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On the campus of Calvin University
© 2025 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
This session explores the depth, riches, wisdom, and insights that have emerged through several centuries of Christian worship among African-American communities in North America—and the way these gifts can bless and strengthen all kinds of churches—both multicultural churches and culturally homogenous churches, both African-American churches and churches of other ethnic and cultural groups, both churches in North America and beyond.
The session highlights themes developed in a wonderful new publication: Readings in African American Church Music and Worship, ed. James Abbington (GIA Publications, Inc.), and suggest practical strategies for further learning in your context.
The video is from Friday, January 30, and presenters are James Abbington, Eileen Guenther, C. Michael Hawn, William Heard, and John Witvliet. The audio is from Saturday, January 31, and the conversation is led by James Abbington, Michael Gittens, Emmett Price, and John Witvliet.
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.
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.
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.
The last few minutes of corporate worship are critical because they frame the entire purpose of worship and its connection to our lives in the world.
