Dr. Bert Polman (1945–2013) served as chair of the Music Department at Calvin University and senior research fellow for the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship. He studied at Dordt College (BA 1968), the University of Minnesota (MA 1969, PhD in musicology 1981), and the Institute for Christian Studies. His research specialty was Christian hymnody. He was an organist, a frequent workshop leader at music and worship conferences, and contributor to journals such as The Hymn and Reformed Worship. Dr. Polman was co-editor of the Psalter Hymnal Handbook (1989), and served on the committees that prepared Songs for LiFE (1994) and Sing! A New Creation (2001), both published by Faith Alive Christian Resources.
Last Updated: September 10, 2025
A service in honor of the 250th anniversary of the conversion of Charles and John Wesley (1738) and the 200th anniversary of the death of Charles Wesley (1788).
*Everyone who is able, please stand.
*Call to Worship
*Greetings
*Hymn: "Rejoice, the Lord Is King"
(PH 408; RIL 596)
The following liturgy was submitted by Rev. Herman Praamsma, pastor of the Fellowship CRC ofRexdale, Ontario. The liturgy was adapted by Dr. Bert Polman from a form prepared by the Liturgical Committee of the Christian Reformed Church for use during an Easter Service; this liturgy can be used for all Sundays in Eastertide. The season of the church year called Eastertide lasts fifty days and includes Ascension, the day when we rejoice in the reign of Christ at God's right hand.
*If you are able, please stand
While most of us know many Christmas carols, we may be less familiar with carols for other times of the year. One of the finest Easter carols is "This Joyful Eastertide." The tune, which originated in a seventeenth-century Dutch love song, came into church use in Joachim Oudaen's David's Psalmen (1685) as the melody for "Hoe Grootde Vreuchten Zijn" ("How Great the Fruits Are")—hence, the tune title VRUCHTEN.
The "hymn festival" is rapidly growing in popularity. With the explosion of new songs for worship, the rediscovery of old gems, as well as the joy of singing familiar favorites, the hymn festival provides an opportunity for congregations, choirs, and instruments to join in varied ways of singing hymns together. A hymn festival can celebrate the hymns of a season or of a given tradition, author, composer, or theme. Any good reason will do!
Words of Welcome
*Processional: Psalm 24(2)
*Greetings:
Pastor: People of God, receive the greeting from our God, the King of glory: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, through the working of the Holy Spirit.
People: Amen!
The people greet each other.
*Hymn: Rejoice, the Lord Is King
Prayer for Illumination
Scripture Reading: Acts 1:1—11
Word for the Children
In the second half of the 20th century, the Christian community witnessed a vast explosion of hymnody. Some of these new songs were produced by gifted authors, people like Timothy Dudley-Smith or Margaret Clarkson, who wrote hymns that built on the heritage of Christian hymnody. But a larger part of this "hymn explosion" were scripture songs—actual scriptural texts or paraphrases of scripture set to music, often in a popular style.
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