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2018 Calvin Symposium on Worship | Vesper
This Vesper Service
We cannot escape the grasp of sin and death. In this service, Urban Doxology responds to events of hate and racism, death and tragedy through song, with words of both lament and hope. This service will include songs such as “Come by Here,” “Holy Spirit,” “Shalom,” “Spirit Pour Out,” “Isaiah 58,” “Purge Me,” “Speaking,” “We Are Good,” “Who Has the Final Say,” “Say Yes,” “Declaration of Dependence,” “Without You,” and “Get Up and Dance.”
What does “Urban Doxology” mean?
An “urban doxology” is any liturgy, preaching, music or art that crosses boundaries in ethnicity, race, and class and prepares God’s people for the city of God.
The Urban Doxology Story
Urban Doxology is a ministry that writes the soundtrack of reconciliation in the racially diverse and gentrifying neighborhood of Church Hill, Richmond, Virginia. The band evolved out of the Urban Songwriting Internship Program that is a partnership with Arrabon and East End Fellowship. Most of band members are an active part of East End Fellowship, a community that endeavors to be a faithful presence, seeking God’s joy and justice for their neighborhood in Richmond, Virginia, out of love for Christ. Urban Doxology is a ministry of Arrabon through worship formation. Urban Doxology creates worship experiences and resources to equip Christian communities with the spiritual formation needed to faithfully practice reconciliation. You can find out more about Urban Doxology, their mission, and their music on their website: www.urbandoxology.com.
What is “Arrabon”?
The word arrabon means “a foretaste of what is to come.” The ministry of Arrabon (www. arrabon.com) believes that the church should be a “foretaste of a reconciled heaven to our divided world.” Arrabon works to equip Christian leaders and their communities with the resources needed to increase their cultural intelligence to effectively participate in reconciliation.
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.
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.
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.
