1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA
On the campus of Calvin University
© 2025 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
This vesper service offers a journey through the psalms in a jazz style. Music is adapted from the album Connexion: A Jazz Psalter, produced by Wally Brath. Brath (piano), Nikki Lerner (voice), Greg Tardy, (saxophone, clarinet), and a Calvin University chamber orchestra lead the congregation through God’s story of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration, exploring the full emotional depth of the psalms. The jazz-inspired soundtrack offers rich musical expression that complements the divine poetry.
This service was originally recorded at the 2025 Calvin Symposium on Worship.
Rob Linton, David Lerner, Greg Tardy, Maria Stapert Vanden Berg, Nikki Lerner, Shana Brath, Lisa Meyer, Kate Snow, and Wally Brath
“Psalm 96”
Text: Psalm 96; New Genevan Psalter © 1972, 2007 William Helder
Music: Wally Brath © 2023 Wally Brath Music
Used by permission of Wally Brath.
“Psalm 8”
Text: Psalm 8; English Standard Version Bible © 2002 Crossway
Music: Wally Brath © 2023 Wally Brath Music
Used by permission of Wally Brath.
“Psalm 13”
Text: Psalm 13; versified, Isaac Watts
Music: Wally Brath © 2023 Wally Brath Music
Used by permission of Wally Brath.
“Psalm 90”
Text: Psalm 90; Christian Standard Bible © 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Music: Wally Brath © 2023 Wally Brath Music
Used by permission of Wally Brath.
“Psalm 4”
Text: Psalm 4; New Genevan Psalter © 1980, 2017 William Helder
Music: Wally Brath © 2023 Wally Brath Music
Used by permission of Wally Brath.
“Psalm 142”
Text: Clarence P. Walhout, 1982 © 1987 Faith Alive Christian Resources
Music: Walker’s Southern Harmony; arr. Wally Brath © 2023 Wally Brath Music
Used by permission of Wally Brath and under CCLI #400063.
“Psalm 23”
Text and Music: Nikki Lerner; arr. Wally Brath © 2015 Nikki Lerner Music
Used by permission of Nikki Lerner.
“Psalm 126”
Text: Michael Morgan © 1999, 2011 Michael Morgan, admin. Faith Alive Christian Resources; refrain Wally Brath © 2023 Wally Brath Music
Music: HITIKVAH; traditional Hebrew melody; refrain and arr. Wally Brath © Wally Brath Music
Used by permission of Wally Brath and under CCLI #400063.
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.
