Calvary Episcopal Church - Memphis, TN

The Rev. Sam Teitel is a Unitarian Universalist minister, poet, and lapsed punk rocker. He serves as the minister of The Church of the River in Memphis, Tennessee. His favorite parts of scripture are the parts that people usually try to ignore. He loves checking out new restaurants and record stores in Memphis with his wife, Sandra, their son, Gideon, and their Jack Russell Terrier, Tommy.

Dr. Jemar Tisby is a professor of history at Simmons College of Kentucky. He is also the author of the New York Times bestselling book The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the Church's Complicity in Racism and How to Fight Racism. Tisby has co-hosted the podcast "Pass the Mic” for all of its seven-year history, and his writing has been featured in multiple national news outlets. Dr. Tisby spea...

Kaitlin Curtice is an award-winning author, poet-storyteller, and public speaker. As an enrolled citizen of the Potawatomi nation who was raised in the Christian faith, Kaitlin investigates the intersections of spirituality and identity. She believes truthfully sharing the stories and contradictions of our histories and faith traditions can contribute to communal healing. As an inter-spiritual adv...

Ms. Kaitlin Curtice Writer, poet, and speaker; Philadelphia, PA Dr. Jemar Tisby Historian, author, and speaker; Mississippi Delta, AR

As we more and more see the world around us through the eyes of Jesus, we too are often moved to weep. Our tears are not only signs of our humanity, but are signs of our participation in Jesus’ divinity. The tears we shed join his tears in becoming the seeds of new life.

Dr. Nichols, a native of Memphis, TN, is the organizing pastor of Freedom’s Chapel Christian Church (DOC). Following the death of a childhood friend, Dr. Nichols created A More Excellent Way, Inc., an organization with a mission to help individuals from all walks of life to enter into, engage in, and maintain spiritually healthy relationships while eliminating relationship violence. She is a found...

Rabbi David Wolpe is the Max Webb Senior Rabbi of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles. Known for his honest engagement on the place of religion in public life, Rabbi Wolpe explores Torah in fresh and faithful ways. Author of eight books, including the national bestseller Making Loss Matter: Creating Meaning in Difficult Times, Wolpe has been named the most influential Rabbi in America by Newsweek and twic...

The Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor is a New York Times best-selling author, teacher, and Episcopal priest. After serving three congregations—two in downtown Atlanta and one in rural Clarkesville, Georgia—she became the first Butman Professor of Religion and Philosophy at Piedmont College, where she taught until 2017. Since then she has spoken at events with wonderful names like Wild Goose, Evolving Fai...

In addition to the noontime experience, Calvary offers Dialogue: The Lenten Preaching Series Podcast, recorded live at Calvary Episcopal Church, Memphis, each Wednesday evening. This week's show includes the Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor, Episcopal priest, academic, and author from Clarkesville, Georgia; Rabbi David Wolpe, Senior Rabbi at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, California; and the Rev. Paul McLa...

Pádraig Ó Tuama’s interests lie in language, violence and religion. Having grown up in a place that has a long history of all three (Ireland, yes, but also Europe) he finds that language might be the most redeeming of all three of these. In language there is the possibility of vulnerability, of surprise, of the creative movement towards something as yet unseen. He is inspired by any artist of word...

Pádraig Ó Tuama’s interests lie in language, violence and religion. Having grown up in a place that has a long history of all three (Ireland, yes, but also Europe) he finds that language might be the most redeeming of all three of these. In language there is the possibility of vulnerability, of surprise, of the creative movement towards something as yet unseen. He is inspired by any artist of word...

The Rev. Canon Borg was not raised in the church and lived outside the US (and a conventional Christian culture) until she was eight. At age 26 she had a compelling experience reading the Gospels. That interaction began an unsettling and transformational journey into Christianity and its traditions. At age 40 Borg was ordained in the Episcopal church, which has remained her spiritual home for 32 y...

Father Greg Boyle is the founder of Homeboy Industries, an intervention program that builds job, life, and relational skills with former gang members. Known for his bestselling book Tattoos on the Heart, Boyle tells stories of shared life that provoke laughter as often as tears. Homeboy Industries has spawned more than 250 partnerships with social enterprises around the globe. Father Boyle travels...

In addition to the noontime experience, Calvary offers Dialogue: The Lenten Preaching Series Podcast, recorded live at Calvary Episcopal Church, Memphis, each Wednesday evening. This week's show includes Father Greg Boyle, a Jesuit priest and founder of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, CA; Mr. Pádraig Ó Tuama, a poet, peacemaker, and storyteller from Ireland; and the Rev. Scott Walters, rector o...

Could we learn to look at the stranger, the sinner, the heretic, the outsider we’ve been conditioned to ignore or worse … could we learn to pay attention to the likes of these just as Jesus and this woman paid attention to each other in spite of everything? I think we can.

Dalia Mogahed is the Director of Research at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, where she leads the organization’s pioneering research and thought leadership programs on American Muslims. With John L. Esposito, she co-authored the book Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think. President Barack Obama appointed Mogahed to the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Bas...

A national leader in the Episcopal Church, the Rev. Winnie Varghese is known for her inspired writing, teaching, and preaching. Winnie has been a leading voice on issues including mass incarceration; systemic racism; gender, sexuality, and LGBTQ issues; and immigration, among others. She is the 23rd rector of St. Luke's, Atlanta. Prior to St. Luke’s, Winnie served at Trinity Church Wall Street, St...

Dr. Brian D. McLaren started his career as a college English teacher, then became a pastor, and then put the two together to become a spiritual writer. He loves the outdoors (fly fishing especially), music (jazz and folk especially), and reading (novels and poetry especially). He has four adult kids and five amazing grandchildren and will show you photos without your permission. His new book, Do I...

In addition to the noontime experience, Calvary offers Dialogue: The Lenten Preaching Series Podcast, recorded live at Calvary Episcopal Church, Memphis, each Wednesday evening. This week's guests include Dr. Brian McLaren, Christian author and activist, and faculty member at the Center for Action and Contemplation, from San Marcos, FL; the Rev. Winnie Varghese, rector at St. Luke’s Episcopal Chur...

Dr. Omid Safi is a teacher in the Islamic tradition of Radical Love with extensive written work on the foundational sources of Islam and Sufism. A leading Muslim public intellectual, Safi investigates the intersection of spirituality and social justice. He is also deeply committed to liberationist prophetic traditions manifested in the legacies of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rabbi Abraham Joshua H...

The senior rabbi at Temple Israel, Micah Greenstein loves Torah no matter where it comes from. "Torah" in a broad Jewish sense refers to the teachings and wisdom of Judaism, but he treasures insights on goodness, love, justice, shalom, and compassion from every faith tradition and every reflection of God's unity. What inspires Greenstein most about the Jewish legacy he lives and teaches is that it...

The Reverend Jen Bailey is an ordained minister, author, and a national leader in the multi-faith movement for justice. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Faith Matters Network. The Rev. Bailey believes love is *the* animating force that will make the difference between a future of uncertainty and division and one of deep belonging. She is ordained in the African Methodist Episcopal Chur...

In addition to the noontime experience, Calvary offers Dialogue: The Lenten Preaching Series Podcast, recorded live at Calvary Episcopal Church, Memphis, each Wednesday evening in Lent. This week's guests are the Rev. Jennifer Bailey, ordained A.M.E. minister and national leader in the multi-faith movement for justice, from Nashville, TN; Dr. Omid Safi, professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Studie...

The temptation is to believe that God is revealed only in the delight and not also in the grief or that God lives in the places of hope or music and not also in the places of anxiety and hurt. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Do not be afraid.

The Rev. Becca Stevens is a speaker, social entrepreneur, author, priest, founder of ten non-profit justice enterprises, and President of Thistle Farms. She has been featured on multiple news outlets and named a White House Champion of Change. Stevens has raised over $65M in funding for justice initiatives. She leads important conversations across the country where she underscores her central mess...