1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA
On the campus of Calvin University
© 2025 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
What a glorious day it will be when “all are welcomed and bound by Christ in unity.” As the Psalmist says, “how good it is when all earth’s people dwell in peace together.” In this service of Scripture proclamation, choral and congregational song, may these words guide our worship and guide us as we leave this place to carry the light of Christ—the light of ultimate peace—into a broken, hurting, and weary world. The songs that follow will guide us in our meditation as we look forward to that great day when we will all gather around the throne of grace, united in our praise to the risen and reigning Lord. Alleluia! Come quickly, Lord Jesus.
There’s a Great Day a Coming
arr. Patsy Ford Simms; Words: African American Spiritual; arr. Patsy Ford Simms
© 1998 BriLee Music Publishing Co.
Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty
Lift Up Your Hearts, 538
Gloria
Ariel Ramírez; Words: Ariel Ramírez; English tr. Louise Dobbs
© 1965 Editorial Pigal (Argentina), admin. French Music Ltd.
One Generation Will Call to the Next
Lift Up Your Hearts, 562
Caritas et amor/Where Charity and Love Are
Z. Randall Stroope; Words: Antiphon, attr. 10th century anonymous author
Ubi caritas et amor/Live in Charity
Lift Up Your Hearts, 154
Many Colors Paint the Rainbow
Roy Hopp; Words: Herman G. Stuempfle, Jr. © 2000 GIA Publications, Inc.
Lift Up Your Hearts, 258
Miren qué bueno/Oh, Look and Wonder
Pablo Sosa; Words: based on Psalm 133, Pablo Sosa © 1972 GIA Publications, Inc.
In Christ There Is No East or West
Lift Up Your Hearts, 268
This Little Light of Mine
arr. Nick Page; Words and Music: traditional African American spiritual; arr. Nick Page
© 2008 Hal Leonard Corporation
How Great Thou Art
Dan Forrest; Words: Stuart K. Hine
© 1949 and 1953 The Stuart Hine Trust, admin. Hope Publishing Company.
Lift Up Your Hearts, 490
Lift Up Your Hearts, 939
Leaders: James Abbington, alumni from the James Abbington Church Music Academy, ACTion Choir under the direction of Erinn Epp, Calvin Alumni Choir under the direction of Pearl Shangkuan, Coro Polifónico under the direction of Constanza Bongarrá, dancers from Church of the Servant, Kenneth Bos, Norma de Waal Malefyt, Kathy Smith, Paul Timmermans, and Steven Timmermans
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.
