1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA
On the campus of Calvin University
© 2026 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
This worship service features music led by the Calvin University Capella and the Hope College Chapel Choir, directed by Mark Stover and Eric Reyes and accompanied by organist Rhonda Sider Edgington. Nicole Massie Martin gives the sermon on the persistent widow of Luke 18:1-8.
This service was originally recorded at the 2025 Calvin Symposium on Worship.
Service Outline:
Sung Prayer: “Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying”
Text and Music: Ken Medema © 1973 Hope Publishing Company
All rights reserved. OneLicense.net A-703303.
Call to Worship
God’s Greeting
Song: “Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven”
Text: Henry F. Lyte, 1834
Music: LAUDA ANIMA; John Goss, 1869; arr. Larry Visser © 2015 GIA Publications, Inc.
All rights reserved. OneLicense.net A-703303.
Prayer of Confession
Silent Prayer
Choral Prayer of Confession: “Precious Lord”
Text and Music: Thomas A. Dorsey; arr. Arnold Sevier © 1938 Unichappell Music, Inc.; arr. © 1996 Unichappell Music, Inc.
All rights reserved. OneLicense.net A-703303.
Assurance of Pardon
Sung Response: “O Love”
Text: George Matheson (1842-1906)
Music: Elaine Hagenberg © 2016 Beckenhorst Press, Inc.
All rights reserved. OneLicense.net A-703303.
Prayer for Illumination
Scripture Reading: Luke 18:1-8
Sermon
Sung Response: “With What Shall I Come”
Text: based on Micah 6:6-8
Music: Rosephanye Powell © 2023 Gentry Publications, admin. Fred Bock Publishing Group
Used by permission. CCLI #400063.
Prayers of the People
Song: “Abana in Heaven”
Text and Music: Laila Constantine, Lebanon © 2002 Songs of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Egypt, Council of Pastoral Work and Evangelism, admin. Faith Alive Christian Resources; tr. and adapt. Anne Emile Zaki, Emily R. Brink, Greg Scheer, and Maged Dakouk © 2008, 2012 Faith Alive Christian Resources.
All rights reserved. OneLicense.net A-703303.
Blessing
Sending Song: “Lord, Whose Love in Humble Service”
Text: Albert F. Bayly, alt., © 1988 Oxford University Press
Music: PLEADING SAVIOR; J. Leavitt’s Christian Lyre, 1830; harm. stanzas 1-2 Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906; harm. stanzas 3-4 and descant, Larry Visser, 2024 © 2025 Larry Visser
All rights reserved. OneLicense.net A-703303.
Sending
Join us after the University worship service (chapel) for a conversation with worship leader Kimberly Williams. We will explore topics related to worship leading and planning for diverse congregations, leading teams, songwriting and recording, and mentoring women in ministry.
In this session Terry Wildman will share the vision, process, and outcomes of the First Nations Version (FNV) New Testament. Why was this translation needed? Who was involved in the translation? What were some of the cultural challenges faced by the translation council? What does it say about the translations done in Native languages in the past? How did the translation council decide on more than 185 key words and terms? What are some of the unique qualities of the FNV versus other English versions? How has the FNV affected the worship expressions of some Native believers? What is the future of the FNV?
How does one think about diversity as a Christian or as the church? How might working with and among—or even just thinking about—migrant neighbors contribute to our ecclesial identity? The language of catholicity allows us to imagine the unity of the church not in a monocultural way, but rather as a community inclusive of people of all languages and ethnicities. Migration and migrants today especially remind the church of its own catholic identity. How does the church's identity as a migrant church foster a healthy catholicity in the church's worship? This session will include the use of salsa music to invite participation in a more catholic way of life, asking what multicultural, cross cultural, and intercultural ways of being a church on the move might look like in worship.
Join us after the University worship service (chapel) for a conversation with worship leader Kimberly Williams. We will explore topics related to worship leading and planning for diverse congregations, leading teams, songwriting and recording, and mentoring women in ministry.
In this session Terry Wildman will share the vision, process, and outcomes of the First Nations Version (FNV) New Testament. Why was this translation needed? Who was involved in the translation? What were some of the cultural challenges faced by the translation council? What does it say about the translations done in Native languages in the past? How did the translation council decide on more than 185 key words and terms? What are some of the unique qualities of the FNV versus other English versions? How has the FNV affected the worship expressions of some Native believers? What is the future of the FNV?
How does one think about diversity as a Christian or as the church? How might working with and among—or even just thinking about—migrant neighbors contribute to our ecclesial identity? The language of catholicity allows us to imagine the unity of the church not in a monocultural way, but rather as a community inclusive of people of all languages and ethnicities. Migration and migrants today especially remind the church of its own catholic identity. How does the church's identity as a migrant church foster a healthy catholicity in the church's worship? This session will include the use of salsa music to invite participation in a more catholic way of life, asking what multicultural, cross cultural, and intercultural ways of being a church on the move might look like in worship.
As inhabitants of the modern age, we are deeply marked by skewed ways of thinking that thwart our humanness, our involvement with the world, and our spirituality. This is a philosophical tune-up that directly challenges and dispels modernity’s implicit philosophy. My philosophical proposals in my 2023 book Doorway to Artistry target the creative process, but they positively affect and bring healing to all arenas of life and work and worship. I pose that we as human persons are meant to live out a joyous “yes” to the real, and our involvement with the real takes the form of intimate encounter and communion. My approach reflects especially on God’s creative act and God’s created things. It taps epiphany, the redemptive encounter, and the Eucharist as paradigms for our knowing, our artistry, and all our everyday involvement with the world, so it should make us better at our stewardly dominion and voicing creation’s praise in worship.
