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This service of Psalm 1, Jesus Knows the Way of the Righteous, was part of the Calvin Symposium on Worship 2012. The liturgy and music was led by students from Calvin College with Mary Hulst preaching.
A free concert at the Calvin Chapel, this prelude to the 2012 Calvin Symposium on Worship featured The Psalm Project, a group of musicians from the Netherlands who have taken Genevan Psalm tunes from the 1500s and updated them with arrangements for piano, guitar, and strings.
Joyce Borger is worship and music editor for Faith Alive Christian Resources and editor of the quarterly journal Reformed Worship. In this conversation, Borger discusses the history of Psalm singing, and how she talks to Christians who have no history of singing Psalms in worship about trying it.
Joel Schoon-Tanis talks about his painting “Pa-Salms,” which he created especially for the Psalms art exhibit at the Calvin Symposium on Worship.
David Van Biema left his job as chief religion writer at TIME Magazine to work on a forthcoming book about the Psalms for Simon & Schuster. He gave this interview while visiting Calvin College in September 2011.
Martin Tel is C. F. Seabrook Director of Music at Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey. Here he talks about the forthcoming Psalms for All Seasons: A Complete Psalter for Worship, which is one of the most comprehensive resources ever published on using the Psalms in Christian worship. Tel collaborated with Joyce Borger and John D. Witvliet on this psalter.
God’s Word teaches that the Spirit employs four principal means for shaping Christians: Scripture, the sacraments, a person’s life experiences, and time.
Robert “Bob” Keeley teaches education at Calvin College. He and his wife, Laura Keeley, direct children’s ministries at Fourteenth Street Christian Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan. They write books, curriculum, and plays. Here they talk about making lament psalms accessible to children.
Kristin Kobes Du Mez, who teaches history at Calvin College, talks about her forthcoming book, The Forgotten Woman’s Bible.
Gordon Campbell wrote a biography of the King James Bible and edited a 400th anniversary edition of the 1611 version, which, he says, “lovingly preserves” the printer’s errors.
In order for God’s Word to achieve its Divinely intended purpose and effect, such an “Aha! That’s me!” response must happen within the hearts of those who read and hear it.
The best way to learn the Psalms is to sing them, which is why a group of Dutch musicians is mining their "Genevan Psalter" heritage to create arrangements that appeal to today's worshipers.
