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On the campus of Calvin University and Calvin Theological Seminary
© 2024 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
Because life is a sheer gift from God, one we never deserved. The appropriate response, therefore, is to do two things: to take delight in the gift, to revel in and to savor it; and then, in response to bless the Giver with lavish thanks.
You-who-do-to-through prayers follow an ancient pattern for making a short prayer with a single theme. Worshipers speak the prayer together, collecting their voices into one.
Kathy Smith is associate director of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and manager of grant programs. She speaks at conferences, seminars, and churches around the world. In this edited conversation, she explains how to prepare for, experience, and benefit from the annual Calvin Symposium on Worship.
Dementia frequently interferes with a person's ability to connect with and to benefit from regular religious activities and worship styles that had been meaningful in the past. Yet, persons with dementia continue to need to worship and experience a comforting, deep encounter with Christ.
Thanksgiving celebrations were an important part of the people's worship before God. Throughout history, worshiping communities have set aside certain times and days as events of special thanksgiving to God.
Lisa De Boer teaches art and art history at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. She’s been researching the role of visual arts in North American churches. In this edited conversation, she talks about learning to appreciate worship art that doesn’t match a personal ideal.
John Witvliet speaks on "Berakah as a Way of Life" at the 2012 Calvin Theological Seminary convocation.
Elizabeth “Beth” Broschart is the pastor at First Presbyterian Church, a small congregation in Boyne City, Michigan. Before that, she pastored a small church in Pennsylvania and helped lead music in churches where her husband was the pastor. In this edited email conversation, she talks about the joys and challenges of planning music in small congregations.
You don’t need a large choir, paid staff, or huge budget to plan music for worship in your small congregation.
Lisa De Boer talks about the more complex step of moving from displaying art in a church gallery to including visual arts in worship.
Research/writing project for 2003 Luce Seminar, “Prospects of Historic Liturgies in a Postmodern Age.” A work in progress.
“Has your baby laughed?” On the Navajo reservation, that’s a common question posed to parents who have infants around the age of three months. The first laugh of a Navajo child is a very significant event.
