Vertical Habits: Worship and Our Faith Vocabulary

Vertical Habits is a name given to the process of connecting words used in our relationship with people with words used to express these emotions to God. The biblical Psalms are the foundational mentor and guide in this vocabulary and grammar for worship.

Ordinary Time Resource Guide

This resource guide for Ordinary Time includes sermon ideas, worship songs and hymns, visual arts, and readings to help you plan “ordinary” worship—times in the church year outside the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost. The season’s liturgical color is green, symbolizing a time of growth in the Christian life. This guide also includes ideas for worship on Christ the King Sunday, Thanksgiving, and All Saints’ Day/Reformation Sunday.

VWVP Webinar

Vital Worship, Vital Preaching Informational Webinar | September 2025

Are you interested in applying for a Vital Worship, Vital Preaching grant? Join us for this free webinar catered toward new or prospective applicants to learn more about the program and participate in a live Q&A. 

September 30, 2025, 7:00 PM

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Vital Worship, Vital Preaching Grants

CICW welcomes grant proposals on a wide range of Christian worship practices. The next application deadline is October 15, 2025.

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Explore More Resources

Sunday Formation for the Monday Priesthood

The last few minutes of corporate worship are critical because they frame the entire purpose of worship and its connection to our lives in the world.  

September 9, 2025 | 1 min video
Dwelling in the Psalms

You are invited to join the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship (CICW) in a year of dwelling in the Psalms—the prayerbook and songbook of the Bible. Together, the 150 psalms guide Christian worshipers through the full range of human emotions and experiences, making space for communities to practice praise and lament, to ask questions and find words of comfort, and so much more. Our work at CICW over the years has connected us to many people engaging in thoughtful and imaginative work around the psalms. We are eager to build on those connections and encourage more new and ancient ways to dwell in the psalms.

September 5, 2025 | 2 min read
Psalm Festival Program

As part of its year of Dwelling in the Psalms, the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship is providing support to worshiping communities throughout the United States and Canada to host a public psalm festival worship event that features congregational singing based on Psalms. We encourage using the resource Psalms for All Seasons: A Complete Psalter for Worship (Brazos and Faith Alive Christian Resources, 2012) and other psalm resources of your choosing.

September 4, 2025 | 2 min read

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