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© 2026 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
A Conversation on Preaching from the book of Romans with Eric Barreto, Mary Hulst, Najla Kassab, Luke Powery, Anne Zaki, moderated by Scott Hoezee
The Symposium on Worship 2021 is not going to look or feel like any past events as the pandemic moves us to new online platforms and events. But we still want to anchor ourselves to a text for some of our worship services and this year Romans 8 seemed right. Few chapters contain such soaring words of both Gospel comfort as well as Gospel hope. We have the comfort and assurance of salvation and of no condemnation in Christ and we have the Spirit to transform us and, through us, to transform our lives and maybe even our societies in these unsettled, broken times. Nothing can separate us from the love of God, Paul shouts and sings at the end of Romans 8. And nothing can keep us from comfort, assurance, hope and yes, also joy during even these difficult days.
Additional resources for preaching during a pandemic from Zeteo Preaching and 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.
