1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA
On the campus of Calvin University
© 2026 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
Ensemble:
ONE: Hallelujah!
TWO: Hallelujah!
ALL: Hallelujah!
ONE: Praise God in the holy temple;
(THREE create a temple tableau.)
TWO: praise God in the mighty firmament.
(FOUR circle around the temple tableau, turn outward, and raise their arms to the sky.)
ONE: Praise God for mighty acts;
(One member of THREE steps forward and parts the circle of FOUR as if they are the Red Sea. The remaining members of THREE walk through the “dry ground.”)
TWO: praise God for exceeding greatness.
(FOUR take on various positions of being struck with awe and compelled to worship.)
ONE: Praise God with trumpet sound;
(THREE pretend to play trumpets while making trumpet noises with their mouths.)
TWO: praise God with lyre and harp.
(FOUR pretend to play harps and lyres while the piano does a slide.)
ONE: Praise God with tambourine and dance;
(THREE do various dance moves. A twirl. A leap. A skip.)
TWO: praise God with strings and pipe.
(FOUR pretend to play flutes, recorders, etc. while whistling, if able.)
ONE: Praise God with resounding cymbals;
(THREE mime clashing symbols, complete with vocalized cymbal noises.)
TWO: praise God with loud clanging cymbals.
(FOUR clash their own imaginary symbols, trying to out-do THREE with their volume.
Some from FOUR continue to clang symbols. Others gradually join in with their own motions and sounds of praise until it becomes a worshipful cacophony—cymbals, trumpet, harp, dance, pipes, temple, firmament, mighty deeds, awe, etc. ONE and TWO speak scattered refrains of “Praise the Lord!” All members of THREE and FOUR that do not have an instrument also speak their own “Praise the Lord!” refrain.
Once it reaches full worshipful cacophony, one by one each member begins to slowly breathe in and out until they are breathing in unison as they continue their motions of worship.
When it is time, everyone freezes.)
ALL: Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Hallelujah!
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.
Author and pastor-scholar David Taylor shares how he came to appreciate the psalms and how he encourages people to bring their full, unedited selves to God in prayer and experience a richer and more honest life of faith.
Old Testament scholar Nancy deClaissé-Walford has spent her career studying the ordering of the Psalter. Most of the psalms, she says, are not tied to a particular situation, allowing us to sing and pray them honestly in our own contexts.
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.
Author and pastor-scholar David Taylor shares how he came to appreciate the psalms and how he encourages people to bring their full, unedited selves to God in prayer and experience a richer and more honest life of faith.
Old Testament scholar Nancy deClaissé-Walford has spent her career studying the ordering of the Psalter. Most of the psalms, she says, are not tied to a particular situation, allowing us to sing and pray them honestly in our own contexts.
A Psalm Talk by Jared E. Alcántara recorded at the 2026 Psalms 150 conference, with a visual prayer and embodied response from artist Dea Jenkins.
