Dan Schutte: "Here I Am, Lord"

[jona457]

My favorite Church Hymn. Thank you for sharing the video and writing the info under the video. Amazing information about the composer, just what I was looking for.

[gramps2matt]

Kudos to the conductor for obtaining sensational balance and blend with resources available to her.....a typical unbalanced women majority men minority church choir. Not an easy task. They performed wonderfully.

[Kaitipoo]

I heard Dan Shutte perform his song and it was interesting to learn from him that this is supposed to be sung as if God is talking to us ie: one person sings the verses and then everyone sings the chorus in response to God.

[alex471996]

I love this hymn

[willgsp]

As a music minister and working with others, I've learned that 90% of the time disagreement over music is personal taste not theological correctness. My question is: does bickering over musical style really further the plan of God? While I try to plan music people like, my first priority is music that furthers God's message. If that is "Amazing Grace," so be it. If that is 1960s "folk Christian," so be it.

[LadyIslay]

Though I dislike this particular piece due to massive overuse, the song speaks to people. I don't think it would be a great leap to suggest that God speaks to people through this song.

Anyway, what I'm writing to ask is: who arranged this particular edition that the choir is singing? It is not the original SATB arrangement by Dan Shutte that is published by the Oregon Catholic Press. Is it the Jack Schrader arrangement from Hope?

[s2p3c]

i listen to ancient classical music as well as modern liturgical music. both can speak to me. there is variety in how God appeals to people, such as different rites, different languages, etc. that all point from their divergences to the one undifferentiated center

[gtcu17]

this is my FAVORITE hymn. Best verse: I the Lord of snow and rain, I have borne my people's pain I have wept for love of them They turn away I will break their hearts of stone, Give them hearts for love alone. I will speak my word to them Whom shall I send? God has given us so much. He gave his son to us, and he tries his best to give us everything, but for the most part we act like its nothing and take it for granted. There are 86,400 seconds in a day. Have you used even one to thank God?

[raidereddie]

I always thought it was creepy to put the singer in the role of God. In my opinion man should praise God, not BE God.  Dan Schutte, Marty Haugen and others do this often.

[jesusthroughmary]

Spot on. It goes against everything hymnody should be and has always been.

[arathornion]

Wow, I just saw DBD1787's page, and the only video s/he has on the page is a Hilary Clinton vid. If you posted this because you like here, than I can in all confidence say you are a heretic who has absolutely no ground or authority to stand when soeaking of anything to do with the church.

[arathornion]

Oh my, absolute garbage. DBD1787: God did not inspire the arts of the 60's because they were created in an atheist society. Popular music reflects the society. But, you know what, I could go on about liturgy and the Mass and how horrible modern "liturgical" music is forever, but as scriptures says, "Cast not pearls before swine."

[54spiritedwill54]

a beautiful song. well done!

[gingerdances]

A beautiful song.

[447282]

Garbage Catholic Music. Uplifting to only a plant. Does not further the worship of God. Please let us stop singing texts quoting the Lord. "I am" Voice of God texts.

Speed problems in this recording. Nonsense church music. Aim higher please!

[PianistCor]

This is a beautiful song!

[ultimatehineswardfan]

a beautiful song. well done. 5 stars.

[fool1shmortal]

Yeah..unfortunately, most Catholic churches tossed out the more beautiful works made by saints and geniuses for sing-a-longs, as well-meaning as they were. These were not prescribed by Vatican 2 or its fathers. I never felt comfortable singing in the first person a song that's in God's words. It should have been paraphrased as "He has..." for us to sing.

[DBD1787]

"Sing a longs?" Well, we are called to active participation in the liturgy.

The vernacular language brings God to the people, so they can more fully participate.

[fool1shmortal]

My point was, I believe, you can put the classics into vernacular and still have music even the liberal media recognize as Catholic and the Anglicans still use. Those inspire love and fear of God; with the other, they feel they even have to add electric guitars and/or percussion--and yet people still aren't coming. Interesting, ain't it? Maybe we need to get real. If Church of England people get it and Muslims and Buddhists aren't singing ditties, which, God help us, include Protestant songs

[DBD1787]

Songs such as this one, others written by Schutte, and other contemporary church songs also inspire the love of God in many. Why not use both?

I personally prefer post Vatican II music, however, I also like some traditional English hymns (I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say, How Can I Keep from Singing? etc.)

If traditional Catholic songs bring God's love to the people, then use them too. A happy medium, where we will live in peace.

[fool1shmortal]

That's fine, but the traditional stuff's only gonna happen at EWTN the Canon Regulars in Chicago, a Papal Mass and indult Masses. You'll hear Protestant songs B4 you heart anything written when Western Civ. was at its peak or when still doing well enough afterwards. Secular at&music got folksy at the same time as the Catholic's. Something wasn't ok. Oh yes...the development of the arts God inspired got shunned 4 a postmodernist invasion. My generation felt betrayed subconsciously&left.

[fool1shmortal]

It's not healthy when the classics are purged in exchange for a whole new set of folksy songs. There's more than words in Mass music. Like art and architecture, it should remind us of angel music&not a Peter, Paul&Mary concert. Now, you have drum beats in some places! Why? The beauty God inspired people 2 make, over centuries, in His honor and to honor the angels &/or saints also was purged for junk art. We forgot why the beauty was there&saw it as a hindrance. Tis not 2 be eye&ear candy

[DBD1787]

The same could have been said about Jesus. Many said it was not "healthy" to turn the other cheek, or to love your enemy. "High" music often reminds me not of the angels and heaven, but movie scores and concert halls. On the other hand, folk music reminds me of the love of God.

As I said, different things inspire different people. There is no reason anything is mutually exclusive.

[DBD1787]

Who defines when Western Civilization was at its peak? Perhaps God inspired the arts of the 60s, as much as he did previous arts.

On many people leaving: Externals are not as important as what is intrinsic to the sacraments. Do we go to mass for the Eucharist or music? Many people would leave or would have left without folk music.

[fool1shmortal]

Oh come on! That was the beginning of camp, at best.

Western Civilization was when a society made great art, architecture&music. It rose above simple primitive tunes. Gregorian chant was made 4 Mass&plain chant is just fine as liturgical music wasn't meant as entertainment. Nowadays, architecture is slapped together w/ little inspiration&art is some shapes glued or welded together or a doodle. Folk tunes was popular in the '60s&used in Mass;now, rock is used there as West Civ declines

[DBD1787]

Who are you to say Western Civ is in decline? or that God did not inspire the arts of the 1960s? Today, Gregorian chant is used for entertainment, as backround for movies. Is it really going to lift people's hearts to God, or will it simply be "cool" to use "old stuff."

Folk music and other vernacular forms of music transmit God's word to the people, in a form they can understand.

[jesusthroughmary]

The last sentence in this comment is utter nonsense. First of all, folk music is dead. It's a relic of the 60's and 70's. Second of all, making the Mass more "understandable" has done nothing to make it better understood in the last 40 years. People now "understand" that the Mass is just like everyday life, so they don't bother to get out of bed on Sunday morning. They "understand" that the priest is the unfortunate one that gets forced to not have sex, so nobody goes to seminary.