Christ Church
United Methodist

Music

Christ Church is known for its lively and creative worship service. And much of that is attributed to its music offering. The hymns are generally from a Songbook created by Christ Church, or from two United Methodist hymnbooks: The Faith We Sing and The United Methodist Hymnal.

The Sanctuary Choir is made up of 25 individuals who rehearse weekly and participate in worship service from September to June. Currently, our Choir Director is Grace Cheung Schulman, a member of our own congregation since 2003. She is a native of Hong Kong with music degrees from University of and Queen’s University in  Canada where she studied music education, vocal technique, and choral and orchestral conducting. She returned to Hong Kong after her studies in Canada and pursued a career in arts administration, organizing arts festivals and performing arts programs. She came to the United States in 1993 where she obtained a Master in Business Administration degree at the State University of New York at Binghamton. At the university, she continued her career in non-profit organization management as an administrator for a research center of the Binghamton University Research Foundation.

In Santa Rosa, apart from her choral direction activities, she is also involved in directing musical theater, most recently “Urinetown” and “A Chorus Line” with the Santa Rosa Players. A singer and pianist by training, she performs regularly during worship service with Carl Sokol our accompanist.

Apart from her involvement in music at Christ Church, Grace is also active as a member of the EarthKeepers, and is our volunteer Webmaster.

Grace believes strongly in the choir’s role as worship leader during worship service, and that good music should inspire both the singers and the listeners. She is always mindful of bringing out the meaning of the words in the anthems, and at every opportunity, invites the congregation to join in singing the anthems.

Our very talented accompanist, Carl Sokol, helps set the mood with jazz, gospel, classical, or other styles of music, often improvised on the spot. Carl was born and raised in Unadilla,  New York, and has been active in Sonoma County  as a singer, songwriter, pianist, guitarist, accompanist, teacher, and music director for over 20 years. He joined the staff of Christ Church as an accompanist in 2000. 

Carl works at Summerfield and Sunridge School  part time as an accompanist for Eurythmy classes, musical theater, and singing classes, and the Circus Waldissima. Carl performs in a great variety of musical styles, but is particularly well known for his soothing voice and fluid improvisation on the keyboard.

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He was involved for many years in musical theater - most recently in “Urinetown” and “A Chorus Line” in collaboration with Grace Schulman.

Every year, on the first Sunday of June before the choir goes into recess, is the annual Music Sunday. It features the Sanctuary Choir and other special musical ensembles. The inspiration for the day is shared through music and word. 

The first Sunday in July is our Outdoor Worship Service. The 10 am service takes place among the beautiful flowers and plants of the Harvest for the Hungry Garden.

The Sanctuary Choir rehearses every Thursday nights from 7 to 9 pm, and on Sundays before the worship service from 9 to 9:30 am. 

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Drama

Acts of God® is a drama performance group dedicated to making the Bible entertaining and accessible. In addition to their scriptural dramas and comedies, they present other pieces with themes of interest to people who approach life from both a faith-based and intellectually curious perspective.

The core group, made up of members of Christ Church, was founded by Jennifer Weil. Most of the works produced by Acts of God were written by Jennifer and range in length from one-minute monologues to plays of about one hour.

Acts of God® is available for travel and will custom-write original pieces for interested churches and other groups. Of particular interest is the opportunity to create and perform scriptural pieces not already in the repertoire, as well as those we have previously presented.

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