Sometimes you just need an nice but easy song for your wedding. Sometimes, you’re stuck and need a good song idea.
“Love, In Christ” by the husband and wife team of Ralph and Dorothy Schultz has a great melody that’s easy for the singer and accompanist, is flexible enough to work with different instruments, is perfect for church use, and has a nice story behind it.
It’s not one of those songs that are written to be easy and also sound that way. This is a very nice song. I’m happy to recommend it.
A great story
“Love, In Christ” is a perfect song for wedding ceremonies. It was written specifically for a wedding!
They wrote it for their daughter’s wedding back in 1978. Dorothy wrote the lyrics. Ralph, an accomplished composer, conductor and musician (organ), wrote the music. In fact, together they’ve written music for weddings and baptisms of their many children and grandchildren. He started studying music at age 5 and his long career has included being a teacher, church musician, conductor, chair of the music department at and then president of Concordia College in Bronxville, New York.
About the song
The song, three verses long, has a beautiful, stately melody and isn’t difficult to sing. The lyrics for the first verse are
“Love, in Christ, is strong and loving,
Binding faithful hearts in one;
Love, in Christ, is true and giving.
May His will in us be done.”
The second and third verses start “Love is patient and forbearing” and “Love, in Christ, abides forever”.
The accompaniment is not difficult to play. It will sound nice on either an organ or piano. But, it will also work very well with an additional solo instrument. An oboe, flute or violin is recommended.
Where to find it
It’s published by Concordia Publishing House and available via their online store. You can get it inexpensively in the collection Seven Wedding Songs (search their site for the collection title or this part number 97-5576WEB). It’s written for a high voice.
A completely different arrangement of the same melody, this time specifically for piano and voice is available from GIA Publications.
That’s it…for now
The perfect song to wedding use can seem to be elusive, especially when you’re in need. If you’re a musician, I recommend this for your repertoire. If you’re planning a church wedding and looking for something nice-sounding, easy or not, consider this song!
Do you have a good song for weddings to recommend? Please leave a comment and share it with us. Your comments are always welcome and appreciated!
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“Love, In Christ” is also a very nice hymn for a worship service, not just a wedding (it is hymn 706 in Lutheran Service Book [LSB]). The tune is also used for LSB 691 – Fruitful Trees, the Spirit’s Sowing (a Timothy Dudley-Smith hymn text).
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