A Prayer for Those in Psychology-Related Fields
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.
Learn moreMonica Schaap Pierce on Appreciating Other Christian Traditions
The Holy Spirit has gifted different Christian traditions with unique songs, rituals, stories, and practices. Monica Schaap Pierce, executive director of Christian Churches Together, explains how to learn from and welcome gifts from other church families. You can use these ideas at church and at home.
Rebecca Snippe on Zeteosearch.org
Preachers, worship leaders, teachers, and others who study the Bible often go online to find resources for their research. Sorting through search results is often frustrating. But Zeteosearch.org—a revamped curated search engine—offers thought-provoking results.
Monica Schaap Pierce on Christian Churches Together
When congregations cooperate, it’s often with other churches in their own family of faith. But building relationships with churches and Christians who are very different can open us to how God has gifted them. Christian Churches Together helps Christians learn from each other and build relationships so they can witness to the unity Jesus prayed for.
Creation in Christ Sunday: A Worship Resource
Creation is struggling, and we are suffering with it! People around the world are reeling from natural disasters such as earthquakes, wildfires, drought, floods, tornadoes, and typhoons.
A Prayer for Those Living and Working in Urban and Rural Areas
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.
Trauma-Informed Worship: A Priestly Act
Every person who enters Christian worship brings more than a body into the room. We bring our histories, relationships, memories, fears, wounds, hopes, and expectations. For some worshipers, those histories include trauma.
La autoridad de Jesús cuestionada y confirmada
Este mes nos encontramos con la confrontación final de Jesús con los líderes religiosos de Israel. Estos comienzan cuestionando la autoridad de Jesús (21:23-27) y él les responde con tres parábolas: los dos hijos (21:28-32), los labradores malvados (21:33-46) y el banquete de bodas (22:1-14). En ellas, Jesús describe a la nación y su liderazgo como rebeldes que no han respondido al llamado de Dios. Los líderes, a su vez, le envían tres grupos con preguntas capciosas con la intención de hacerlo caer en su trampa, desprestigiarlo e incluso incriminarlo ante Roma: los fariseos (22:15-22), los saduceos (22:23-33) y un experto de la ley (22:34-40). Una vez que los ha callado, Jesús responde a la pregunta original y deja ver con claridad su autoridad divina (22:41-46).
Fear: Psalm 23
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.
Creation: Psalm 8
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?
Devotions for Worship Teams: Introduction
This series of psalm-based devotions invites worship leaders, planners, and teams to slow down, listen deeply, and be formed by scripture’s most honest and expansive prayers. Created by staff from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and trusted collaborators, these reflections draw from the rich themes of the psalms—praise and creation, fear and doubt, suffering and salvation—to ground the work of worship in a living conversation with God. Together, they help teams not just plan services, but cultivate attentiveness, unity, and spiritual depth.
The Church: Psalm 122
In the Old Testament, the temple was a place of worship where God’s presence dwelled. Three times each year, the Israelites would make pilgrimages to Jerusalem to worship at the temple, singing a group of psalms called the Songs of Ascent as they traveled in anticipation of gathering to worship God. They helped the pilgrims share excitement for the journey, pray for God’s protection, and celebrate the unity of their faith.
Suffering: Psalm 13
Suffering is something none of us can avoid. It can take many shapes: academic pressure, broken friendships, financial strain, family struggles, or even the quiet ache of feeling alone. In Psalm 13, David puts words to what many of us feel in seasons of suffering: “How long, Lord?” He is brutally honest about his pain, confusion, and sense of God’s silence.