1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA
On the campus of Calvin University
© 2026 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
Weekly worship prepares congregations for the work of the week ahead in many different jobs and places. We all carry different burdens throughout the week and are given different tasks. This series of prayers written by Calvin University faculty and staff for people working in various professions can be adapted to fit the different occupations present in your congregation. As a Christian liberal arts institution, Calvin University prepares students not only for their different fields of calling, but to live as agents of renewal and citizens of God’s kingdom in their everyday work and living.
As worship leaders, we sometimes feel as if we should only focus on spiritual needs, such as praying for deeper faith, stronger character, and evangelistic opportunities. But God cares about our whole lives, not just our souls. Dietrich Bonhoeffer points out that the psalms are full of prayers for health, peace, and daily needs. That’s not selfish. It’s honest. It’s recognizing that God is with us in the everyday.
Aging is something we typically associate with older folks in our lives. But in reality, we all are aging every single day. I first started to note this in my own life the summer before I started college. I felt a deep sense of loss entangled in this phenomenon called “growing up”—the loss of having dinner with my family every night, the loss of knowing what was going on in my siblings’ lives 24/7, the loss of watching movies together in the evenings. Looking back, it wasn’t so much the losses themselves that were painful to me. It was the fear of losses I knew were coming.
How often do you find yourself marveling at the wonder of God’s creation—the extravagance of variety in the plant and animal world, the beauty of the changing seasons, the vastness of the universe compared to our little planet? Or instead, how often do you find yourself running from task to task, consumed by today’s concerns, trying to keep it all together, and never taking time to marvel at the meaning of it all?
Those with interest in classical music know that it is not a stretch to say that Nadia Boulanger single-handedly shaped the course of classical music during the twentieth century. She was a composer, organist, conductor, and pianist, but most of all, she was a teacher. Everyone studied with Nadia Boulanger: Aaron Copland, George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, George Walker, Philip Glass, you name it.
Weekly worship prepares congregations for the work of the week ahead in many different jobs and places. We all carry different burdens throughout the week and are given different tasks. This series of prayers written by Calvin University faculty and staff for people working in various professions can be adapted to fit the different occupations present in your congregation. As a Christian liberal arts institution, Calvin University prepares students not only for their different fields of calling, but to live as agents of renewal and citizens of God’s kingdom in their everyday work and living.
Weekly worship prepares congregations for the work of the week ahead in many different jobs and places. We all carry different burdens throughout the week and are given different tasks. This series of prayers written by Calvin University faculty and staff for people working in various professions can be adapted to fit the different occupations present in your congregation. As a Christian liberal arts institution, Calvin University prepares students not only for their different fields of calling, but to live as agents of renewal and citizens of God’s kingdom in their everyday work and living.
Weekly worship prepares congregations for the work of the week ahead in many different jobs and places. We all carry different burdens throughout the week and are given different tasks. This series of prayers written by Calvin University faculty and staff for people working in various professions can be adapted to fit the different occupations present in your congregation. As a Christian liberal arts institution, Calvin University prepares students not only for their different fields of calling, but to live as agents of renewal and citizens of God’s kingdom in their everyday work and living.
Weekly worship prepares congregations for the work of the week ahead in many different jobs and places. We all carry different burdens throughout the week and are given different tasks. This series of prayers written by Calvin University faculty and staff for people working in various professions can be adapted to fit the different occupations present in your congregation. As a Christian liberal arts institution, Calvin University prepares students not only for their different fields of calling, but to live as agents of renewal and citizens of God’s kingdom in their everyday work and living.
Worship that is faithful to the whole Bible must include lament. A worship renewal grant on making lament a normal part of worship brought together eight churches in metro Birmingham, Alabama. It yielded ideas and practices that can be adapted to any church tradition and context.
God cares about workers. But even though work takes up so much of our lives, most church services rarely talk about it. Leading Worship for Workers gives practical ideas to help churches connect Sunday worship to the everyday work lives of their people.
The Psalms are a font of inspiration, encouragement, and instruction in the life of both public and private prayer.
