1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA
On the campus of Calvin University
© 2025 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
2019 Calvin Symposium on Worship | Vesper
Pre-service Singing
Votum and Greeting
Song: “God of Love and Faithfulness”
The Lord’s Prayer
Confession of Faith: “My Help Comes from the Lord”
Psalm 121
Scripture Reading: 2 Samuel 12:1–10
Song: “Whiter than Snow”
Psalm 51
Prayer: Psalm 86:1–5
Song: “Teach Me, Lord”
Psalm 86
Scripture Reading: Psalm 119:10–12
Song: “Happy Are Those”
Psalm 119
Scripture Reading: Psalm 25:4–5
Song: “Lord, to You My Soul Is Lifted”
Psalm 25
Scripture Reading: Matthew 5:6–9
Song: “Prayer for the King”
Psalm 72
Scripture Reading: Psalm 51:15
Song: “Bless the Lord, My Soul”
Psalm 103
Song: “How Good It Is”
Psalm 133
Blessing: Psalm 5:11–12
Song: “Come, All You Servants of the Lord”
Psalm 134
We are grateful for the planning and leading of this service by The Psalm Project and Laura de Jong.
Why and how did psalm singing become such a hallmark of Reformed worship? Join Dr. Karin Maag for a fascinating journey through time, from Reformation Geneva to Scotland and from the Netherlands to New England, exploring the roots and impact of metrical psalm singing. Along the way, we will hear the voices of early modern Christians as they learned how to sing the psalms, both in unison and in harmony.
Sister Kathleen Harmon of the community of the Ohio province of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in Dayton, invites us to be transformed by the psalms and experience them as the whole story God is revealing to us. As we keep praying and singing them, the psalms interpret us, and that’s when the transformation comes.
Vinroy D. Brown Jr.—conductor, musicologist, educator, and minister of creative worship and music at the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City—explores the vibrant intersection of Black sacred music and the psalms. He talks about Black composers and how they have reimagined the psalms through choral music, spirituals, and the gospel tradition for the benefit of everyone.
Why and how did psalm singing become such a hallmark of Reformed worship? Join Dr. Karin Maag for a fascinating journey through time, from Reformation Geneva to Scotland and from the Netherlands to New England, exploring the roots and impact of metrical psalm singing. Along the way, we will hear the voices of early modern Christians as they learned how to sing the psalms, both in unison and in harmony.
Sister Kathleen Harmon of the community of the Ohio province of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in Dayton, invites us to be transformed by the psalms and experience them as the whole story God is revealing to us. As we keep praying and singing them, the psalms interpret us, and that’s when the transformation comes.
Vinroy D. Brown Jr.—conductor, musicologist, educator, and minister of creative worship and music at the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City—explores the vibrant intersection of Black sacred music and the psalms. He talks about Black composers and how they have reimagined the psalms through choral music, spirituals, and the gospel tradition for the benefit of everyone.
John Goldingay, an Anglican priest and the senior professor of Old Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary, posits the psalms are the densest material in the entire Old Testament. They expound the nature of God as the compassionate, faithful, and committed one, but also as the one who makes demands upon us. The psalms help us talk to God, even about difficult things—and when we do, we are talking to someone who is in a position to do something about it.
