1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA
On the campus of Calvin University
© 2025 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
In September 2016 participants gathered at the Universal Design for Worship seminar at Calvin College. Singer-songwriter Ken Medema participated through musical leadership and storytelling.
So Stephanie sits beside me
at the table all day long.
And I ask her, “What’s your biggest takeaway?”
She says, “After all I heard
I wrote down just two words:
Challenge and Courage—I am taking home today.”
Challenge to the ones who give the care
to have the courage to dream and dare,
to take the steps that help us open our eyes.
And challenge the ones who need the care
to come to us and let us bear
you upon eagle’s wings to find the sky.
And in this sweet communion,
gathered ’round these tables,
I have sensed the passion and purpose to live the call.
To call on Love Divine,
to create this new design,
to make the church a place for one and all.
Challenge to the ones who give the care
to have the courage to dream and dare,
to take the steps that help us open our eyes.
Challenge to those who need the care
to come to our church and let us bear
you upon eagle’s wings to find the sky.
Now it’s time for us to part.
There’s hope blossoming in every heart—
hope that we’ll create a better day.
Thus thanks to Stephanie and everyone.
And now that this sweet day is done,
we look forward to learning along the way.
(There will be)
Challenge to those who give the care
to have the courage to dream and dare,
to take the steps and help us open up our eyes.
Challenge those who need the care
to come to our church and let us bear
you upon eagle’s wings,
teach you the song to sing,
make life a sweeter thing,
give you bells to ring,
bear you upon eagle’s wings,
to find the sky.
© Ken Medema
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.
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.
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.
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.
