Calvary Episcopal Church - Memphis, TN

Maybe if our love loses the last of its interest in anything it might get in return, maybe then we'll find ourselves alive at last, in that eternal kingdom Jesus kept telling us has been right here among us all along.

"New life starts in the dark, a seed in the ground, a child in the womb, Christ, in the tomb. The darkness is not abandonment. The darkness is not the end. The darkness is not where God stops. The darkness is where God is already at work, which means that the places we fear the most are very often the very places where God is closest."

"Because a night creeps through the day." Because this is how it is. And this world of distorted and destructive power, of fear turned to anger and rage. On a grand scale, how the forces of control can conspire to crush what it will not allow. And in the smaller worlds we inhabit, where this simple unraveling of what we counted on sends us into a parallel universe marked by loneliness and gloom."

"It's a love that will even set aside its own seat at the table, set aside its privilege, its power, even its precious dignity if need be, so it can kneel down and give of itself for the sake of its beloved, no matter how dusty and looked down upon the actual physical work of love may be."

But more than an itinerary for these next seven days, we have a map that will help us on those other sojourns, the ones when we can't see beyond the bend in the road. Because this isn't just a map of Jerusalem. It's a map of all the places that God goes.

Come out of hiding, come out of shame, come out of addiction, of fear, come out of the story that has convinced you that this is as alive as you will ever be. Come out.

The Rev. Dr. Heber M. Brown, III is a nationally recognized leader in faith-based social innovation and food justice. After serving nearly fourteen years as a pastor in Baltimore—where he witnessed the impacts of food apartheid—he founded the Black Church Food Security Network. The network now partners with nearly 250 Black congregations and Black farmers to advance food sovereignty and economic justice. An Ashoka Fellow, Dr. Brown serves on the board of Bread for the World and as senior church advisor to Justis Connection. He is the author of the forthcoming book Nothing More Sacred: Radical Stories of Black Church Faith, Food, and Freedom.

"If everyone always got exactly what they deserved, and the universe finally behaved like we think it should, what would be lost? Well, I think the grace of this moment would be lost. This encounter that a man born blind had with the grace of God in the person of Jesus would be lost. Because the only one in this story to stay open to what's actually taking place is the one who was willing to set aside everything."

Bishop Deon K. Johnson is the eleventh bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri, where his ministry centers faith, justice, and joy. A native of Barbados, he brings a global perspective shaped by resilience, community, and hope. Bishop Johnson is deeply committed to cultivating belonging, especially for LGBTQIA+ people and others who have been marginalized, affirming all as God's beloved. Known for his warmth, storytelling, and sacred laughter, he delights in good conversations and imaginative hope. His leadership invites the church to live more fully into love made visible through justice, compassion, and courageous faith.

Stephen Cook has served as senior pastor of Second Baptist Church in Memphis since 2010. Under his leadership, the congregation has embraced its identity as a center of Christian community throughout the week, recognizing that ministry happens far beyond Sunday mornings. Cook guides Second Baptist with a vision “to know Christ and to know its village,” forming disciples shaped by the life and teachings of Jesus while loving neighbors in tangible ways. His pastoral leadership emphasizes shared life, spiritual formation, and deep engagement with the surrounding community, cultivating a church rooted in presence, relationship, and faithful witness.

Jonathan Lee Walton, Ph.D., is a social ethicist, religious educator, and the eighth president of Princeton Theological Seminary. A leading voice on American religion, he is the author of Watch This! and A Lens of Love, and his scholarship has appeared widely in academic journals and national media including The New York Times, CNN, and the BBC. Prior to Princeton, Dr. Walton served at Harvard University and Wake Forest University, where he was dean of the School of Divinity. A graduate of Morehouse College and Princeton Seminary, his work engages ethics, race, media, and public life with intellectual rigor and moral imagination.

Kontji Anthony is a veteran journalist and host of Live at 9 on Memphis CBS affiliate WREG-TV. With a 30-year career in anchoring, reporting, producing, and writing, she has been recognized by the Tennessee General Assembly for her contributions to broadcasting. Anthony is also the creator, CEO, and co-founder of Youdle, a tech platform connecting families to fresh groceries. She serves on the boards of The Community Foundation of Greater Memphis and New Memphis and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., The BOW Collective, NABJ, NATAS, and ACT | The App Association. Her work bridges media, entrepreneurship, and community impact.

Drew Jackson is a poet, speaker, public theologian, and Managing Director of Formation at the Center for Action and Contemplation. He is the author of God Speaks Through Wombs, a finalist for the Christian Book Award, and Touch the Earth, named one of Sojourners' Best Books of 2023. Drew also co-hosts CAC's Everything Belongs podcast. His work blends poetry, theology, and social reflection, inviting readers into embodied, justice-rooted spirituality. Living in Brooklyn with his wife and twin daughters, Drew finds joy in coaching his daughters' basketball team and cultivating faith through creativity, presence, and everyday life.

The Very Rev. Katherine (Katie) Carlsen Churchwell has served as dean of St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral in Oklahoma City since 2020 and is the first woman to hold the role. A graduate of Lewis & Clark College and Virginia Theological Seminary, her ministry spans multiple dioceses and emphasizes liturgical excellence, collaborative leadership, and institutional vision. As head of staff and vestry chair, she nurtures both spiritual depth and organizational health. Dean Churchwell is known for her commitment to inclusive ministry, trauma-informed pastoral care, digital evangelism, and leadership development. She lives in Oklahoma City with her husband, Logan, their three children, and a beloved Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

Friends, please hear the good news of the gospel. God does not require you to be brave in order to be saved, and God will not condemn you, even for being afraid. I only aspire to the bravery of Nicodemus because I recognize how my fear of being wrong, my fear of being thought a fool, my fear that no one would love me, not even God, if they really knew me … I need this rabbi's bravery because I know all too well how these familiar human fears send us back down the slide, into this world of condemnation and away from God's unconditional love. The one love that will never back away from you.

Dr. Yolanda Pierce serves as professor and dean of Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville, Tennessee. A distinguished scholar, her research focuses on Literature and Religion, Womanist Theology, and African American Religions. She is the author of several influential books, including In My Grandmother's House, Hell Without Fires, and The Wounds Are the Witness. Dr. Pierce's work weaves together history, theology, and lived experience, illuminating how Black faith traditions hold memory, confront injustice, and cultivate healing. As an educator and leader, she is deeply committed to forming thoughtful, justice-oriented leaders for the church, academy, and public life.

Rabbi Micah D. Greenstein—often called “everyone's rabbi”—is a central figure in Memphis's faith community and the national Reform Jewish movement. He has served Temple Israel, Memphis's historic 170-year-old congregation, for more than three decades and is its eighth senior rabbi. Greenstein's leadership is marked by intergenerational engagement, pastoral depth, and the enduring relevance of Reform Jewish values. Beyond congregational life, he is investing deeply in shaping the next generation of Reform rabbis and strengthening Jewish communal life in a post–October 7 world. His work reflects a lifelong commitment to faith, justice, and the shared religious fabric of Memphis.

Danté Stewart is a writer, speaker, and public theologian whose work explores race, religion, and politics in contemporary life. His writing has appeared in The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Sojourners, The Witness, Comment, and on CNN. Stewart is the author of the award-winning memoir Shoutin' in the Fire, which earned the Georgia Author of the Year Award. He holds a B.A. in Sociology from Clemson University and is currently studying at Candler School of Theology at Emory University. Through incisive analysis and personal narrative, Stewart invites readers and listeners into honest reckonings with faith, history, and the pursuit of justice.

Temptation is not about appetite. It is about autonomy. Secure yourself. Define yourself. Prove yourself. And Jesus refuses. “I live by what God speaks.” “I serve God alone.” He does not grab. He entrusts. I am convinced that sin, at its root, is trying to save yourself. And forgiveness is God refusing to abandon you when you cannot.

Forged from his Memphis gospel roots and shaped by Houston's vibrant jazz scene, Kirk Whalum is a singular voice in contemporary music. Discovered by jazz legend Bob James, Whalum went on to become an in-demand session musician for artists including Whitney Houston, Luther Vandross, Quincy Jones, and Barbra Streisand—most famously performing the iconic saxophone solo on I Will Always Love You. With more than 30 solo projects, including the chart-topping For You, and the Gospel According to Jazz series, Whalum is a twelve-time Grammy® nominee and 2011 Grammy® winner. He holds a Master's in Theology and hosts the daily podcast The Bible In Your Ear, blending music, faith, and service.

Every time something has tried to dim this city, the people of Memphis have risen. The culture of Memphis has risen. The stories of Memphis have risen. The faith of this city has risen. I think that God's vision for us, Memphis, is not just for us to survive, but is meant for Memphis to be a pasture. A city where creativity feeds people, where culture nourishes people, and where community restores people.

We all carry personal ashes- grief, addiction, regret, exhaustion. The forgiveness we withhold. The people we quietly despise. And we carry collective ashes -the injustices we lament and the systems we quietly benefit from and prefer not to see.

The same Jesus who was transfigured so magnificently that day taught us that the ones God calls beloved and even speaks through are not limited to a few famous prophets on a mountain a long time ago. Jesus says God's beloved ones are all around us, wherever we are, every day, if only we're given eyes to see our human sisters and brothers as the bearers of God image, God's image that they truly are.

We start by imagining ourselves as more than a bunch of broken-hearted, or just plain broken people. Can we imagine that we are salt? That we are capable of shining? And when we do that, can we imagine that we are salt for others or light for others?

When someone has nothing to prove to us and doesn't need our approval to validate them, our souls rest a little easier, and we really can see the world a little more clearly for what it is...Maybe that's meekness. People didn't find their burdens lightened in the presence of Jesus because he was insecure and told everybody only what they wanted to hear. The meekness of Jesus was, and this is Rowan Williams again, “a habit of calm attentiveness, stillness, freedom from the fretting worry of keeping control.”

"Dr. King said, “There is nothing more majestic than the determined courage of individuals willing to suffer and sacrifice for their freedom and dignity.” He lived out the absurd, but liberating conviction that the only place in a sacrificial system a follower of Jesus will faithfully occupy is as its victim, its lamb...The good news is that there really is abundant life and liberation in the way of Jesus."

As I get older, and lose more of the people I love, I hang much less hope on my rational comprehension of whatever awaits us on the far side of death. Scripture itself isn't very clear about the details and I haven't yet been visited by an angel with inside information. But my trust in the truth and the hope of the scriptures somehow has only deepened over the years. And I find myself, if not more certain about the details, so much more confident in the divine Love that awaits us. I do believe that somehow all the vulnerable infants, and all the anxious parents, the hopeful, foreign wise ones and even the violent tyrants, all exist only within the absurdly wide mercy of God. So do you. So do I. So do all of the living. So do all of the dead.

“Let it be unto me according to your will,” was not an act of blind obedience or resignation to a fate. It was an opening of a space in Mary to receive the gift of God. And in doing so, Mary wasn't setting herself apart from us. She was showing us the way. What do you need emptying of, dear virgin friends, so that God can prime you with glorious gifts, that your life might be given away with no expectation of return?

But if we wake up resolved to choose a relationship with God, we can be fairly certain that we'll be asked to do things that might make the neighbors talk, that might push us toward people we'd otherwise avoid, that we'll be asked to stand up for truths that aren't popular or even sensible. I hate to say it, but sometimes it might even look like our lives are on fire.

" Mutual grace seems to be part of Paul's plan to unite the early Christian Church, and every generation of believers has had to grapple with this question of what is foundational to our faith. This ongoing work requires both the intervention of the Holy Spirit and I think a measure of sacred imagination to envision what has not yet come to be. And in this season of Advent, we are invited to slow down to exhale in the midst of the busyness of the season as we prepare our hearts and our minds for the coming of God incarnate."

The only moment we really ever have to become the self that Jesus is calling and loving and inviting us to be is the moment we're in right now.

Your King is with you. Not far above, but right beside you. Not condemning, but companioning. Not turning away, but turning toward you.

We just keep showing up together in the present with the lives we actually have. And maybe find that the risen Christ does keep showing up among us, not in the ways we planned for. But with a new word, a new wisdom for a new day that we were never meant to anticipate.

Because this life is where we are now, and wouldn't it be extraordinary if we could flip the script around, so that instead of projecting qualities of this broken world onto the next, we could instead take the hints we get about the wholeness that awaits us and get about the business of living that way now and here?

Maybe All Saints' Day is the day we're reminded that the Church isn't the place where we get free of enemies Jesus asks us to love. It's where he traps us with some of the most obnoxious ones and says, “Here we are, folks. Shall we get on with it?”

If you've been told you're too much or not enough, if you've been carrying fear, shame, exhaustion, or rage, hear this good news. The Lord stands beside you.

And yet a door to another world still stands open to every moment. A door to a better way. Which is to see your life, not as an achievement of your savvy and your will, but as a gift. A gift from a loving God who doesn't trick us into faithfulness or force us into submission, because that's not love. A gift from the God who woos us with blessings that are given in spite of our selfish shrewdness, not as rewards. Blessings given simply because it is the nature of love to bless. A door stands open. But you won't be tricked or shoved through it. Because it's open to life in the realm of gift and love. It will still cost you everything you've tricked this world out of thus far. But could you send all of that to the far side of the river, and limp through the door into another way of being alive?

And so this little moment of counsel from twenty-five-some-odd centuries ago helps me learn how to do that. What to do when I find myself waking up in a strange place that I don't recognize and can only mutter: I don't understand this world, I don't want this, I don't know what to do with all this. “Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce… Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”

"What would it take for you to give up, at least a little, the credit-taking game and step a little more fully into a deeper faith in your belovedness by God?"

"What is real life? It's not one thing. It's not just suffering. It's not just joy. It's not just fulfillment. It's all of it, held together by love."

Especially when we can't find it, when we insist that it is still true, that there is a balm in Gilead, we are making a bold and audacious proclamation: Proclaiming that all the while there is still beauty and kindness, that repair is just as real as destruction.

Imagine her thankfulness when she sees that there's someone who loves her enough to sacrifice everything to go find her and bring her home.

One thing a little time away has made clear to this sinner is that I need you if the old patterns are to be broken in me. I need a community of people trying to listen to Jesus and to live by the light of his love.

What if we admitted we're all afraid? It takes real courage to do this. It's a radical move, which is why fear and not hate is the opposite of love.

“Get it straight, before the voice comes to your house and says, ‘you fool, tonight.'”

We pray in order to be, to be in the presence of God, being transformed into the likeness of Christ, and that the miracle we get from prayer is God's presence and God's hearing us, not a particular outcome. And though that understanding lives somewhere in my heart and in my soul and a big place in my mind, the truth is that prayer remains a mystery for me.

The kingdom of God is real. What if we choose this story? What if we tell this story to ourselves and to everyone we meet on the way, and to every house we enter, and at every meal we eat? What could it look like to live inside that story, to imagine a world where the harvest is plentiful, where we all get to be there, where the wolves and the lambs lie down together?

Real freedom will cost you your illusions. But it will give you your name, your story, your voice, your joy. Your freedom. And it will be loud, and bright, and contagious.

My prayer for us and for the church is that we will fight with all our might and with as little fear as possible any effort, message, or policy that attempts to restrict or confine the love of God. The hope of the world may depend upon it.

The challenge of believing in the Trinity is not figuring out the formula; the challenge of believing in the Trinity is living a life that reflects our beautiful understanding of God as more than we can grasp or imagine.

Pentecost doesn't reverse the effects of Babel so much as it breaks open our imagination. Opens us to the possibility of connection and reconciliation even in a world of difference and diversity.