Rev. Shannon Jammal-Hollemans is the pastor at First Congregational United Church of Christ in Lowell, Michigan. She graduated from Grand Valley State University and Calvin Theological Seminary. Her work experience includes ecumenical and interfaith relations, racial and social justice, faith formation, and teaching intercultural studies.
Last Updated: September 29, 2025
The Jewish people have a practice of reading the book of Ruth during the Festival of Weeks (Exodus 34:22), which takes place fifty days after Passover and commemorates God giving the law to Moses on Mount Sinai. The Festival of Weeks (or Shavuot) is also known as Pentecost. The people of God who gathered in Jerusalem for the Pentecost recorded in Acts 2 would have heard the story of Ruth.
Recently Reformed Worship was able to pose the following questions about the incarnation to three individuals.
Q
I’ve sometimes heard the phrase “incarnational worship.” What does that mean? What is the significance of the incarnation for our daily living and worship?
Here are their responses:
A
"It is the Spirit that creates the new humanity where God’s dwelling will be forever.” —Herman Bavinck (in Reformed Dogmatics, ed. John Bolt, Baker Academic, 2011)
The church was founded on the bedrock of reconciliation—the reconciliation of God to humanity and the reconciliation of humanity to one another. This is evident in three significant ways:
What is worship? Who is it for? Who can attend? In our North American culture often the answer in practice is that worship is for us churchgoers, but of course anyone who wants to can come and participate. Worship is for our enjoyment, amusement, or sanctification. We spend a lot of time and energy on planning our worship; we even have publications, denominational staff, and church staff whose sole purpose is to help with the planning and implementation of worship. And all of it is meaningless. Absolutely meaningless.
Unless . . .
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