An Unexpected Collaboration in Ministry

Ann Thomas started with four young people who played instruments at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Oklahoma City - and with faithfulness and determination, built a 17-piece instrumental ensemble. She became one of my dearest friends after we worked together on "The Living Last Supper," and her church became a model for how I think about scoring for orchestras of any size. Ann tells this story so much better than I could. - Ruthie

It was 2008 during Lent at Covenant Presbyterian Church, a small church in OKC with an average attendance of 100. The music ministry had ambitious plans to present The Living Last Supper by Ruth Elaine Schram during our Holy Week services. It was to be performed by our choir and fully costumed disciples from our church youth and men.

One day as I was planning the rehearsals for musicians and disciples, I received an email from Ruth Elaine Schram. I was surprised, of course, but was so moved by her sincere prayers for the success of our presentation that I responded right away. One thing led to another, including eventual phone conversations. Within a few days I had invited Ruthie to come to our church during Lent 2009 to conduct our musicians in two nights of The Living Last Supper.

Building an Orchestra

In 2009 we had only four instrumentalists in the church that would be accompanying The Living Last Supper. I was especially impressed that the piano accompaniment supported the choir and our four instrumentalists so well that the success of the cantata did not depend on her fully scored orchestra score to be meaningful and beautiful. Ruthie was such an inspiration as we were blessed by her leadership, conducting, and insight into the score.

Months passed, and our Worship Committee continued to look for ways to utilize musicians, hoping for growth and outreach to become real for us. In January 2011, we officially began a music scholarship program for college students who would be recruited for our choir and orchestra. Our announcement on that Sunday was "We have an orchestra!" We had 3 musicians in the orchestra that day.

Again, months passed and by 2012 we had a full orchestra of 15-17 players. We had been blessed by many donor gifts large and small that supported our efforts and enabled us to have an orchestra in worship every Sunday. So, what do you do with a full orchestra? We invited our friend Ruthie back to Covenant to conduct The Living Last Words on Easter Sunday 2014.

A Model for Any Instrumental Ensemble

Over the years as I continued to have conversations with Ruthie, our church became a sort of model for her as she planned and scored her works for orchestras of any size and any mix of musicians. We were happy test subjects. We performed most of her larger works - The Living Last Supper, The Living Light, The Living Last Words and Tapestry of Darkness. All were well received and loved by our congregation, but out of these, The Living Last Supper became the favorite. It became tradition to perform it nearly every two years after 2008.

In 2016, Ruthie called me and said she had new ideas about custom orchestrations for choir anthems of hers that originally were not scored for instruments. She scored four anthems with the exact instrumentation that we needed. They turned out beautifully!

A Heartfelt Ministry

I am retired now, but as I look back on the collaboration and friendship that grew through working with Ruthie, I will always appreciate the amazing influence she had on all my musicians through her ministry. Her music was so loved by our congregation and all of us felt this special ministry in the presentation of Ruthie's musical dramas - accessible to all, inspiring to all and a heartfelt ministry at its best.

Ann Peele Thomas