1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA
On the campus of Calvin University
© 2026 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.
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.
