1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA
On the campus of Calvin University
© 2026 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
Presented at the 2012 Calvin Symposium on Worship.
Betty Grit, Worship Renewal Grants Manager, Calvin Institute of Christian Worship. Introduction: “What are Vertical Habits?” Download slides.
Deborah Lemmen, New City Church, Jersey City, New Jersey. To explore the Psalms with children, youth and families through art, music and memorizing Scripture to shape a posture of hope and give words to express doubts, questions and fears. Download slides.
Young Kim, Cornerstone CRC, Ann Arbor, Michigan. To help participants learn about Vertical Habits in Sunday worship and carry them into daily life through an eight-part sermon series and multi-sensory worship which included congregational art and multimedia components, a series of articles by church leaders, and the development of an online web log of daily devotions which includes artwork of children.
Jessica Garcia, Grace Brethren Church, Long Beach, California. To express the broad range of worship expressions that appear in the Bible through workshops to create liturgies, prayers, responsive readings, music, poems and art with a focus on the Psalms and Revelation.
Betty Grit. Questions and discussion.
Mike Cosper, Sojourn Community Church, Louisville, Kentucky. To encounter and practice Vertical Habits as a significant part of spiritual formation through an interactive art exhibit, a month-long devotional written by church leaders and a lecture series taught by pastors from the church or local community. Download slides.
Laura Keeley, 14th St CRC, Holland, Michigan. To engage the congregation in a study of the Psalms and Vertical Habits as a framework for worship throughout the liturgical year and to create visual arts and language that reminded the congregation that worship is a dialogue with God that can be carried into their daily lives. Download slides.
Henry Belin, First AME Bethel Church, New York, New York. To encourage personal and public prayer practices in worshipers of all ages by creating a language for prayer through Lectio divina, praying the Psalms, and media that included Twitter and Facebook.
Kris Moore, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Cincinnati, Ohio. To create a common language for worship among staff and clients through lament, Psalms and the Vertical Habits at an adolescent residential psychiatric treatment facility that led to corporate and personal worship that promotes spiritual healing. Download slides.
Betty Grit. Final questions and discussion. Conclusion.
“Deconstruction” is a popular term among young people who grew up in the Christian church. In this public lecture, Robert Chao Romero will consider the challenge of widespread deconstruction while offering a hopeful path forward. Expanding on Phyllis Tickle’s analogy of the church having a rummage sale of ideas every few centuries, Romero invites us to consider the contributions of Latina/o theology and the history of the Brown Church as valuable resources for reconstruction on the other side of deconstruction.
Carmen Imes has spent the past fifteen years immersed in the book of Exodus, writing about it for both her master’s thesis and her doctoral dissertation. In this lecture, Imes will share some of the most paradigm-shifting insights she’s had while reading Exodus through an Egyptian lens.
Martin Luther frequently called Psalm 118 as his “own beloved psalm,” describing it as a “friend who helped [him] out of many troubles.” This session provides a history of the interpretation of this beloved psalm by looking at the readings of Ambrose, Augustine, Theodoret of Cyrus, Cassiodorus, Luther, and Calvin.
“Deconstruction” is a popular term among young people who grew up in the Christian church. In this public lecture, Robert Chao Romero will consider the challenge of widespread deconstruction while offering a hopeful path forward. Expanding on Phyllis Tickle’s analogy of the church having a rummage sale of ideas every few centuries, Romero invites us to consider the contributions of Latina/o theology and the history of the Brown Church as valuable resources for reconstruction on the other side of deconstruction.
Carmen Imes has spent the past fifteen years immersed in the book of Exodus, writing about it for both her master’s thesis and her doctoral dissertation. In this lecture, Imes will share some of the most paradigm-shifting insights she’s had while reading Exodus through an Egyptian lens.
Martin Luther frequently called Psalm 118 as his “own beloved psalm,” describing it as a “friend who helped [him] out of many troubles.” This session provides a history of the interpretation of this beloved psalm by looking at the readings of Ambrose, Augustine, Theodoret of Cyrus, Cassiodorus, Luther, and Calvin.
Modern song writers are continually setting the psalms to new music for band-led worship contexts. Join Paul Ryan, Nate Glasper, and the Calvin University Worship Apprentices to sing contemporary psalm settings sung in public worship at Calvin.
