































427

WORSHIP

Worship (Workshop) in a 
Nondenominational Tradition
Atla Annual Hymn of Praise 2024
Steve Jung, MSLS, MDiv, Associate Director of Library Services, Hope 
International University

ABSTR ACT This in-person worship service was constructed not to be 
a common devotional experience, but a workshop on hymn-writing. 
Employing an ancient method for constructing a hymn, the partici-
pants wrote down various virtues or characteristics of God and God’s 
activities based on those characteristics. Participants focused on 
virtues that were reflective of our professional lives: collecting, order-
ing, preserving, and making accessible knowledge and wisdom. The 
resulting hymn was then presented orally. After the workshop, the 
stanzas were collected, ordered, and are now available online. The 
goal of the exercise was to be intellectually stimulating and fun, but 
most importantly, to be worshipful.

INTRODUCTION

One of my areas of interest is the compositional approaches of first-
century writers. What were students taught about rhetoric in the 
gymnasium, which offered intellectual and philosophical formation 
along with physical exercises? Rather than go over a devotion based 
on a text, I decided to make the worship service more of a workshop; 
we were going to workshop a hymn. I am not a musician, but this 



428    ATL A 2024 PROCEEDINGS

was not about music — it was about an ancient form of literature. My 
intention was to give a little explanation of enkomion (Greek, “hymn 
writing”; Latin, encomium), go over one hymn written in the New 
Testament that follows this style (Philippians 2.1–11, the hymn of the 
humility of Christ), and direct the participants in writing a hymn.

THE HANDOUT AND LESSON

The handout for the workshop includes part of one lesson, “On 
Encomium and Invective,” written by a first century grammarian 
and teacher, Aelius Theon. The gist of the lesson is that when one 
composes an enkomion (for a person), it follows a certain pattern. 
When one does the same thing for a dead person, it is called an epi-
taphios, and, for a god, a hymn. First, one writes about the person’s 
birth. This is followed by praise for the person’s virtues and actions 
based upon those virtues. That would be followed by praises for the 
person’s appearance and health. And, lastly, one writes about the per-
son’s luck or fortune. As we were going to praise God, we didn’t need 
praises about God’s appearance or health, and God isn’t “lucky.” That 
left us with finding virtues, or aspects of God’s character, to praise, 
and the deeds and actions based upon those virtues. I mentioned 
Johannine characteristics, such as love and light. I also mentioned 
the characteristics from Exodus 34:5–7: gracious, merciful, slow to 
anger, abounding in steadfast love, faithfulness, and forgiving. Any 
of those would be wonderful to focus on, but we are a collection of 
librarians. I wanted us to bring attention to our librarianship: we 
collect, bring order, preserve, and make accessible all knowledge 
and wisdom. Therefore, we should focus on those aspects in God as 
creator of all of those things.

We took ten minutes to write down a list of virtues and deeds com-
ing from those virtues. I had written out four simple formulaic lines 
to demonstrate a pattern to follow. After that silent time, I explained 
that we would read our “verse” of the hymn and that everyone would 
respond with the refrain “Your steadfast love endures forever.”



Worship    429

THE HYMN WE WORKSHOPPED

In person, we read our lines, one at a time. Each spoken line was fol-
lowed by a refrain, “Your steadfast love endures forever.” After the 
closing prayer, I asked to take pictures of their worksheets, so that 
I could put the lines all together for preservation purposes. What 
follows is the lines from the participants, but I have arranged their 
order (because honestly there is no way that I could remember the 
order that they were read).

ATLA ANNUAL HYMN OF PRAISE 2024

Thank you for your compassion in providing us with companions 
on our journey, both intellectual and spiritual, in our desire to be 
closer to you.

Your steadfast love endures forever.

Praise you for your compassion, because you have given us your word.

Your steadfast love endures forever.

Because you are ordered, you bring order out of chaos, providing 
systems and continuity out of which we live and function.

Your steadfast love endures forever.

Praise you for your unchangeableness, because we keep your 
promises.

Your steadfast love endures forever.

Praise you for your truth and wisdom, because you have opened 
our eyes and minds.

Your steadfast love endures forever.

Thank you for your grace, because you have given us ears to hear, 
minds to ponder, and hearts to understand.

Your steadfast love endures forever.

Thank you, O God. For in your art, I feel whole and purposeful.



430    ATL A 2024 PROCEEDINGS

Your steadfast love endures forever.

Thank you for your Word, it is the source of life. It is powerful and 
the teacher of your great love.

Your steadfast love endures forever.

Thank you, God, for your knowledge, inspiring your poets, prophets, 
and priests.

Your steadfast love endures forever.

Praise you for your charity, because you have loved us into being.

Your steadfast love endures forever.

Praise you for creation, because you have made wisdom known.

Your steadfast love endures forever.

Thank you, God. In your absurdity you remain unknowable.

Your steadfast love endures forever.

Praise you for your wisdom. You created the world in wisdom and 
guide the world to Jesus and its proper end.

Your steadfast love endures forever.

Thank you, God. In your mercy you have made us aware of your 
salvation.

Your steadfast love endures forever.

Because of your steadfastness, you never let us go.

Your steadfast love endures forever.

WHERE IT CAN BE FOUND NOW

The hymn that we created now resides in a LibGuide hosted by Hope 
International University: https://libguides.hiu.edu/Atla_2024

The page has both the hymn and a link to a PDF of the worksheet. 
Feel free to use the worksheet as you wish.



Worship    431

REFERENCE

Kennedy, George Alexander. 2003. “On Encomium and Invective.” 
In Progymnasmata: Greek Textbooks of Prose Composition and 
Rhetoric. Atlanta, GA: SBL Press.


