Apply for the Vital Worship, Vital Preaching Grants Program to support and enhance Christian worship practices. We encourage proposals on universal design, cultural engagement, preaching, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and more. Two grant streams are available.
Join us for our Symposium on Worship and Summer Seminars. Engage in inspiring sessions, workshops, and intensive seminars to deepen your understanding and practice of Christian worship.
Psalmody in Color: Celebrating the Sacred Music of Black Voices
Anchored by an evening concert of psalm-based works, the Psalmody in Color festival includes a day of educational programming that engages scholars, musicians, clergy, and community members in dialogue about the role of psalmody in Black musical expression. Participants will encounter the psalms as a living and evolving art form rooted in scripture, shaped by history, and brought to life through the artistry of Black composers.
The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship at Calvin University advances Christian worship through resources, events, and grants. Since 1997, we have partnered with congregations and organizations to fulfill our mission.
Carlos Colón demonstrates and talks about three songs of blessing, as part of the series "Songs from the hymnal / Cantos del himnario Santo, Santo, Santo / Holy, Holy, Holy.'"
Being Shaped by the Psalms: Lessons in Trust, Hope, and Love
The psalms reflect our deepest emotions as people of faith. In their expressions of thanksgiving, trust, lament, anger, joy, doubt, and praise, these ancient prayers seem to peer right into our souls and put words to our thoughts and experiences. But the psalms are more than human words to God. Embedded as they are in the scriptures, they are now also God’s word to us.
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.
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.
Being Shaped by the Psalms: Lessons in Trust, Hope, and Love
The psalms reflect our deepest emotions as people of faith. In their expressions of thanksgiving, trust, lament, anger, joy, doubt, and praise, these ancient prayers seem to peer right into our souls and put words to our thoughts and experiences. But the psalms are more than human words to God. Embedded as they are in the scriptures, they are now also God’s word to us.
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.
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.
Andrew Wilkes on Doing the Work of Liberation and Justice with the Psalms as Our Guide
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.
