Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Web Highlighter

July 1, 2008

What's New Online at CICW?
Grants: Colloquium 2008
Stories: Biblical Lament
Events: Learning from Past Events
Resources: Worship 101
Blog: Latest Posts

Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and forevermore. Amen.

- Jude 24-25, read in worship at Grants Colloquium last week

Grants

Worship Renewal Grants Colloquium 2008

Worship Renewal Grants recipients from 2007 and 2008, representing over 100 congregations from states and provinces across North America, gathered at Calvin College last week to share their experiences and learn from each other. We give gratitude to God for this time together, and pray for all the relationships begun and strengthened, for the fruition of ideas and insights shared, and for the deepening of worship across North America through the Holy Spirit.

www.calvin.edu/worship/grants/colloq

Stories

Vital Worship
Feature stories...for inspiration, reflection, and group discussion

Bringing Our Pain to God: Biblical Lament in Worship

Michael Card spoke, played, and sang about lament at the 2008 Calvin Symposium on Worship.

"We were created to live with God in a garden, yet we wake every morning in the desert of a fallen world," says Michael Card, a singer, songwriter, author, and radio host from Tennessee.

College experiences doused him in the disconnect between what Christians are and what they yearn for. Family divorces, deaths, and 9/11 pushed Michael Card to write and sing about lament.

He says that bringing sorrow and suffering to God in worship must start with the preached word. Such worship works only in community, not isolation. Genuine lament in worship often leads to a healing sense of God’s presence.

Events

Learning from Past Events

Browse reports, reflections, and learning guides from selected events sponsored and hosted by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship. We welcome your additional comments, questions, and suggested resources related to events you've attended (contact us), and would like to add them to these learning guides.

Browse.

www.calvin.edu/worship/events/past

Resources

Worship 101: The Building Blocks of a Biblical Approach to Worship
John D. Witvliet

This presentation at the Symposium on Worship explored some of the Bible's most fundamental teaching about worship, aiming to equip listeners to teach this material in their own worshiping communities, and to encourage congregations to develop (or refine) a basic “congregational worship statement.” This presentation is available in audio and video.

Listen or Watch.

www.calvin.edu/worship/theology/101

Blog

Recent Posts at our Blog

- Christmas in July?
- Praying for Christians in Iraq
- Oldest Christian church found in Jordan?