the Christian faith prosper, however, should consider the long-term effects that replacing hymnals with screens will have on worship and faith itself. What technology giveth, technology taketh away. The musical and theological repertoire of the church will be constricted. Even marginally unfamiliar hymns will slide out of the public consciousness, forgotten forever—and worship will be impoverished for it.

For the past two weeks, a Christian hymn has been cropping up in an unlikely place - the protests that have drawn millions of people on to the streets of Hong Kong.

"Hallelujah to the Lord" has become the unofficial anthem of crowds protesting against a controversial proposed law that would allow people accused of crimes in China to be extradited to the mainland.

For Christians in Hong Kong, the hymn is a sign of faith but also of their concerns that it's not only political but also religious issues that are at stake, should the bill ever pass.

The protests were already under way when the tune first started being sung.

But on 11 June - a day before the protests turned violent - a group of Christians holding a public prayer meeting through the night started singing Hallelujah to the Lord.

The hymn was picked up by other protesters - soon even non-Christians were singing it.
The protesters said they sang it hoping it would have a calming effect on police, and would help diffuse tensions.

The song also acted as a political shield, of sorts.

"According to the law, any religious assemblies in public areas are not considered as illegal, so if people sing hymns together, it could actually work as a protection and guarantee that [they] stay safe," said Mr Chow.

"Therefore people started to sing this song to protect themselves."