Ecumenical & Interfaith
News Network - PCUSA

Calvin Jubilee

PC(USA) ministers provide leadership in the celebration

The year 2009 represented the 500th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin. PC(USA) former stated clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick (pictured), the president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC), was head of the International Patronage Committee for the Calvin09 Jubilee. He said near the end of the year, "The focus on Calvin has led many Reformed Christians to a new appreciation of their heritage and their connections with one another." Kirkpatrick said the year had re-connected Reformed Christians to their roots and to each other. "We no longer felt the need to apologize for Calvin but rather found much in his thoughts, his actions and his legacy that is truly life-giving for our time." In the United States there was an emphasis on seeing similarities between Calvin's social agenda and today's political debates on immigration, health care, and economic justice.

Other American Presbyterians played roles in the Calvin jubilee celebration.

Kathy Reeves (pictured) led the Women of the Reformation Travel Study Tour sponsored by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the PC(USA)'s Presbyterian Women organization. Ten women from six countries traveled in Switzerland and France to explore the role of women in the 16th century Reformed church movement and consider the role of women in the Reformed church family today. Read an interviewer's questions and the answers of several who were on the tour.

Sermons were selected, as part of the Calvin celebration, in a contest that encouraged good preaching derived from reflection on Calvin's contributions. One of the selected sermons was preached by Ben Daniel (pictured), the PC(USA) pastor of Foothill Presbyterian Church, a congregation made up of people from around the world who have immigrated to San Jose, California.

New hyman was written for the jubilee

To provide a common element of celebration of the Calvin 500th around the globe, congregations and groups were encouraged to use a new hymn in settings both large and small. The hymn, selected in competition, is "People of the Lord," a setting of Psalm 78:1-7 by American Greg Scheer. Two renditions of the hymn and its score are available online.