Summary

2020 Calvin Symposium on Worship | Workshop

Listen Online

Details

This workshop introduced visio divina (an extension of lectio divina), an ancient Christian devotional practice combining meditation on Scripture in relation to images as a means of deepening engagement with Scripture. Contemporary practice of visio divina commonly includes not only visual images, but music and poetry. The workshop included a brief historical overview, an introduction to the actual practice of visio divina, and some of the many resources readily available for individuals and groups interested in exploring how this practice might deepen devotional life.

Recent Media Resources

Psalm Singing and the Genevan Psalter

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.

December 4, 2025 | 38 min video
Kathleen Harmon on Becoming the Psalms

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.

December 2, 2025 | 32 min listen
Vinroy D. Brown Jr. on Black Psalmody is for Everyone

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.

December 2, 2025 | 34 min listen