LARRY E. SCHULTZ
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a Blog related to
​Communal Music

Notating Pullen's Message for the World

7/3/2025

 
This blog post was originally published on the website of Pullen Memorial Baptist Church where I serve as Minister of Music. It features the creations of past and present church members and ministerial staff. 

I enjoy the craft of music notation and find it a valuable tool in Music Ministry. Throughout history, various systems of symbols representing musical sound were developed to help music be experienced and expressed. Interestingly, it was a medieval Italian Benedictine monk that is credited among others in establishing the western system of music notation. As a child I became intrigued with the writing of music when a visiting evangelist at my church inscribed a song on paper during the Sunday school hour and sang it the same day in worship! The tool of music notation not only allowed his song to be expressed on that day, but also to be published (and years later, sung by me in the same church for my ordination). When arriving at Oklahoma Baptist University, I found displayed in the music school the handwritten manuscripts of B.B. McKinney, a hymnwriter whose texts and music greatly influenced my childhood. I was amazed to see the original copies of his hymns, and couldn’t pass them in the hallway without stopping and studying them in wonder. One of my courses as a university composition major was on the art of music notation where I learned its intricate skills using a calligraphy pen, pencil, ruler and staff paper. I now use knowledge from that course to digitally notate music with a Microsoft pen on a computer pad, or with a Midi keyboard and notation software. Like a message sent out to sea in the proverbial bottle, music notated by hand or with computer preserves and passes down composers’ creations to many places and to future generations. 

Music notation has sent out meaningful music and words from Pullen, extending our ministry through time and space. Former Pullen Pastor, Edwin McNeill Poteat, Jr., is perhaps the first example of this through the writing and publishing of his hymn, “Eternal God, Whose Searching Eye Doth Scan.” Often referred to as the “Pullen Hymn,” the words and music of the hymn were created by Poteat and sung by church leaders from around the world at the first gathering of the World Council of Churches in Amsterdam in 1948. Through the communicative notation of music, the World Council of Churches was instructed and inspired by this Pullen hymn’s text as it boldly called the universal Church to be “wide as the world and broad as humankind.” ​
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[Find out more about Edwin McNeill Poteat, Jr., and his compositions on the NC PEDIA site of the State Library of North Carolina]

For many years, Pullen member, Pat Long, has expressed poetic theology and harmonic music through the creation of hymns. Her tune, “PULLEN,” is paired with her text, “Beloved God,” expressing an expansive view of the Divine as it encourages care for the earth and all of its creatures. In 1995, former Pullen Minister of Music, Michael Hawn, included “Beloved God” in a book of worship resources collected from a wide stream of Baptists (For the Living of These Days: Resources for Enriching Worship, Smyth & Helwys Publishing). It was this publication that first introduced me to Pat and other Pullen folk included in the book, and in 2009, I included Pat’s hymn in Pullen’s 125th anniversary collection, In Our Own Voice. But these are not the only books in which you’ll find it. Thanks to notation and publication, the Chinese Christian Literature Council in Hong Kong discovered “Beloved God,” and printed it in both Chinese and English in their hymnal (Hymns of Universal Praise, 2006). This hymn-prayer of Pat’s, inspired by her experience at Pullen, offers worshipers in Asia important words to sing.  ​
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[Pat Long’s hymn, “Beloved God” with tune name: “PULLEN,” in Chinese and English languages printed side-by-side in the Hymns of Universal Praise, 2006.]
In January 2022 I received an email from hymn writer and editor, Laurence Waring, who introduced himself as the compiler of an online hymnal, “Singing the Faith Plus,” offered by United Methodists in the UK.  This progressive European denomination was preparing to launch an initiative called “Walking with Micah,” and was searching for worship songs to help congregations seek and do justice. Finding Pullen’s In Our Own Voice hymnal online, he discovered Sally Buckner’s refrain, “We Shall Seek Justice,” (based on Micah 6:8), and was eager to gain permission to include it in the resource. Sally, a beloved Pullen saint and gifted poet, asked me years ago to arrange her tune, and through this distribution her creative legacy continues to be shared with the world and among Methodists in the UK. 

[“We Shall Seek Justice” in print and recorded versions, along with articles about Sally, Larry, and Pullen Church are included on the Singing the Faith Plus site. It is available on this site.]

Pullen’s worldwide influence through song must also highlight the instructive work and world music arrangements of Michael Hawn. Michael was part-time Minister of Music at Pullen when he was a professor at Southeastern Seminary in the 1980’s/early 90’s. Michael once told me that he was grateful to Pullen for allowing him time for a study leave to learn from and bring back a variety of global worship music. With this beginning, his scholarship and leadership as a world music student and teacher grew to inspire countless church musicians, and his global music arrangements provide worshipers around the planet with resources from many cultures. 

[Find out more about Michael Hawn through his bio on the site of Choristers Guild, one of many organizations and publishers in which he contributes his expertise.]

I never cease to be amazed when a musical creation of mine or someone I know is transmitted through notation to the other side of the globe. Years ago, I serendipitously discovered on YouTube a Taiwanese Children’s Choir singing one of my anthems. Though I composed the piece while living in Greenwood, South Carolina, the inscribed language of music transported it to children a world away! It’s amazing to think that a child may be humming one’s tune while playing on a distant playground. And, as a Minister of Music, it’s fulfilling to provide the global Church with words and music to expand thinking and experience. A baptism hymn of mine seeks to do that as it separates harmful substitutionary atonement theology from the ritual. Informed by Pullen’s baptismal liturgy and practice, the words sing of fear being washed away in the waters of full acceptance. Several denominations have included this hymn and others inspired by Pullen in their congregational hymnals. 
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[“With Water Freely Flowing” (published by Celebrating Grace, Inc.) is included with other Pullen-inspired hymns by Larry E. Schultz in the hymnals of the Mennonite Church, Community of Christ congregations, Reformed Churches, and progressive Baptists.] 

Thanks to music symbols arranged with lyrics on a page, diverse congregations can explore the music, thoughts and theologies created by persons such as Sally Buckner, Michael Hawn, Pat Long, Edwin McNeill Poteat, and Nancy Petty, who once dictated through her singing a beautiful song I notated, added stanzas, and arranged. After being typeset, “As We Come to the Table of Love,” and its message of unrestricted inclusion has been sung by others, and is available for singing by churches the world over.

[“As We Come to the Table of Love” is in included in the hymnal, Inclusive Songs for Resistance and Social Action. This collection and the hymn in single form are available on this site.]

I celebrate the awareness that the written symbols of music notation can bring the global community together and minister through the expression of meaningful words and song. Thanks be to the Source of Music for lines and spaces, noteheads and stems, clefs, keys, and many other music symbols typeset on paper or in digital files – for with lyrics they preserve and pass on Pullen’s liberating message of love throughout the world.

Music for School & Community: Fun with Flies

7/1/2025

 
While the majority of my choral compositions have been created for church, I have also enjoyed opportunities to compose music for school and community choirs, striving to offer educators useful materials that provide enjoyable and effective teaching opportunities. This is the first blog post among several that will highlight some of these creations.
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One of my most widely-preformed pieces was conceived for elementary and middle school choirs. "Little Firefly" is a setting of an imaginative poem by Grace Lee Frank. It offers a number of choral technique opportunities (two-part harmony and vocal independence, staccato and legato singing, expressive diction). Because Ms. Frank's poem sings of a firefly that "carries a star," the piece also incorporates the familiar words and tune to "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," (but instead of "like a star up in the sky," the children sing: "like a firefly in the sky!"). A performance suggestion invites the singers to use penlights during the performance to simulate fireflies that dance among the choir. The piece is dedicated to my daughter, Kelly, and we've been grateful to hear many expressive performances of this piece in concerts and festivals. It has even been creatively performed as a piece for two woodwinds and piano by music education majors in recital at Shenandoah University. Beyond the USA and Canada, it has also been presented by children's choirs in Europe, Asia, and Africa. It gives me joy to think a child on a playground in a far-away land may be humming a tune I composed. There's something deeply fulfilling about such a thought, reminding how the publication, distribution, and teaching of music can provide meaningful global connections.

performance of "Little Firefly" with penlights by Cantabile, Young Voices Toronto
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Speaking of playgrounds, the "sequel" to "Little Firefly" was largely created while playing on a playground with my two children years ago. This was appropriate because, "Have You Ever Seen a House Fly?" is a playful piece for elementary and middle-schoolers. At the playground we brainstormed some of the play-on-words lyrics that ended up in the composition. Dedicated in "smiling memory" of my maternal grandfather who enjoyed joke telling, "Have You Ever Seen a House Fly?" is also dedicated to the Wake County Elementary Honors Chorus that premiered it the year I was its guest conductor. The piece sings of "horseflies" and "horses that fly," "houseflies" and "houses that fly," and so on. In trying to imagine "fruits that fly," my son, Ryan, came up with the idea of a "banana half-moon" and instantly became co-lyricist. Even the names printed on the publication are "play-on-words." My composer name listed is "Larry E. Schultz," but I used my full name as lyricist: "Lawrence E. Schultz." I did that because my son's middle name is also "Lawrence," so his lyricist credit underneath mine is: "Ryan Lawrence Schultz." To top it off, the dedication line identifies my grandfather: "Lawrence M. Yarbrough!" I imagine all of the various "Lawrences" give those who see the printed page cause to scratch their heads in wonder! I decided to replicate ideas from the creation of "Little Firefly" in this piece by combining a familiar folk song, "Shoo Fly! Don't Bother Me!" with the song's tune and by providing a performance idea. This idea involves placards on poles designed to picture the various "flies" in the song.  At the appropriate time, the placards are lifted high to fly over the choir, allowing the audience to visualize the fun text. Along with the placards, a literal shoe attached to a tall pole is also suggested to represent the "shoe fly." One of the best laughs I've received from a song I've composed is seeing a community children's choir sing this piece in a magnificent cathedral where a young boy was waving a shoe on a tall stick in front of the ornate high altar! I doubt anything of the sort had ever been experienced in that space! Perhaps music-making like this reminds us to put life in perspective and remember to laugh.

performance of "Have You Ever Seen a House Fly?" with placards (and shoe)
​by West Choir, South Hadley, MA, Children's Chorus
Both "Little Firefly" and "Have You Ever Seen a House Fly?" are published by Alliance Music Publications. I hope both pieces offer educational opportunities along with some fun with flies!

​Indeterminate Music in Worship

6/3/2025

 
As a Music Theory and Composition major in the Warren M. Angell College of Fine Arts at Oklahoma Baptist University I was privileged to study composition with gifted  composers, Nancy Hill Cobb and Michael Cox. They significantly expanded my musical horizons along with professors: Kathryne Timberlake, Bill Horton, Andre Lash, Wiff Rudd, Dan Hodges, and Bob Wood, who taught courses in Music Theory, Music History, Counterpoint, Orchestration, 20th Century and Electronic Music. Piano professor, Charlotte Martin, also focused my private instruction on my interest in composition and composers. Once, when I asked her to tell me about composer, Camille Saint-Saëns, she replied: "Well...he was my Godfather!" (Martin lived a fascinating life, and at one time was the youngest student of famous French pedagogue, Nadia Boulanger.) I received a magnificent education in Music Theory and Composition from these exceptional educators. Though my undergraduate degree was unusual for my career goal of church music ministry, its coursework has been invaluable to my creative and ministerial work. 

In a 20th Century Music course I was introduced to "aleatoric" or "indeterminate" music. This music results from compositions structured to utilize chance, randomness, improvisation, choices made by the performers, and other interactive factors. The outcome is that every performance of an indeterminate composition is unique. Often the musical score uses non-traditional notation to communicate the composer's creative desires. An assignment in this class was the composing of a simple piece incorporating aleatoric techniques. For this composition I borrowed an idea from my young niece, Carrie, after witnessing her do an interesting thing at the piano. She would locate the manufacturer's name on the inside of a piano's keyboard cover and trace her finger from each letter of the name downward toward the keyboard, playing a consistent rhythmic pattern on whatever black or white key was directly below each letter or symbol. I envisioned how playing in this way on pianos of different manufacturers would create a different result each time. For example, "Yamaha" would produce a different set of pitches than "Steinway." I was grateful to Carrie whose imagination provided this idea that helped me meet the indeterminate requirements of my assignment. I called the resulting piece: "Nomenclature." 
an indeterminate music composition by Larry E. Schultz
an indeterminate piece for piano: "Nomenclature," typeset on an early Macintosh computer.

Fascinated by indeterminate music, I wondered how I might one day make use of it in my work as a Minister of Music. When the 2020 pandemic silenced worshipers from singing and playing wind instruments in person, it was necessary to provide new and safe modes of music-making for congregational worship. During the pandemic, I led my gathered congregation to drum on the wood of pews, play body and rhythm instruments, hum in masks, and express worship through sign language. Remembering the indeterminate and electronic music I was exposed to in college, I created a congregational “Digital Gathering Song” with parts played by worshipers through their mobile phones. Offering the song in worship during the pandemic provided a safe way for worshipers to make music together. It also offers a means of congregational music-making for individuals reluctant to sing or who do not play an instrument.
 
Five different music files form the Digital Gathering Song and tonally complement each other. Fragments of the pentatonic tune, “HOLY MANNA,” associated with the text: “Brethren We Have Met to Worship,” are heard in a few of the files. As individual worshipers select specific files and play them simultaneously (pressing “play” at close yet random intervals), a unique indeterminate musical composition is heard resulting from various choices and chance as well as the particular acoustic environment. The digital music files can be placed on a page of the church or other website and accessed via Wi-Fi in the worship space. The webpage's URL and/or a QR code printed in a worship guide will provide worshipers easy connection to the files. A time of preparation is helpful to assist each congregant in pre-selecting a file with a title and mood that most closely represents how they are entering worship: with "joy," "concern," or a "mixture of feelings." 
 
Preceding the playing of the Digital Gathering Song, a Call to Worship exclaims that many different individuals from a variety of life-experiences gather to form one congregation. The Digital Gathering Song responds and musically expresses this reality as it combines the diverse sounds into one unique musical offering. As the digital song is played, individual worshipers hear how the music of others around them is either the same or different from their music, raising an important awareness that can provide an empathic and meaningful worship experience.  
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Who Has Gathered? includes the Call to Worship and the five music files that create the Digital Gathering Song. It is available from LarryESchultz.com ​and may be effectively experienced in worship spaces, retreat settings, concert halls, and anywhere Wi-Fi is accessible.

Demonstration Video: 

“Hello, Larry? This is Bill Wallace.”

4/9/2025

 
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On a late evening in 2022 when my cellphone’s caller ID displayed: “New Zealand,” I decided to answer, wondering if it could possibly be my new Facebook friend, William Livingstone Wallace. “’Hello, Larry?’  this is Bill Wallace" (It was!). I had recently written Bill a note expressing my appreciation for his prolific and progressive hymn writing, and he was calling to ask a favor.

After discovering my similar creative work, he asked if I would be interested in harmonizing “a hymn tune or two” for some of his texts. Bill quickly revealed: “I have Stage 4 Cancer, and along with finishing a book, I am trying to complete my body of hymns.” He was a gifted poet and tune writer but needed a composer to harmonize and typeset his work. With gratitude for what his thought-provoking words offered the world, I was honored to assist. When his first hymn arrived by email, the time constraint of our project was evident as I emotionally read his hymn text: “As Life Approaches Ending.”  In the months that followed, other late-night phone calls arrived from “New Zealand,” with the familiar “Hello, Larry?,” and my initial assistance with “one or two” hymns turned into ten.

The hymns poems of William Livingstone Wallace are cutting-edge, exploring themes of justice and peace, science and the cosmos, art and spirituality, the ecosystem, human society and more. A Methodist Pastor, charged with the responsibility of weekly sermons, Bill felt that hymns were the best way to present his radical thoughts as they allowed new ideas to “slide into the mind on the back of music!”

Bill joins other hymn writers who embrace the wonders and reality of science. At a time when science is revealing the significance of dark matter/energy, Bill’s hymn below expresses darkness as the place where truth, wisdom and the oneness of all reside. In a society whose metaphors harmfully inform our psyche that darkness is “bad” and light is “good,” Bill’s words instruct otherwise:

In the darkness lies the whole
For the parts all disappear.
In the darkness dwells the truth
Of the wisdom all can share.
 
All the lines merge into one,
All the colours quickly fade,
All the sounds to silence change,
All the dreams can be remade.
 
When the light and darkness join
We find all the parts belong
In the fullness myst’ry holds
Till our hearts are filled with song.
 
If in darkness we abide
With a heart devoid of fear
Each of us discovers then
God is present everywhere.
 
-Words © 2022 William Livingstone Wallace. Used by permission. Permission is granted by the author to freely reproduce and use (citing copyright information).

The calls from Bill eventually ended and, exploring the internet, I read of his death on February 26, 2024. His lifetime of work will continue to inspire, engage, and expand the minds of worshipers for years to come.

Free Hymn Downloads:
Two of our hymn collaborations, “As Life Approaches Ending” and “In the Darkness Lies the Whole,” are available as free downloads from LarryESchultz.com. Permission is granted for their use with congregations.

Bill’s work is found in numerous published collections, and the  large catalog of his hymns are housed and offered for free use  at ProgressiveChristianity.org.

Four Questions and a Theological Statement

7/5/2023

 
In 2005 I was asked by the choral editor at Choristers Guild to provide two anthems based on particular scripture passages. Perusing a list of possible choices, I quickly found interest in setting the ideas from the 25th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel: “for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me” and “just as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me.”  Inspiration from these passages resulted in: Whoever Welcomes You Welcomes Me – a composition consisting of four questions and a theological statement.
Question #1: Where will we find you?

Where will we find you,
Christ, who is coming?

Where will we welcome you?
Where will you be?

Will you be feasting
with friends at a banquet,

or will you hunger
​alone in the street?

Where will we find you?
​Where will we welcome you?
While writing this piece, I was cognizant of scriptural and experiential paradoxes related to how Christ is encountered. On one hand, the Gospels depict Jesus attending celebratory meals with friends, from the wedding banquet at Cana to breakfast by the Sea of Galilee. On the other hand, the Christ figure is portrayed in scripture as a stranger who is hungry and thirsty. For many years the congregation I serve as minister of music has fed the hungry and those experiencing homelessness. Witnessing the lines of people who come weekly for food and fellowship gave further instruction for this stanza and the next.
Question #2: What will you look like?

What will you look like,
Christ, who is coming?

What will we recognize?
​What will we see?

Will you be wearing
the finest apparel,

or will we see you
​in rags and in need?

What will you look like?
​What will we recognize?
I sometimes compose texts or music in my head while driving. One day while driving and thinking on the words for this second stanza, I turned a corner into a McDonald’s drive-through. At that corner was a shabbily dressed woman inviting donations of money or food. Waiting in the car line for my own breakfast, I thought of the how her experience paralleled the teaching from Matthew 25, that she was the embodiment of Christ in need. Conversely, I also knew I had experienced the Christ-presence in persons of wealth and resources. These contrasting thoughts converged in this stanza.
Question #3: When will you get here?

When will you get here,
Christ, who is coming?

When will your advent be?
Will you arrive
​when we're least expecting,

or with fanfare and pageantry?
When will it be?
This crying out of “When (and how) will you get here?!” is expressed with a sudden change in the mood and music of the anthem. This portion of the piece takes on a frustrated tone as it continues to respond to scriptural discrepancies. The stories of Jesus riding into town with great pageantry, and the coming of Christ announced with celestial trumpets are found in the same Bible that reveals a Christ who arrives unexpectedly without preparation or fanfare.
Question #4: Who will you visit?
​

​Who will you visit,
Christ, who is coming?

Who will you visit here?
Who will you see?

Will you be laughing
and playing with children,

or stay with prisoners
​who long to be free?

Who will you visit?
​Who will you visit here?
The beloved story of Jesus welcoming children and the teaching of the Christ being known in prisoners are both alluded to in this stanza describing diverse people in whom the divine is known. Another influence was the knowledge that my congregation includes persons who fight against the death penalty. Through the years this has included picketing outside of the state prison, visiting with death row inmates and holding congregational vigils before an execution. A line from this stanza originally expressed: “Will you be laughing and playing with children, or be a prisoner who longs to be free? Though I think this original line more closely communicates the teaching from Matthew of Christ being the prisoner, the publisher’s editors conversed with me about altering this line to the one above that is perhaps more poetic to sing.
A Theological Statement

​And Jesus says:
"Whoever welcomes you welcomes me,
so, wherever you will go, I will be;
and, whatever you look like, 
​I will look like, too;

I will speak in your words 
and in everything you do.

Whenever – my advent is whenever –
my advent is whenever
you discover I am in you;

when you discover I AM in you!"
The beauty and strength of the Gospels is that they present different and even contradictory descriptions of Jesus. This understanding supports the anthem’s paradoxical questions: Does Christ feast at banquets or starve in the streets? Is Christ wealthy or in need? Does Christ visit children on the playground or prisoners in jail? The concluding theological statement seeks to affirm the Christ-presence in all of these and more. Taking Jesus’ statement from Matthew 10:40 (“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me”) to its ultimate conclusion, the final section exclaims that every person of every description speaks and acts as Christ. This reveals that the coming (advent) of Christ happens whenever humankind discovers their divinity within. A theological play-on-words in the last few lines reinforces this concept. It occurs when Jesus’ proclamation: “I am in you” is repeated but transformed into “I AM in you.” In all caps, “I AM” is a name for the divine found in the Hebrew Scriptures and expresses the divine in all.
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Whoever Welcomes You Welcomes Me is dedicated to my mother, Opal Lee Schultz, who was active in Woman’s Missionary Union, and involved me in missions education from an early age. That formative experience taught me that I was part of a global community and engaged my thinking on “who” was my neighbor, “what” they might look like, “when” I would encounter them, and “where” they might be.

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This anthem published by Choristers Guild (CGA1067) for unison or two-part voices with piano and optional flute accompaniment has been presented by choirs of all ages as well as vocal duets. The piece is meaningfully sung in the season of Advent or on any occasion when the divine is discovered.
Whoever Welcomes You Welcomes Me is expressed by alto and tenor duet, piano and flute in worship at First Presbyterian Church, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Lessons Learned as a Baptist Separatist

6/21/2023

 
Before I knew it was one of the most historic and identifying characteristics of Baptists, my parents taught me what it meant to be a Separatist.

In the mid-1970’s my family separated from our local Baptist church after it was strategically overtaken and controlled by a large group of new members who enforced outlandish theologies and unreasonable practices. This separation was not done lightly nor without grief as my parents had invested 30 years of their lives in this congregation. They made the decision to move from Tulsa’s Phoenix Avenue Baptist Church, to nearby Red Fork Baptist Church, in order to provide a positive experience for me as I entered junior high school. This change impacted my life for the better and demonstrated there would be occasions when being a Separatist was the best choice. As I grew and prepared for ministry, this understanding continued to guide my church and denominational life.

The Southern Baptist Convention taught me what it meant to be Fundamentalist.

In the 1980’s the SBC (a denomination whose history includes the endorsement of slavery) shamefully pronounced the inequality of women, the depravity of homosexuals and a disregard for Biblical scholarship. During this time, I was receiving excellent training for music ministry at Oklahoma Baptist University where I experienced the exact opposite: gifted women who were professors and church ministers, upstanding gay friends, and a responsible, thoughtful approach to the Bible. While continuing my education at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, I witnessed the Convention’s fundamentalist takeover that resulted in hurtful actions bombarded upon professors and students. In response, I wrote a hymn in 1988 that was published in The Baptist Hymnal, 1991: “O God, We Ask for Strength.” At best, the hymn was my protest; naively, I thought the SBC might sing its words and repent. But it didn’t work, and I became a Separatist again, not wanting to be associated with a denominational group that weaponized the Bible to harm and abuse others.

The national Cooperative Baptist Fellowship taught me what it meant to be Moderate.

In the year 2000, the national CBF Coordinating Council voted to affirm policies that would communicate a position of being “Welcoming but Not Affirming” of LGBTQIA+ people. (If that’s not a moderate stance, I don’ t know what is.) At the time I was the youngest member of the national CBF Coordinating Council, and after standing with those who opposed this position, I immediately resigned from the council, becoming a Separatist once again. Having lived through the exclusionary trauma of the SBC, and after giving much time and energy to both state and national CBF bodies, I was physically sick to experience the national CBF’s acts of oppression. (Because of Baptist polity I make a distinction between the actions of the “national” and “state” CBF organizations, as each body is autonomous). It was not lost to me that the CBF, an organization whose membership was comprised of outcasts from the SBC, was now continuing the same cycle of exclusion. I knew that some members would remain in an effort to bring about change from within, but I also knew that individual and institutional advancement would take time. After personally witnessing the deeply injurious actions of the SBC, I didn’t want to spend my time in ministry trying to convince another ecclesiastical organization that it should be inclusive. I simply did not have the patience or desire.

The Alliance of Baptists, my church congregation and others are teaching me what it means to be Liberal and “beyond.”

During my seminary years I heard about the formation of the Alliance of Baptists, and the first two churches I served were minimally associated with this fledgling Baptist network. After my resignation from CBF, I became much more involved in the Alliance and read in its newsletter about the search for a Minister of Music at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, Raleigh, NC (which I became in 2001). I had previously learned about Pullen through national news articles that revealed the church’s commitment to fully include LGBTQUIA+ people. Because of this stance, in 1992 the SBC ousted Pullen from its membership, but a supportive community was already in place as five years earlier members of Pullen joined others in forming the Alliance. After becoming Pullen’s Minister of Music, I learned that the church never connected to the moderate CBF because it suspected from the beginning that the CBF would not be as open and inclusive as the Alliance. From my experience, this prediction was accurate.

While no congregation or denominational organization is perfect, the liberalism expressed through Pullen and the Alliance of Baptists resonates with me and seems to have put an end to my Separatist ways. A liberalism that continues to progress encourages life-long learning, the willingness to venture out, and the equal willingness to change course as new wisdom emerges. Compared to the mental restraints of fundamentalism, progressive liberalism allows the freedom of inquiry essential for this post-theistic century. But liberalism also has limits. There are times when liberalism is inadequate and invites the search for what is “beyond."

Perhaps even more descriptive for me than the term, “Liberal,” are words I suggested for a sanctuary art installation at Pullen: “Ever Embracing” and “Ever Becoming.” These active phrases express how I desire to be identified – “Ever Embracing,” as I participate with my church and other groups in welcoming and including all, and “Ever Becoming” as I evolve, explore new insights, and discover who continues to be excluded.

Interestingly, it is by being a Separatist that I have been able in good conscience to remain both Christian and Baptist – two worlds in which I was born, have grown, was educated, and continue to offer my ministry of music.

Songs Born Out of
​My Separatist Journey:

  • ​O God, We Ask for Strength - a hymn text written during the fundamentalist takeover of the SBC, promoting peace,  proclaiming individual freedom, and encouraging cooperation. Included in The Baptist Hymnal, 1991.
  • Let Us Rejoice and Sing! - an anthem for voices and piano originally written for an early organizational gathering of the South Carolina CBF with a middle section inviting continued hope during difficult days. Published by Choristers Guild.
  • ​A Living Celebration of Christ's Love - a hymn text and tune written during my time in CBF, expressing the functions of the church and emphasizing worship, responsible scholarship, the embracing of all people and ministry. Composed for First Baptist Church, Greenwood, SC.
  • From Wisdom Emerging - a hymn text based on a Covenant of the Alliance of Baptists, and winner of the Alliance's 25th Anniversary Hymn Search. The arranged tune includes a trumpet obbligato. Published by the Hymn Society in "Singing Welcome" and its forthcoming Centennial Collection.
  • We Are a People on a Journey - a hymn text and tune with choral descant commissioned for Alliance congregation, Myers Park Baptist Church, highlighting openness, diversity, reasoned faith, ministry and celebration. Published by Eakin Press in the collection, "Inclusive Songs for Resistance and Social Action." 
  • ​Ever Embracing, Ever Becoming - a hymn text and tune with a choral coda written for Alliance congregation, Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, expressing continuous welcome and evolution.
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One aspect of Baptist separatism is depicted in a pane of the Roger Williams window at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, Raleigh, NC. This pane expresses the Separation of Church and State by displaying emblems of State Power (Roman judicial ax) and Christian Faith (cross) disconnected with scissors.

In Gratitude for Warren M. Angell

5/13/2023

 
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Driving a bright red sporty car, a New Yorker arrived at Oklahoma Baptist University in 1936 to become at the time the youngest college dean in America. In 1977, wearing a bright red jogging suit, he leaped onto the chancel in B.B. McKinney Chapel at Oklahoma’s Falls Creek Baptist Assembly. It was there I first experienced Warren Matthewson Angell, a whirlwind of a conductor, composer, and educator. Disregarding an age requirement, at age eleven I had sneaked into the chapel to sing in the Falls Creek Choir, not knowing my subversive act would introduce me to someone who would forever influence my life and work. I eagerly returned each summer to learn from him. With effective teaching, inspiring words and expressive conducting, he revealed to me the power and beauty of the choral music experience. He had been instrumental in developing the concepts and curricula for music ministry among Baptists, and I knew in those summers before college that I wanted to attend his college of fine arts.

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Warren Angell's conducting hands from the chapel window in Ford Music Hall, Oklahoma Baptist University, including a fragment from the tune he composed for the school's "Song to Alma Mater."

​​Though retired by the time I arrived at his namesake, “Warren M. Angell College of Fine Arts" at OBU, I was overjoyed during those years to develop a relationship with "Dean" Angell (as he was called even past retirement). In college I sang in the university's Bison Glee Club he founded, and was selected by him to sing in the Club's "Fallen Angells" Quartet which rehearsed in his home. I gleaned from his work by attending local choral workshops he led, and reveled in his storytelling during several dinner opportunities together. During a Bison Glee Club alumni tour to Hawaii, I was fortunate to be his roommate, providing an extended opportunity to pick his brain on all things church music. He attended my senior composition recital, and while in seminary, I was delighted to attend the university's celebration of his 50th year since arriving at OBU. When serving as a Minister of Music in South Carolina, I was thrilled to host him in concert and worship at two churches and visit him in his Black Mountain, North Carolina, home. Through the years we corresponded through postal mail where he continued to offer his advice and encouragement.
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As a music theory and composition major I was keenly interested in Dean Angell's compositions, and we had discussions on the compositional process. He was a prolific composer and arranger of choral, congregational and keyboard music, and was known to dedicate some of his works to friends and students. In 1999, preparing to depart Greenwood, South Carolina, after visiting my family for what would be the last time, he said to me: "If there's anything I can ever do for you...." and, leaving his statement open-ended, I responded: "Just 16 bars!” Though the conversation went no further, he knew exactly what I meant, and several days later I received in the mail a composition for piano! The title was also the dedication:"16 Bars for Larry, Cindy, Kelly & Ryan." In addition to all I had learned and received from him since I was eleven, I was filled with gratitude that the 92-year-old composer had granted my wish!

​The piano piece (exactly 16 bars) is "classic Angell" in its melodic and harmonic expression. Knowing a bit about his creative process, it seems he conceived the rhythmic motion of the melody by mimicking the two-syllable names of each person in my family. Ever the educator, the final chord of the composition is indicated on the score by him as a "chime,” calling attention to the keyboard properties and harmonic structure he used to produce that particular effect. At the end of the hand-written manuscript dated 9-11-99, is a personal message, revealing the Dean’s characteristic sense of humor. The composition’s tempo marking includes the added instruction: “with feeling” - indicative of how Warren Angell approached music and life.
16 Bars for Larry, Cindy, Kelly & Ryan
Piano Composition by Warren Angell
Your browser does not support viewing this document. Click here to download the document.
​Music © 1999 Warren M. Angell.
Recording: 
​16 Bars for Larry, Cindy, Kelly & Ryan
Composed by Warren Angell
​Performed by Larry E. Schultz

​Many individuals, including myself, consider Warren Angell a mentor. His legacy continues in ministers of music, church musicians, educators, choral conductors, composers, and in persons in professions other than music. I'm thankful for his long and productive life (1907-2006) that brought instruction and inspiration to many!

​
In 2012, a text by my collaborator, Jann Aldredge-Clanton, seemed especially appropriate for me to compose as a choral anthem in memory of Dean Angell.​ Gathered Here to Share Our Music celebrates diverse humanity and the power of music that Warren Angell knew could transform the world.

An Interview of Warren Angell
Produced in 1987 by the Radio and Television Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention

A Tribute to an Influential Teacher

5/9/2023

 
In response to the news that my influential high school music teacher. Jerry Burdick, passed on May 8, 2023, I offer these memories in tribute.

First Meeting...
I first met Mr. Burdick in seventh grade when he came to Tulsa’s Clinton Junior High School and sat down beside me at the electric piano I was to play as a new member of the school’s jazz band. Never having played in a rhythm section before, I listened as Mr. Burdick patiently explained to me what it was to “comp” at the piano keyboard. The seeds of creativity he planted in that initial lesson would provide me with a love of playing in jazz bands through college and would later blossom to influence my work as a composer.

Learning from a Skilled Educator...
I entered Mr. Burdick’s marching band at Daniel Webster High School with several of my friends in ninth grade. Though our freshmen class was still housed at Clinton Junior High, we’d walk over to Webster on beautiful fall or cold winter mornings to learn from this master teacher. Throughout my high school experience in his marching, concert and jazz bands, Mr. Burdick exemplified the best in education and musicianship. It was his clear conducting technique I mimicked in my teenage church music jobs and upon entering Oklahoma Baptist University as a music major.

Many Valuable Lessons...
Not only did I learn to comp at the piano, effectively play my trumpet, and conduct from Mr. Burdick, but by example he taught unparalleled organizational skills, and what it meant to be an upstanding and caring citizen in the community. As an active and long-time church musician, his life of faith and concern for all people was evident. I also learned to value “quality over quantity” from Mr. Burdick. Though our high school marching band was the smallest in the city of Tulsa, it didn’t keep us from winning a city-wide marching band competition in spite of the twelve other bands that were two and three times our size. We won because Mr. Burdick inspired us individually and collectively to give our best, and we also won because of his forward-thinking creativity. Our show wowed the judges with rotating square formations and other new marching techniques of drum and bugle corps that had not yet spread throughout high school bands. This win was especially meaningful that year as, due to low enrollment, the possible closing of our high school was threatened. After the win a billboard proudly proclaimed our success to the entire city and in my estimation helped to keep our school open. Quality over quantity had prevailed and provided a valuable lesson for my work in church ministry.

Expanding Musical Horizons...
Mr. Burdick expanded my musical horizons in many ways, contributing to my work as a Minister of Music, composer, hymn writer and teacher. In the churches of my childhood, I mostly experienced the music of American gospel hymns, but in high school concert band, Mr. Burdick exposed my mind and ears to gifted composers from around the world including England’s Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst. In high school I was so enthused by playing the band transcription of Holst’s The Planets, that I engaged in an individual study on Holst in college. This study was important to my theory and composition degree at Oklahoma Baptist University, and I was deeply honored when Mr. and Mrs. Burdick drove miles to attend my senior composition recital at OBU.

A Grateful Opportunity...
One often loses touch with high school teachers after graduation, but after graduating seminary and entering full-time music ministry, I was commissioned by my friends, the Burdick children, to write a composition for their father as a surprise to celebrate his 60th birthday and 30 years as Director of Music for Epworth United Methodist Church, Tulsa. I tried to “pull out all of the stops” for Mr. Burdick, demonstrating in the composition both the joy and skills of music-making he had instilled in me. I think of him each time I conduct a choir in singing the resulting psalm setting, Play Skillfully and Shout with Joy!

An Amazing Story...
Though I would hear about Mr. and Mrs. Burdick through the years from their children or other West Tulsans, I did eventually lose touch with their whereabouts. And my life’s work had taken me and my family to Raleigh, North Carolina. But eventually, I experienced an unbelievable reconnection…

My mother and father-in-law were exploring assisted living communities in the Charlotte, NC, area. One weekend my wife and I traveled to Charlotte to help with their search. While taking a tour of a facility, I noticed a piano, and commented that my mother-in-law was a fine pianist and would enjoy playing. The employee giving us the tour then said to me: “We also have a wonderful gentleman who comes once-a-week to play for the residents…His name is Jerry Burdick.” At that instant I let out the loudest “WHAT!!!” one can imagine! I then said: “Jerry Burdick is my beloved high school music teacher from Oklahoma!” The employee did not have to give his name, but I’m glad she did (along with his phone number)! The Burdicks were now in North Carolina! Immediately upon arriving back home I called the Burdicks to catch up and tell them this amazing story.

And there’s more… In 2018 I had the opportunity to compose We Are a People on a Journey for the 75th Anniversary of Myers Park Baptist Church in Charlotte. In January of that year, I would get to attend worship there for the premiere of the hymn. This provided the wonderful opportunity to see my influential high school teacher and his wife, as I spent time that weekend with Jerry and Phyllis in their beautiful home. But the best part was that the Burdicks accepted my invitation to join me at Myers Park for the premiere! This was truly a full-circle moment. As the church’s pianist improvised on my tune for the prelude that morning, I was transported back to seventh grade when Mr. Burdick taught me to improvise. As the brass quintet, timpani and pipe organ played the introduction to my hymn, I remembered how my musical horizons were expanded in Mr. Burdick’s band to be able to envision and compose such sounds. And as the choir and congregation sang, I gave gratitude for the influence and presence of the Burdicks on this special day.

Deep Gratitude...
I am not the only student shaped and inspired by Jerry Burdick. I join countless others in giving thanks for his life and meaningful work that continues to thrive in us all.
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Phyllis Burdick, Larry E. Schultz & Jerry Burdick at Myers Park Baptist Church, Charlotte, North Carolina. January 21, 2018. 

A Musical, Curriculum, Anthems, 6 Song Collections, and 450 Hymns…

4/5/2023

 
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Years after being influenced and inspired by the work of hymn poet, Brian Wren (see previous blog post), I met Jann Aldredge-Clanton with whom I enjoyed a 23-year collaboration. Jann was a minister, author, English professor, lyricist, hymn poet, hospital chaplain and feminist theologian (quite qualified to write effective and prophetic words for the church!). In the spring of 2001, I heard Jann offer the Covenant Address for the Alliance of Baptists Convocation. She powerfully encouraged congregations to discover and reclaim images of the Divine Feminine – and to sing them in worship. She underscored the biblical foundations and the many reasons to sing of God as “She” and “Her” – not the least of which was to liberate all from oppressive patriarchy and to exclaim the truth that females are in the Divine Image.

Several months after hearing Jann’s address, I became Minister of Music for Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, Raleigh, NC. With her words still ringing in my ears and a congregation eager to sing of the Divine Feminine, I reached out to introduce myself to Jann. Revealing I was a composer, I asked if she had any texts I could set to music. On September 11, 2001 (a morning that was met with unspeakable tragedy), I discovered an email from Jann that included a hymn text for me to set. The text she sent, “Are You Good and Are You Strong?” was a theodicy (questioning the presence of goodness in midst of evil). The words were unbelievably timely and cathartic for the particular day on which I received them.

Our 23-year creative partnership resulted in a musical, curriculum, anthems, 6 song collections, and 450 hymns. Though I have provided new tunes and arrangements for many of Jann’s hymns, I have typeset all of them for our collections, and in doing so, have been a student of her ministry.  

On September 20, 2024, days after completing our sixth song collection, Jann died of ovarian cancer. Healing Streams: Inclusive Songs, Prayers, and Readings for All Ages, is now published and available to the world. Because Jann's prolific work has left a treasury of lyrics yet to be musically set, our creative work will continue. Jann will continue to speak through the vibrant voices of congregations and choirs.

Works by
​Jann Aldredge-Clanton & Larry E. Schultz
Feminist theology, like other specific theologies, intersects with many areas of thought, study, concern and celebration. The works Jann and I have created together support these areas and engage justices of all kinds – from gender and racial to economic and ecological. With ever-evolving language, we seek to provide words and music for worship that uplift all persons of innumerable and wonderful descriptions.

"A Night of Good News!”

4/5/2023

 
In 1989, renown hymn poet, Brian Wren, led a conference at Southern Seminary. The weekend event turned out to be an educational and experiential milestone for me that included an unexpected celebration. At the conference’s opening event we sang from Wren’s brand-new collection, Bring Many Names,[1] .and my experience with the metaphorical language of worship was forever changed. For the first time I joined my voice with a gathered congregation to sing of the Divine Feminine. I was deeply moved when singing Wren’s hymn texts that imaged God as “Mother” and “Sister.” This was most likely due to my being the only son in my family raised by a strong mother and three older sisters, along with my caring father. Until that time, the hymns of my church experience were dominated by patriarchal language. That evening I realized with conviction that the words we sing either oppress or uplift humanity. With eagerness to learn more, at a reception that followed the hymn-sing I excitedly purchased Wren’s new book, What Language Shall I Borrow? God-Talk in Worship: A Male Response to Feminist Theology.[2] The understanding and inspiration gained from this book would prove to be incalculable in my life and work.
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Dr. Wren inscribed the book’s flyleaf for me and my wife: “Signed on a night of good news! Cindy & Larry Schultz, Shalom! Brian Wren 22/9/89.” His inscription details memorable things about that night. The date commemorates that my wife and I had been married for just over 3 months, and this was the first professional event we eagerly attended as a married couple. An added joy for us was that the conference was held in the school’s music building connected to the seminary chapel where we had met three years earlier and where our wedding service had recently taken place. Wren’s “night of good news” inscription refers to the fact that when walking into the reception, my hymnology professor, Dr. Hugh McElrath, came to me to shake my hand and say: “Congratulations on your hymn making it into The Baptist Hymnal (1991)!” "What!" I joyfully exclaimed. (Dr. McElrath, who was on the hymnal’s committee, did not realize I had not yet heard that a hymn text I had written for his class[3] was going to be included.) Still on an emotional high from singing the hymns of Brian Wren, I was overjoyed to hear that my first hymn would be published. As news of this surprise spread around the room, the congratulations of many friends grew to become a large group hug that moved around the room reminding us of the last scene of The Mary Tyler Moore Show! With his congratulations, Dr. Wren also asked me to send him a copy of the hymn for review. As he traveled home following the conference, he kindly composed a letter of suggestions and encouragement regarding the hymn and my writing.

Everything about that evening was exciting and memorable. It was indeed a “night of good news” in many respects, including my awakening to the good news of feminist and intersecting theologies in my own ministry. This experience was foundational to my creative work that would follow, including my connection and collaboration with feminist theologian, Dr. Jann Aldredge-Clanton, which I celebrate in the next blog post.


Epilogue:
After my initial introduction to Brian Wren at the Southern Seminary conference, I was fortunate to learn from him at two other conferences during my early years in church music ministry.

In 2003 it was a dream-come-true to have the opportunity to compose music for one of Brian Wren's hymn poems, "The Name We Have Begun to Know." My congregation, Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, Raleigh, NC, hosted Dr. Wren for a weekend conference and commissioned from him this interfaith text for which I provided the tune, LOVE-SONG. It is published by Hope Publishing in Wren's hymnal, Christ Our Hope, and was included in a recording of selected hymns from the collection.[4]

Hymn Score and Tune Recording:
The Name We Have Begun to Know - LOVE-SONG
File Size: 395 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

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In 2011 I was thrilled to win a hymn tune contest sponsored by Faith Alive Christian Resources for Wren's text, "We Are Your People." The publisher coupled the text with my tune, SPIRIT-PRAYER, in the Lift Up Your Hearts hymnal, a joint publication of the Christian Reformed Church in North America and the Reformed Church in America.

Hymn Score and Tune Recording:
We Are Your People - SPIRIT-PRAYER
File Size: 436 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File


[1] Hope Publishing Company, 1989.
​[2] Crossroad, 1989.
[3] “O God We Ask for Strength” (Hymn 498, The Baptist Hymnal, 1991).
​[4] Selections from
Christ Our Hope CD recorded by the choir of Armour Heights Presbyterian Church, Toronto, Ontario, Canada,
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What Goes into a Hymn?

3/10/2023

 
Many strands of one’s life experience are woven together in the writing of a hymn. An example is my hymn text, Come and Feast, for All Are Welcomed, that was informed by experiences from my childhood and beyond.

A hymn is a poem of faith that succinctly and creatively expresses the author’s theologies and ideas. When sung by a congregation, a hymn provides worshipers an expression for praise, contemplation, prayer or proclamation. As an invitation to and a calling from the table, Come and Feast is a proclamation. It offers my words for worshipers to collectively preach. I find fulfillment in this mode of prophetic ministry – of creating sermons in hymn-form that congregations amplify through their singing at various times and in many different places. The video above presents an exclamation of the hymn by South Main Baptist Church, Houston, Texas.

Below are the four stanzas of the hymn with information on the personal experiences that inspired them.

Stanza 1:
Come and feast, for all are welcomed
at God's table spread with love.
Come proclaim God's grace and goodness
in, around us, and above.
Come and feast, for all are welcomed

at God's table spread with love.

In my childhood church the “Candy Lady” would often pass me a peppermint during worship though the communion elements were always passed by me until after the time I was baptized. This practice of offering the bread and cup only to the initiated was an unfortunate practice that is continued by some churches today. (Considering the very tiny “chiclet” of bread and “thimble” of juice that was offered, the Candy Lady’s peppermint was a much tastier communion anyway!) The exclusion of individuals from the Lord’s Supper as it was called, was also practiced by the church I attended as a teenager. Not only were the unbaptized excluded, but, propagating ideas of “Landmarkism,” only the baptized members of our local church could partake. I was grateful to learn from my mother that my maternal grandmother did not agree with this exclusion from the table. Fast-forward to the church I presently serve, and communion looks very different. Young children, the unbaptized, first-time visitors are all welcomed to the table along with persons of other faiths or no faith, and of every description. These varied experiences are the reason Stanza 1 proclaims the welcome of all.

Stanza 2:
Here we nurture and encourage
as we share this common meal,
while we foster deep communion
and our inner-selves reveal.
Here we nurture and encourage
as we share this common meal.


In seminary I became aware of the Christian “Love Feast” – a communal meal where early followers of Christ would combine their food as an offering and freely share it. From my experience as a churchgoer, I envisioned these ancient Love Feasts to be like potluck dinners-on-the-ground. Or perhaps they were like the first fellowship meal my wife and I attended at our church in Walterboro, South Carolina, where we sat around newspaper-topped picnic tables on which a “Beaufort Boil” would be dumped, and we’d eat with our hands. At the same congregation, I instituted periodic Love Feasts when the congregation would gather on a Sunday night in the fellowship hall for a simple meal. Tables were connected and set up in a long rectangle, and participants sat around the outside so that everyone could see each other. Those who came to the feast brought all kinds of delicious finger foods to share family style as we reconstructed the Love Feast tradition. Together we ate, conversed with those beside us, sang simple refrains, and viewed the entire experience as communion. These Love Feasts provided the imagery conveyed in Stanza 2.

Stanza 3:
See the chalice lifted upward;
smell the fragrant, broken bread;
taste the gifts from field and vineyard;
hear the words that Jesus said:
"Eat and drink, and in remembrance

touch your souls with wine and bread."

I am among many ministers who were privileged to study worship with Dr. Donald Hustad at Southern Seminary. He taught that “full-orbed” worship included a “Service of the Word,” a “Service of the Table” and engaged all of the human senses. Stanza 3 is a direct result of his teaching as I included the five senses in the text. In liturgical practice, this stanza also offers the “words of institution.” It can be sung freely by a choir or soloist while those serving communion lift the chalice and break the bread at appropriate points in the stanza. (Having this stanza sung by a choir or soloist allows the congregation to view the action.)

Stanza 4:
With the Spirit-blessed commission:
"Go and serve this meal to all,”
take its love and peaceful vision
into every banquet hall.
Go and serve as nourished people,

gladly feeding one and all!

Stanzas 1-3 can be meaningfully sung as a Call to the Table with Stanza 4 reserved for a Sending Out. As seen in the video below, First Baptist Church, Asheville, North Carolina, has dramatized this final stanza in a magnificent way. During the singing of Stanza 4, a family comes to the sanctuary communion table, places upon it a checkered cloth and replaces the communion set with an open picnic basket and ice chest with water. Then, as the congregation sings “Go and serve…feeding one and all,” the family rushes down the central aisle, leading the worshipers out to minister. This dramatization transforming “formal” communion into a “common” experience offers the perfect visualization of this stanza. I’ve heard hymn poet, Brian Wren, tell the story of serving communion to a young person who, being literally hungry, broke off a large chunk of the communion loaf to eat. This story forever changed the way I think of communion and inspired me to include the “feeding of all” in this final stanza. It presents communion as a justice-call to feed the hungry and as a vision of peace to be replicated wherever we go.​
A hymn search sponsored by Orange United Methodist Church, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was the catalyst for the writing of this hymn (which was named winner of the search). The hymn was later included in the Celebrating Grace Hymnal and may be reprinted and streamed through ONE LICENSE or CCLI. The text has also been set as a choral anthem, Feast and Remember, by Tom Fettke, and published through Celebrating Grace, Inc.

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By Water or Spirit? A Hymn Responding to a Baptismal Dichotomy

7/1/2021

 
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In 2008, I created a hymn text on baptism to submit to a Methodist church’s hymn search, and am grateful that the hymn has found use in a variety of denominations. Published in the Celebrating Grace, Community of Christ Sings, and Voices Together hymnals, “With Water Freely Flowing” expresses a progressive and ecumenical view of the ritual of baptism.
 
Stanza 1:
With water freely flowing
we celebrate new birth,        
in sacred sign expressing              
God’s love for all on earth.                                        
The Well of Living Water
springs up for us this day;
engulfed by love’s acceptance,
our fears are washed away.

 
Stanza 1 is about water. The opening phrase can refer to the “first baptism” of all humanity in the water of the womb that “freely flows” as it breaks and the labor of “new birth” begins. Water also flows in a baptismal river or immersing baptistery, or, it flows from a pitcher with water poured over or sprinkled upon the head. It flows in the rain that baptizes and nurtures the earth. The idea of “freely flowing water” also references my own baptism, before which the baptistery actually overflowed and flooded the church building!
 
Adding to the ecumenical nature of the hymn, the idea of baptism as a sacrament and “sign” of love is sung in Stanza 1. But perhaps most importantly, this stanza separates itself from other baptismal hymns by removing the act of baptism from harmful atonement theology as it expresses the washing away of “fears” instead of “sin.” As such, baptism becomes a celebratory welcome into a loving community.
 
Stanza 2:
The Spirit, swiftly soaring,
descending as a dove,
conveys the startling Presence                 
on all whose vow is love.
​The Breath of God within us                                     
enlivens and sustains,
beyond this rite of passage         
with us always remains.        
       
 
Stanza 2 focuses on the Spirit. It sings of the Spirit as a “descending dove” and “startling Presence” (from the gospel narrative of Jesus’ baptism), as well as “The Breath of God.” When sung by a congregation, the sibilant sounds created by the alliterative opening lines of this stanza create the effect of the Spirit’s breath or wind.
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This stanza also connects with the liturgical practice of spoken vows accompanying baptism.

Stanza 3:
By water and the Spirit
baptized in Christ, we rise
to walk new paths unfolding
before our opened eyes.
We journey from this moment,
faith’s pilgrimage embrace.                                      
By Spirit and by water                                                
we feel and sense God’s grace.

 
Stanza 3 brings both water and Spirit together in an effort to respond to my experience with another hymn. The Baptist hymnals of my childhood included “The Church’s One Foundation” by Samuel John Stone. In those hymnals we sang of the church: “She is his new creation by Spirit and the Word.” I first became aware of the practice of altering hymn texts when I discovered that other hymnals used Stone’s original words: “She is his new creation by water and the Word.” This hymn text alteration called to my attention a “baptismal dichotomy” – an ecclesiastical difference of opinion over the most important components in the act of baptism. “With Water Freely Flowing” reunites these dissected elements, exclaiming: "By Spirit and  by water!" (echoing Jesus' words to Nicodemus in John 3:5). 

In the Celebrating Grace and Community of Christ Sings hymnals, “With Water Freely Flowing” is effectively paired with “MERLE’S TUNE” by Hal H. Hopson, and in the Voices Together hymnal it has been given a beautiful setting with Amanda Husberg’s tune, “OPEN HEART.” Churches who do not use the hymnals in which “With Water Freely Flowing” is included may reprint and broadcast the hymn via licenses through ONE LICENSE or CCLI. 

A Journey Toward Oneness

1/30/2020

 
​I’m grateful to live and work among people that respect religious plurality and to be minister of music for a congregation that celebrates it![1] This is a different experience from my upbringing in Southern Baptist churches that, except for the occasional Thanksgiving community service, did not emphasize ecumenism and certainly did not encourage the support of other religions. In high school, I remember studying a denominational pamphlet that denied the validity of other faiths by providing scriptural defense for Christianity as the only true religion. My eyes were opened to this kind of isolationism when my Western Civilization professor at Oklahoma Baptist University bravely exposed the egotism involved in Southern Baptists’ “Bold Mission Thrust,” a campaign in the last quarter of the 20th century to evangelize the world without cooperative work with other denominations. Though I appreciate and value many aspects of my early church experience, it did not teach that Christianity, nor even its various denominations, could “coexist” as the contemporary art piece and bumper sticker expresses.

This insecurity of the Christian religion was demonstrated further in several ways during my youth. In church youth group, I remember seeing horrific movies that graphically warned of apocalyptic “anti-Christs” and “marks of the Beast,”[2] and singing popular “Christian” songs, such as “I Wish We’d All Been Ready,”[3] or “Oh Buddha,”[4] that sought to scare “the hell” out of us. All of these promoted a strict Christianity-only message as they traumatized us to think that we would be “left behind” and sent to a fiery pit if we didn’t believe in Jesus as the only way. Even more, one had to have the right kind of Christian experience in order to get to heaven. A revival evangelist at my church once shamefully exclaimed that many of our Christian experiences were “counterfeit,” causing my adolescent emotions to go wild and my teenage mind to fear.

Thankfully, the guidance of my parents and the wisdom they provided navigated these disgraceful and potentially harmful church experiences, allowing me to healthfully continue exploring faith while asking questions along the way. Through continued education I came to understand that Christianity is only one of countless other faith expressions (and that Christianity itself is interpreted and practiced in unbelievably diverse and conflicting ways). I came to know that some persons of faith – Christian or otherwise – rely on a divine being or beings while others live deeply meaningful lives apart from belief in any Gods. And those that do express confidence in a supreme being or beings, understand and name those divinities in myriad ways.

People in our country and all over the world express their best humanity and highest values in ways worthy of honor. Some express them through religion and others do not. The Jesus I grew to envision would have no problem with this, and even more, would call diverse peoples to recognize similarities and celebrate differences while working together to create a loving and just world. If the world’s peoples could ever achieve peace, the Jesus I imagine would not mind if his name was a part of that result or not. I think this is what Episcopal bishop, John Shelby Spong, means (as referenced in my first blog post) when he encourages us to walk so deeply through our own tradition and into our humanity that tribal boundaries disappear.[5] And I think this is what minister, Gretta Vosper, of the brave West Hill United Church, Toronto, Canada, means when she exclaims “the way we live is more important than what we believe.”[6]
​
As ever-evolving 21st century people, while living our most authentic selves, can we transcend our own limited experience, find relevance in our work and become one with all? ​I think we must.

(One of my congregational songs that supports religious plurality is Where Is the Sacred?)

[1] ​Pullen Memorial Baptist Church’s 125th Anniversary hymn, “In Our Own Voice (Raise Up New Hope)” by Shirley Erena Murray & Larry E. Schultz describes the congregation as one that sees “in other faiths enduring worth.” The hymn is published in Murray’s collection: A Place at the Table (Hope Publishing Company, 2013).

[2] A Thief in the Night film series written by Russell S. Doughten, Jr., Jim Grant, Donald W. Thompson.

[3] Song by Larry Norman, recorded by various artists and included in the A Thief in the Night film series as well as the more recent Left Behind movie.

[4] Song by Mark Farrow recorded by The Imperials on the album: Heed the Call (DaySpring Records, 1979).

[5] See A New Christianity for a New World: Why Traditional Faith is Dying & How a New Faith Is Being Born (HarperCollins Publishers, 2001) and other books, essays and lectures by John Shelby Spong.

[6] From the subtitle and content in Gretta Vosper’s book, With or Without God: Why the Way We Live Is More Important than What We Believe (HarperCollins Publishers, 2008).

Resonate! A Philosophy for Communal Music-Making

8/27/2019

 
Welcome to LarryESchultz.com and Resonate! – a site offering downloadable and published music for church, school and community groups, and a blog that offers notes on the music and other items of interest related to communal music and music-making.

I describe my work as “communal,” because both my ministry and compositions seek to assist groups (choirs, congregations, orchestras, bands) whose individual participants make music together. I also use the word “communal” to communicate that all persons are musicians and are welcomed into the experience of music-making. It is a part of what makes us human, and is not an exclusive opportunity for the “trained.”

A seminary course on “The Philosophy of Music Ministry,” taught by gifted educator, Milburn Price, instilled within me the importance of developing and communicating a philosophy that supports and meaningfully directs my work. Though my initial philosophy of music ministry was bound to church history, church tradition and the Hebrew/Christian scriptures, it has evolved through the years to include more.

Ever since reading John Shelby Spong’s book, “A New Christianity for a New World,” I have been on a quest to provide a music ministry and creative works that break down religious and social barriers. Spong encourages all to walk so deeply through their own tradition and into their humanity that the tribalistic boundaries fall away. We then discover our connections with other people, and the oneness of all.

Like the efforts of present-day scientists who are seeking a “theory of everything,” I’ve been seeking such a theory related to communal music-making, and have borrowed three words that I hope for now succinctly state my ideas: Resonance, Transcendence and Relevance.  So far, I find that these three words encompass the goals and outcomes of communal music-making, whether it be in church, other faith groups, school or community settings. (Though sometimes needed for clarity, I hesitate to use the words “sacred” or “secular” as I find them to be inadequate descriptions that can bring further division.) I’ll speak to Transcendence and Relevance in future posts, but want to briefly express my thinking on Resonance (and therefore, the name of this blog: Resonate!). 

Though science cannot yet empirically prove it, “String Theory” as posited by quantum physicists is a beautiful description that I think can pertain to a philosophy of music-making and music ministry. String Theory suggests that the smallest elements of literally everything are tiny vibrating “strings.” Smaller than other sub-atomic particles, these vibrations make up all that is – from the computer keyboard on which I am typing to my own human cells. These vibrating strings may indeed turn out to be the common denominator of all things.

Not only are the smallest elements of life thought to be vibrations, but in 2003, astronomers discovered that a supermassive black hole in space was producing sound waves that created the deepest note yet detected from any object in the known universe!

Human biology and anthropology come in next. We humans have evolved with lungs to fill with air and a larynx through which to pass that air causing vibrations of sound. As humanity grew, we developed language out of that sound – words that convey meaning.

After considering all of this, I then am in awe, and wonder as I think: “If the tiniest quantum element as well as one of the largest known objects both vibrate with sound (music), and if humans ‘in the middle,’ also have the capacity to resonate sound…then there must be something very formational and primal to the experience of music-making. It must be foundational to our humanity, it must connect us with ‘everything,’ and there must then be benefits to music therapy, music ministry and communal music-making of any kind!”

I'm not alone in these scientific ponderings. I know of at least two other hymn writers, Brian Wren and Jann Aldredge-Clanton, who have included the specific idea of String Theory in hymns, and others like Shirley Erena Murray, William L. Wallace, and Thomas Troeger express ideas from science in their hymn poetry. I have connected scientific reality with faith-language metaphor in my hymn, Spirit of God, Spark of Creation.  

When groups gather to make music, sound waves from one individual are produced and carried through the air until they are detected in the ear cells of other individuals. There is then an instant and physical connection! Music-making literally unifies and connects individuals into one community – a good foundation on which to build a more peaceful world. (For choral expressions that connect to this idea, see my compositions: Where Two or Three, May a Song Remain, Gathered Here to Share Our Music, Tear Down the Walls and others.)

And so, the name of this blog, Resonate!, refers to our human capacity to make music with all that is, and the exclamation point reminds us to do so with joy and energy. The name also reminds us that when we add words to our music, we can give emphasis and meaning to important ideas and philosophies with which we “resonate.” (Several congregational hymns I hope assist progressive communities in resonating their ideas are: We Are a People on a Journey, From Wisdom Emerging, and A Stranger, Starving on the Street).

Not all of the words to every composition I’ve written are as progressive as I’d desire them to be, but even these creations represent a part of my journey and can reveal an ever-evolving progression – one that continues and is life-long. I hope on this site you find a choral anthem, congregational hymn or instrumental selection that is useful in your community, and I look forward to offering additional works in the days to come.

    Author

    Larry E. Schultz is a Minister of Music, Composer, Hymn Writer, and Music Teacher.

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