1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA
On the campus of Calvin University
© 2026 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
This morning's worship service is modeled on the Sunday evening student-led worship service at Calvin College called LOFT (Living Our Faith Together). The LOFT services follow the movements of praise, confession and assurance, intercession, listening to God's Word, and responding with acts of dedication and faith. The pattern is consistent from week to week but is often experienced as a time of free-flowing worship that makes use of visual art, dramatic readings, dance, prayer, and music from a variety of sources and in multiple styles. One significant aspect of worship at LOFT is a creative and often tangible response to the reading and preaching of Scripture.
This service is based on Philippians 3:1-11, where the Apostle Paul "regards everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus." As you worship, we invite you to have your hands free from the book, follow the leadership from the platform and the three screens around you, and to pay special attention to those worshiping with you – indeed, one of the blessings of this chapel is the opportunity to see and experience the people of God at 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.
