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On the campus of Calvin University
© 2026 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
For many traditions, the Psalms are primarily one of the sine qua nons of Sunday worship, whether sung metrically like hymns in the Reformed tradition, or slotted between the Hebrew Scriptures and New Testament reading as in Roman Catholic and Episcopal traditions. But to harness their use solely or primarily for liturgical purposes is almost to deny their origin as songs which spoke to God from particular experiences of delight, triumph, loss, depression or a hundred other emotions. Drawing on the breadth of expression in the Psalms, we will identify how in private pastoral encounters as in public worship arenas the psalms—spoken or sung—can minister to our deepest needs and potentials.
Hosted by CICW's Senior Research Fellow Emily Brink and presented by hymn-writer Rev. John Bell.
Presented at the 2012 Calvin Symposium on Worship.
Pastor-scholar Andrew Wilkes shares how his worshiping community, Double Love Experience Church, prayed and sang the psalms during the troubling times of 2020. The psalms gave them language and support for praise and lament, and Wilkes asserts that lament is the evidence of faith because we are bringing our troubles to God.
Author and pastor-scholar David Taylor shares how he came to appreciate the psalms and how he encourages people to bring their full, unedited selves to God in prayer and experience a richer and more honest life of faith.
Old Testament scholar Nancy deClaissé-Walford has spent her career studying the ordering of the Psalter. Most of the psalms, she says, are not tied to a particular situation, allowing us to sing and pray them honestly in our own contexts.
Pastor-scholar Andrew Wilkes shares how his worshiping community, Double Love Experience Church, prayed and sang the psalms during the troubling times of 2020. The psalms gave them language and support for praise and lament, and Wilkes asserts that lament is the evidence of faith because we are bringing our troubles to God.
Author and pastor-scholar David Taylor shares how he came to appreciate the psalms and how he encourages people to bring their full, unedited selves to God in prayer and experience a richer and more honest life of faith.
Old Testament scholar Nancy deClaissé-Walford has spent her career studying the ordering of the Psalter. Most of the psalms, she says, are not tied to a particular situation, allowing us to sing and pray them honestly in our own contexts.
A Psalm Talk by Jared E. Alcántara recorded at the 2026 Psalms 150 conference, with a visual prayer and embodied response from artist Dea Jenkins.
