Ruimar Duarte DePaiva
1961 - 2003
Ruimar DePaiva was a Seventh-day Adventist minister and a multi-talented musician who sang and played the clarinet and organ. He was born in Port Velho, Brazil, on July 5, 1961, one of six children of Itamar Sabino, an SDA minister, and Ruth Depavia.
He completed B.A. degrees in theology and music at Andrews University in 1985, and later a master\'s degree in church administration in 2002. While serving as a minister in Brazil following graduation from AU, he had met and married Margareth Ottoni on December 22, 1988. They would have two children, Larisson and Melissa.
During his twelve years of ministry in Brazil, he presented workshops on hymn improvisation and presentations on church music and pastor and church musician relationships. He was an open-minded person who urged others to consider all factors when discussing issues related to church music.
He and his wife had been serving as missionaries on Palau for seventeen months when he, Margareth, and Larisson, were slain on December 22, 2003, by an intruder intent on theft. Their ten-year-old daughter, Melissa, was abducted and later released. The nation of Palau reacted to the tragedy by lowering their flags to half-mast and giving them state funerals.
Melissa returned to Keene, Texas, where a funeral was conducted on January 2, 2004. Ruimar was 42, Margareth was 37, and their son was 11 when the tragedy occurred on what would have been their 15th wedding anniversary.
ds/2017
Sources: Cheryl Doss, "I\\'ll Be Back Someday," Lake Union Herald, February 2004, 14; Obituary, Lake Union Herald, April 2004, 30; Ruimar DePaiva, "A Personal View (Worship Music Perspectives)," IAMA Notes, Autumn 1999, 20; Penny Cockerell, “Slain Missionaries Eulogized,” The Associated Press, posted January 3, 2004, by the Amarillo, Texas Globe; News personal knowledge.
"A Return to Palau"
In December 2018, Melissa, accompanied by Dr. L. Ann Hamel, a psychologist, returned to Palau, where she visited with childhood friends, met with government officials, the Queen, and the person who had murdered her family. She was met at the airport where friends of the family placed leis around her neck in an emotional reunion.
The tragedy and the return of Melissa to Palau became part of a documentary film, "A return to Palau" which was directed and edited by Dr. Hamel, for the purpose of telling an expanded audience about the tragedy and the blessings that flowed from the reunion for the people of Palau.
The documentary, which premiered worldwide in the Palau National Gymnasium March 16, 2022, was attended by an overflow crowd of 1,300, becoming the largest indoor event in the history of the island. A second showing was arranged and given three days later for others who wanted to view it again.
It premiered in the U.S. at Southwestern University in Keene, Texas, on April 8, and at Andrews University on April 16, where overflow crowds at the Howard Center and Newbold Auditorium attended. A second showing was scheduled that same evening.
The film won 3rd place for best documentary at the International Christian Film Festival on Friday, May 6, in Orlando, Florida. The above is a summary of an article “Premiere of Return to Palau,” in Andrews University Focus, April 2022, 8,13-17. The Focus article is an adaption of a larger version written by L. Ann Hamel, which is available at AdventistMission.org
Worship Music Perspectives
A Personal View
Ruimar DePaiva
The following article was published in IAMA Notes, Autumn 1999, 20.
"We must make an effort to be open to looking at the issue of sacred music from all perspectives, remembering that people see and experience things differently, depending on age, previous musical exposure, and cultural background."
Since music and religion are often tied together, it can be said that one affects the other. More specifically, the type of religion I profess has to do with the type of music I enjoy. A loose spiritual lifestyle will often include inappropriate and damaging music.
Before we become too judgmental, however, we should consider one\'s age and where one lives, since these variables have much to say about choices of music, be it sacred or secular. One\'s background seems to have the greatest power over a person\'s choice of music. What we are accustomed to molds greatly our entire perception of what is beautiful or ugly, musical or unmusical, right or wrong.
Most readers of Notes are in the Western Hemisphere and are inclined to think of their Western philosophy, views, and choices as the only way, applicable to everyone everywhere. Those from the Eastern Hemisphere must find this at times to be both frustrating and amusing. There have to be allowances for cultural as well as age differences. Even so, the basic principles to be followed around the world would include reverence in God\'s house and giving our best efforts as we worship, choosing music suitable for the occasion, and presenting consecrated and clean hearts.
I wish I could be taken to heaven for just one hour just to listen to the music. Oh, how pale our earthly music would sound! I am convinced that heaven\'s music is unlike any we have heard. Now, the question is, is it more like music from the West or like that of the East? Like primitive tribal music? Or like the music of the Jewish religion with its Middle Eastern flavor and seemingly ancient origin? What part of the globe has music most closely resembling that of heaven?
Or, from what musical era will it be drawn? Will it be music familiar to Adam and Eve, Moses, apostle Paul, the incarnate Jesus, Martin Luther, or the gen-xers?
Of one thing I\'m sure, as the Bible states, "...ear hath not heard... the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him." Therefore, no one on earth can give the final word on heaven\'s music. However, while on this side of Jordan, we should offer our best music to God and while doing so enjoy it to the fullest.
I sincerely believe that we need to make more music and talk less about it. While I hear people talking at length about their concerns about the style of music, few go beyond the criticism to constructive suggestions. Good music performed well carries much more weight than many words, speeches, seminars, and angry battles. Our young people should be shown that there are other kinds of sacred music that can be both enjoyable and challenging. We must make an effort to be open to looking at the issue of sacred music from all perspectives, remembering that people see and experience things differently, depending on age, previous musical exposure, and cultural background.
South America is now going through the same phase in its church music that North America has been experiencing. With the increase in instant global communication, Western style, in particular, is being determined by rapid changes occurring in the United States.
Are those in leadership in America being responsible and proactive enough? Classical hymn style is being denied to a whole generation, due, in part, to the fact that musicians of the church are spending most of the time in discussions and "holy cursing" about the perceived problems while neglecting to present enduring music, such as the great hymns of the church.
The challenge is daunting but greater effort is needed to provide balance and attractive alternatives in this time of rapid and significant change in church music. Yes, we must be sensitive to the age and cultural differences that exist, but we should also be leading out in the effort to present our best musical offerings, whatever the differences, as we worship.