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Communal Music
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Every day of my freshman year at Oklahoma Baptist University, I arose early for an Honors Music Theory course with beloved professor, Kathryne Timberlake. I immediately followed her class with an Old Testament course taught by her husband, James Timberlake. Both Timberlakes (of blessed memory), were longtime, revered educators at OBU, and were pivotal to my growth and preparation for music ministry. Mrs. Timberlake's effective teaching of Music Theory with its Sight-Singing and Ear Training components transitioned my musicianship to undergraduate level, laying a solid foundation on which to build. The understandings and skills gained in her class were paramount to success in my scholastic and creative future. In the same way, her husband and other OBU religion faculty of the early 1980's significantly enlarged my understanding of the Bible. Presenting important truths at the outset of Bible coursework, they included in every syllabus an article by Chevis F. Horne,* entitled: "The Language of the Bible: Literal or Symbolic?" (The Baptist Program, February 1977). This article provided instruction on the symbolic and metaphorical language found throughout the various literary genres of the Bible’s many books. It encouraged students to explore the Bible beyond a literal understanding. I'm grateful for this kind of mind-stretching education that was offered to me through these formational courses and gifted instructors. In addition to her teaching, as Kathryne Timberlake's youngest student (having entered college a few months before my 17th birthday), I knew firsthand the sincere care for students she extended beyond the classroom. As I was preparing to graduate college and enter seminary, Mrs. Timberlake called me into her office to catch up and bless me on my way. She was even somewhat of a prophet as during that visit she predicted I'd meet my future wife at Southern Seminary - which, indeed, I did. Years later, it seemed fitting to compose a hymn text and tune in honor of Kathryne Timberlake for her 85th birthday. The resulting hymn text, Composer of All the Music We Hear, images the divine as a musician.** The hymn's harmonic tune is aptly named, "TIMBERLAKE." It celebrates God's gift of music known in the foundational sounds and systems of melody, harmony and rhythm, in music’s ability to gather instruments and voices together, in its mysterious power to comfort, heal, and express deep emotion, and in its enrichment of mind, body, soul, and strength throughout life. This music-themed hymn could be meaningfully used in services celebrating music and the arts. I was honored to hear from Mrs. Timberlake how her 85th Birthday hymn (framed as a gift by her friend and colleague, Mary Kay Parrish) was displayed in the entryway to her apartment where she viewed it each day. She told me how her grandchildren surprised her by singing it on her 90th Birthday, and I was deeply moved when it was sung by the congregation gathered for her Celebration of Life Service in 2019.  Kathryne Timberlake with roses sent by friends and colleagues for her 90th Birthday Preview Recording & Score Composer of All the Music We Hear is available as a single hymn with harmonic descant and is also included in the song collection: Inclusive Hymns for Liberation, Peace, and Justice. *Chevis F. Horne was educated at Wake Forest University, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, with postgraduate studies at Yale University and Union Theological Seminary. A preacher, professor, and author, Horne was also the pastor of First Baptist Church, Martinsville, Virginia, for 4o years. He was known for his pursuit of social justice when church and society opposed it.
**The hymn also incorporates a "trinitarian formula" in its first three stanzas with the "Composer" representing the Creator, the "Conductor" representing Christ, and the "Conveyor," representing the Comforter. I'm proud of my colleague, Nancy Petty, whose groundbreaking ministry with Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, Raleigh, North Carolina, is life-giving to people around the world. Since 2001, I’ve been grateful for our long and collaborative work as Pastor and Minister of Music. Several times our collaboration has resulted in music for worship.  One day in 2017, Nancy excitedly came into my office to share the words and melody of a short communion song she had created: As we come to the table of Love, as we come to the table of Love, we come with a heart open to all, as we come to the table of Love. In worship, Nancy’s pastoral call to the table always included the exclamation “All are welcome!” but a line in her new song clarified further: “…we come with a heart open to all.” With this single statement she expressed that no dogma or doctrine, spiritual experience, or age limit were requirements – that people of all faiths or none were sincerely invited to the table of Love - and that those who come must include others who are different from them. Informed by her interfaith relationships, and inspired by the House of One in Berlin, Germany (an interfaith structure that houses a church, synagogue, and mosque under one roof), Nancy’s song symbolically and literally identified the communion table as a gathering place for everyone. By naming it a "table of Love," rather than using a specific divine or religious name, Nancy ensured that the song's language would not limit the unrestricted welcome she wished to convey. All who live in Love, whether through a lens of faith or morality, can gather at this table, and rally around its inclusive meaning. While the song was fresh in her mind and voice, I transcribed the text as Nancy sang the tune into my phone's voice recorder. After harmonizing the melody and arranging a keyboard accompaniment, we taught the easy-to-learn refrain to our congregation, singing it as we moved to the table. As I continued to reflect on the implications of Nancy’s refrain, two stanzas emerged: Stanza 1: What is required to come to this table? Who is allowed to share in its feast? There is no limit, no hindrance, no boundary. No one is labeled "most honored" or "least." Stanza 2: Living as one, we join 'round this table. Giving to all, we offer its feast. Ever embracing, and never rejecting, we keep this table a table of peace. As We Come to the Table of Love may be sung as a short refrain or as a hymn with stanzas that may include a harmonic descant offered by choirs or instrumentalists. In addition to worship communion, it can also be sung around banquet tables at other meals. May this song of simplicity and depth encourage gatherings of Love with open hearts! Recording and Preview Score: As We Come to the Table of Love may be purchased as an individual song for ONE LICENSE usage or with a Single-Use License.
It is also contained in the song collections: Earth Transformed with Music!: Inclusive Songs for Worship (Refrain only) or Inclusive Songs for Resistance & Social Action (with Stanzas, Refrain & Descant). 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 |
AuthorLarry E. Schultz is a Minister of Music, Composer, Hymn Writer, and Music Teacher. Archives
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