Calvary Episcopal Church - Memphis, TN

Freedom begins the moment we stop pretending we are in control.

God is love. And the only sacrifices Love calls us to make are the sacred efforts love will freely, gladly, unhesitatingly make for its beloved.

"Entering this world and bringing the good news of a life-giving, liberating, restoring God is risky."

The stranger at the door of your tent may be the living God, looking for an entrance into your life.

“Deep healing always comes in that gentle, merciful space where genuine encounter is made possible. Our deepest wounds just can’t be healed by force or from afar.”

Before there is healing, there is courage. Before there is a miracle, there is hope. After twelve years of rejection, she still reaches — and maybe that's the first miracle: the courage to believe that God has not abandoned her.

What if understanding the Trinity doesn’t mean anything more than understanding that we need each other, that we actually must be in relationship?

God is the one in whom we live and move and have our being. All of us. Each precious created thing that ever was. Every creature. Every stone. Every atom. These are real because they are given. And they are given, because that’s who God is. God gives. God gives life. Always.

You will not lose your way because I am the way. You do not have to go searching for truth because I am the truth. You do not have to fear that life will slip away from you. Because I am the life.

"Our duty as God's sheep is not to sit idly while God's protection and love wash over us, or to expect to be carried, but rather to continue walking even if we are in the valley of the shadow of death. It's to continue listening for the voice of God, even as we witness thieves breaking in and as the voices of strangers grow discordant and loud and drown everything else out."

How much smaller and how much sadder a gospel it would be to think God loves us because we are right, rather than because God's very nature is to love. How much paltrier would the good news be if it were that some of us are forgiven because we happen to be right, rather than because it is God's nature to forgive us all.

And into our demented lives, Jesus comes uninvited, saying something like, “I see you, and you can live in this shattered world in a different way. You can take the fragments and scars and make something whole again, even beautiful.” Peace be with you.

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 j...

"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 a...

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...

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 teac...

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 Un...

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 boa...

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, inviti...