Summary

This workshop features candid, wide-ranging discussions about the most important themes that worshiping communities may need to address in the next 10 years.

Listen Online

Download audio

Details

We briefly look back on conversations of 10 and 20 years ago to reflect on the topics that were at the center of our attention then. Then we imagine together what a Worship Symposium program in 2025 might look like. The goal is to discern together how we can walk in step with Spirit's redemptive work in the world, responding to emerging needs and opportunities in faithful, creative ways. The session is facilitated with a process that could easily be adapted for use in your church, school, or ministry context. 

This is a session from Friday, January 30. 

Recent Media Resources

Video Psalms/Scripture Visual Arts
Surprised by the Psalms

Anneke Kaai studied fine art and painting in the Netherlands at secular schools in the 1960s and ’70s. That experience compelled her to express her Christian faith through her art. She has painted many works based on scripture, including three series of paintings on the psalms, which she sees as a bountiful resource of imagery for the full range of human feelings in relation to God.

May 5, 2026 | 90 min video
Video History Music/Song
Psalmody in Black: The Psalter as Human Expression

This workshop explores the deep connection between the psalms and the breadth of human emotion through musical settings by Black composers. Interwoven with reflections on the history and function of the Psalter, this program reveals how these timeless texts continue to speak to the spiritual, emotional, and cultural experiences of our shared humanity. 

May 1, 2026 | 90 min video
Podcast History Psalms/Scripture
Nancy L. deClaissé-Walford on the Shape and Shaping of the Psalter

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.

April 10, 2026 | 17 min listen