Preaching and Teaching the Psalms: A Conversation with Pastor-Theologians
A panel discussion in which Amanda Benckhuysen, Karen Campbell, G. Sujin Pak, and moderator Kathy Smith ponder the challenges and opportunities in preaching and teaching from the psalms. Are there incomplete or incorrect assumptions about the psalms that sermons and lectures can tackle? How do we handle the imprecatory psalms when we have a Savior who told us to love and forgive the very enemies many psalms talk about? The panel will consider these and other vital questions for preachers and teachers in today’s church.
May 14, 2026
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89 min video
Being Shaped by the Psalms: Lessons in Trust, Hope, and Love
The psalms reflect our deepest emotions as people of faith. In their expressions of thanksgiving, trust, lament, anger, joy, doubt, and praise, these ancient prayers seem to peer right into our souls and put words to our thoughts and experiences. But the psalms are more than human words to God. Embedded as they are in the scriptures, they are now also God’s word to us.
May 12, 2026
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80 min video
Local Psalm Festivals
As part of the Dwelling in the Psalms year, the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship has provided resources to support Psalm festivals around Canada and the United States. These events are open to the public and many will be livestreamed.
Surprised by the Psalms
Anneke Kaai studied fine art and painting in the Netherlands at secular schools in the 1960s and ’70s. That experience compelled her to express her Christian faith through her art. She has painted many works based on scripture, including three series of paintings on the psalms, which she sees as a bountiful resource of imagery for the full range of human feelings in relation to God.
May 5, 2026
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90 min video
Karen Campbell on Considering Lament: Psalms of Protest, Pain and Hope
Technically, the Troubles in Northern Ireland ended in 1998. But just as trauma didn’t end after the passage of the US Civil Rights Act or the work of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, pain still lingers in Northern Ireland. Karen and David Campbell composed a new set of lament songs to help Christians voice protest, pain, and hope during worship.
Psalmody in Black: The Psalter as Human Expression
This workshop explores the deep connection between the psalms and the breadth of human emotion through musical settings by Black composers. Interwoven with reflections on the history and function of the Psalter, this program reveals how these timeless texts continue to speak to the spiritual, emotional, and cultural experiences of our shared humanity.
May 1, 2026
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90 min video
Andrew Wilkes on Doing the Work of Liberation and Justice with the Psalms as Our Guide
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.
April 10, 2026
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14 min listen
W. David O. Taylor on the Psalms and Praying the Unedited Life
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.
April 10, 2026
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26 min listen
Nancy L. deClaissé-Walford on the Shape and Shaping of the Psalter
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.
April 10, 2026
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17 min listen
Preaching the Prayer Book of Jesus
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.
March 26, 2026
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18 min video
My Soul Speaks Out
A Psalm Talk by Rawn Harbor with musical pieces with a visual prayer and embodied response led by Dea Jenkins.
March 19, 2026
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39 min video
Peace Comes Dropping Slow
A Psalm Talk by Karen Campbell on peace and reconciliation with a visual prayer and embodied response led by Dea Jenkins.
March 17, 2026
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29 min video
