I’m recently back from an amazing time at the 2018 Calvin Worship Symposium. The programme was overwhelmingly rich, the hospitality abundant, and it was so good to connect in person with internet friends from the Liturgy Fellowship group.
A completely unexpected highlight was being asked to play bass for a couple of the Vespers services with Isaac Wardell and his Porter’s Gate worship project.
If you haven’t heard the recent Porter’s Gate album ‘Work Songs’ themed on Vocation, you should really check it out. The songs are written by a group of stellar songwriters. They make room for deep reflection on work – a very underdeveloped theme in contemporary worship writing.
You can hear a selection of songs from the album on the YouTube playlist below, or listen to the full album on Spotify.
As if that wasn’t brilliant enough, Sandra McCracken was leading with Isaac on the Thursday afternoon. Her ‘Psalms’ album is one of my favourites in recent years, so it was a great honour to play bass for probably my favourite song from it.
Here’s a live version in case you haven’t heard it:
In fact, you can watch the Thursday Vespers service I played at on the Calvin College live stream. That’s me at the back on the left. ‘We Will Feast’ was my bass-playing highlight (from 39:30), but the whole thing is worth a listen. Isaac has some profound things to say about Vocation in the sermon.
The Friday evening we were joined by members of Urban Doxology and Page CXVI – two more of my favourite artists.
What a ridiculous blessing!
Listen to my friends
While I’m feeling grateful and inviting you to check things out, allow me to link to some of my internet liturgical friends who I met in person and jammed new songs with at the Symposium:
- Wendell Kimbrough
- Karin Simmons
- Rachel Wilhelm
- Daniel Snoke
- Devin Pogue
- Jake Langstaff
- Greg Scheer
- I shouldn’t miss out my comrade Joel Payne
- Plus Paul Zach, who I’m very glad to have met
I can’t believe how talented everyone is!
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