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An index of service outlines from past Lessons and Carols services, performed by Calvin University ensembles.
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Este estudio reflexiona sobre el Magníficat de María de Nazaret y su entorno humilde. Describe cómo, en un mundo dominado por figuras poderosas y célebres, Dios elige a los marginados y humildes para llevar a cabo sus propósitos. Se pone de relieve la vida sencilla y las dificultades en Nazaret, especialmente para las mujeres, quienes enfrentaban estrictas normas sociales y desigualdades desde temprana edad.
Our everlasting God “who was, and is, and is to come” is not bound by time (Revelation 1:8). God can answer prayer in an instant but often chooses to work over the course of generations. Indeed, the promised Messiah came from the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, through descendants like David and Mary, and even foreigners like Ruth. Still today, while Jesus has already defeated Satan and conquered death, we know that the full manifestation of God’s peaceable kingdom is yet to come.
Why and how did psalm singing become such a hallmark of Reformed worship? Join Dr. Karin Maag for a fascinating journey through time, from Reformation Geneva to Scotland and from the Netherlands to New England, exploring the roots and impact of metrical psalm singing. Along the way, we will hear the voices of early modern Christians as they learned how to sing the psalms, both in unison and in harmony.
We are pleased to present 27 visual symbols that can be placed on the cover of service bulletins, within the written liturgy, or on a large screen display.
El Salmo 46 nos ofrece un canto de confianza plena ante las crisis nacionales. Es también una confesión nacional de la profunda confianza que el pueblo ha adquirido, a partir de su liberación, que le permite celebrar a Dios como su castillo protector ante los peligros de muerte. Puede mirar el futuro con plena confianza habiendo aprendido de la reciente intervención de Dios.
As part of the Dwelling in the Psalms year, the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship has provided resources to support Psalm festivals around Canada and the United States. These events are open to the public and many will be livestreamed.
Sister Kathleen Harmon of the community of the Ohio province of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in Dayton, invites us to be transformed by the psalms and experience them as the whole story God is revealing to us. As we keep praying and singing them, the psalms interpret us, and that’s when the transformation comes.
Vinroy D. Brown Jr.—conductor, musicologist, educator, and minister of creative worship and music at the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City—explores the vibrant intersection of Black sacred music and the psalms. He talks about Black composers and how they have reimagined the psalms through choral music, spirituals, and the gospel tradition for the benefit of everyone.
John Goldingay, an Anglican priest and the senior professor of Old Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary, posits the psalms are the densest material in the entire Old Testament. They expound the nature of God as the compassionate, faithful, and committed one, but also as the one who makes demands upon us. The psalms help us talk to God, even about difficult things—and when we do, we are talking to someone who is in a position to do something about it.
La Iglesia Metodista Luz de Vida ha encontrado en el teatro una nueva manera de predicar el Evangelio. Lo que comenzó como un sueño pastoral se ha convertido en un ministerio formal que combina fe, creatividad y transformación comunitaria: Homiluz.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Luz de Vida Methodist Church has discovered a new way to preach the gospel through theater. What began as a pastoral dream has become a formal ministry that blends faith, creativity, and community transformation into “Homiluz.”
In Advent, the four weeks before Christmas, we tend to gravitate toward the prophets or the gospels—and for good reason, as they easily support and explicate the themes of Advent. But if you are looking for something a little out of the ordinary for Advent this year, consider dwelling with the psalms.
