The Christian season of Lent is a time of prayer, personal reflection, penance — and preaching series.
Here are the schedules for several Lenten Preaching Series and events around the city. Let us know about others and we’ll add them. Email us at faithinmemphis@commercialappeal.com
CALVARY EPISCOPAL CHURCH 2012 LENTEN SPEAKER SERIES
For almost ninety consecutive years during the season of Lent, Calvary Episcopal Church has hosted a noonday preaching series featuring inspiring and diverse speakers. Through the Series, which is free and open to the public, Calvary provides numerous opportunities for spiritual renewal and growth, and a deeper relationship with God.
The Series features dynamic local and national speakers from various denominations and faiths and takes place Mondays through Fridays from 12:05 to 12:40 p.m., beginning the Thursday after Ash Wednesday, and continuing through the Friday before Palm Sunday.
THE REV. JOHN PITZER, O.P.
Promoter of Vocations and Development for Dominican Friars Province of St. Martin de Porres
New Orleans, LA
“Love Wins—ALWAYS!” The Rev. Pitzer believes that is the essence of Christianity. Formerly at St. Peter Roman Catholic Church in downtown Memphis and director of its St. Martin de Porres Shrine and Institute, Fr. Pitzer is now based in New Orleans. He helps “people discern their call to religious life” and oversees development for the eleven-state southern Dominican province. He staunchly believes “there is inclusivity on every page of the Gospel, and we have a tendency to forget that” and continues to espouse St. Martin’s message of social justice by recognizing “the goodness and dignity of all human persons” and realizing “that whatever our race, religion, gender or sexual orientation, we are all children of God”—called to “love God, love your neighbor and love yourself.”
PHYLLIS TICKLE
Author
Millington, TN
Phyllis Tickle: Writer, editor, teacher, publisher, lecturer, wife, mother of seven, and authority on religion in America who lives north of Memphis on a small farm in Lucy, TN. With an unbridled sense of humor, Mrs. Tickle defines herself as “an evangelical Episcopalian.” She believes that “those who would guide and pastor” today must have “a growing understanding of a created order that is not reductionist, does not understand itself to be composed only of matter or mass and energy, is unsure of what precisely ‘life’ is and is not,” and “understands time as a dimension that can be manipulated.” This “radically new context for embracing and embodying the Christian mysteries” is necessary “if they are to speak for us now the theology of our children’s times.”
THE RT. REV. MICHAEL B. CURRY
Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina
Raleigh, NC
It is said there are a few preachers in the Episcopal Church who are extraordinarily gifted, and Bishop Curry is one of them. At a clergy conference he told the priests and deacons of the Diocese of North Carolina to carry the Gospel book in worship as if there just might be something really important in it. He preaches the Gospel like his life depends on it, blending humor, storytelling, and sound theology with the power of the Holy Spirit. Last year, his initiative for North Carolina was “Come, Let Us Go to Galilee.” According to Matthew, after the Resurrection, Jesus went to Galilee, a land filled with diverse people from all around the known world. “We need to go beyond our various ideologies and go where God dreams for us to be.”
THE REV. DR. MARY LIN HUDSON
Professor of Homiletics & Liturgics at Memphis Theological Seminary
Memphis, TN
“Preaching has to be more relevant to the contemporary world in which we live.” Not an unexpected reaction from a professor of Homiletics and Liturgics at Memphis Theological Seminary, but why? Dr. Hudson believes that “preaching has not done enough of the tough work of analyzing the contemporary culture, studying the critical issues that perpetuate a climate of violence and harm, and finding the language to interpret the meaning of faith to a pluralistic and religiously skeptical society.” As a result, “people of faith” find it “easier to work on personal piety or social causes than it is to trust the power of resurrection to transform the way we live together in community.”
DR. MARCUS J. BORG
Author and Canon Theologian, Trinity Episcopal Cathedral
Portland, OR
“Adult theological re-education at the congregational level is an urgent need within American churches today,” states Dr. Borg. After his long career as a writer and academician, he is now actively and intimately involved as the first Canon Theologian at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Portland, Oregon, where his wife Marianne is a priest on staff. He presents public lectures, teaches adult courses, preaches on an occasional basis, and consults with the cathedral staff about parish education programs. Borg says. “It is essential to Christian formation. And from my own experience and from a number of studies, I know that it has been a source of re-vitalization in hundreds of congregations around the country,” plus as a teacher andscholar, “it fits my vocation perfectly.”
THE VERY REV. TRACEY LIND
Dean of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral
Cleveland, OH
“A long time ago,” Dean Lind states, “I picked up a camera and went looking for God.” What has she found so far? “When I examine life through the eye of a camera, I am forced to step back, slow down, focus, and become deeply attentive to the situation.” Thus, “photography has taught me” to “open myself up to the Spirit so that I may experience God in unexpected people and places.” And as someone schooled in city planning, she believes that “an urban parish is an ideal context for trying and testing new ways of equipping the saints and building disciples for ministry in the world,” where “we call God by many names and come to God by many paths.”
THE REV. JOHN LEACH
Rector of Holy Apostles Episcopal Church
Collierville, TN
The Rev. John P. Leach, Rector of Holy Apostles Episcopal Church, Collierville, TN, considers his wife the most important spiritual mentor in his life today. She “exercises compassion and love much more readily and quickly than anyone I know.” In terms of the challenges facing people of faith today, the Rev. Leach feels that “people seeking meaning in their lives are more interested in the mystery of God than they are with pre-packaged religion. People whom I encounter want to know if God cares for and loves them when they do not have all the answers, when things are not going well, and when the obvious paradoxes and ironies of life contradict what religion has narrowly defined for them as absolutely true.”
ANDREW ZIRSCHKY
Youth Ministry Architects
Nashville, TN
In today’s digital culture, how do we communicate the Gospel to our youth as social media rapidly changes the ways in which they connect? A doctoral fellow in practical theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, Andrew Zirschky is a dynamic speaker and preacher who can powerfully articulate the shape of youth and children’s ministry in the 21st century. Ordained in the Church of the Nazarene, Andrew has been a youth minister for over a decade, is Academic Director of the Center for Youth Ministry Training at Memphis Theological Seminary and worked closely with renowned author Kenda Creasy Dean on her book Almost Christian, about why American teenagers are at once so positive about Christianity and at the same time so apathetic about genuine religious practice.
THE REV. DR. FRANK THOMAS
Pastor, Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church
Memphis, TN
Dr. Frank A. Thomas, Senior Pastor of Memphis’s Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church, believes that the greatest challenge facing people of faith today is “overcoming the consumerism that reduces the American Dream to economic benefit only” and instead realizing that “the essence of being a Christian is compassionate service to people whatever their circumstance or situation in life.” He also feels that “one of the biggest mistakes preachers make is too much bad news” and that they “must discipline themselves to offer authentic hope and more good news than bad to the hearers.” The most exciting book he recommends “to every person that will listen to me” is “Joan Chittister’s Scarred by Struggle: Transformed by Hope. She is honest about the struggles that all of us go through” but offers “real hope.”
THE REV. BECCA STEVENS
Founder of Thistle Farms
Nashville, TN
The Rev. Becca Stevens, Episcopal priest and chaplain at Vanderbilt University’s St. Augustine’s Chapel, responded, “I have been reading biographies,” when asked about her reading. “I love the idea that life offered up on the pages of a book reflects all the teachers and influences that helped that person create their unique life.” The Rev. Stevens is also founder of Magdalene House and Thistle Farms, a Nashville-area community and social enterprise that stands with women recovering from violence, prostitution, addiction and life on the streets. “Based on the ethic of love grounded in the Scriptures,” she hopes that while in Memphis, “I can continue encouraging the community to respond with lavish love to the women coming off the streets and out of jail.”
DR. A. J. LEVINE
University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies
Nashville, TN
An Orthodox Jew and professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies at Vanderbilt University, Dr. Levine finds “a fear of scholarship” in many people of faith today. For her, a “faith marked by fear and narrowness” instead of “openness to the complexity, mystery and majesty of the divine,” and “a faith that looks only to the Bible and not also to personal experience, to the teachings of various religious communities, and even to science, is a faith that has turned the Bible into an idol.” She grew up in “a predominantly Portuguese Roman Catholic” neighborhood, and her parents explained ways in which “Christianity was very much like Judaism.” Also, as she notes, “the New Testament is a very good source for reconstructing the history of the Jewish people in the first century,” so “the more I study the documents of early Christianity, the better Jew I become,” and better I’m able to “promote informed, respectful Jewish-Christian relations.”
THE REV. SONIA WALKER
Associate Pastor, First Congregational Church
Memphis, TN
An ordained minister in the Disciples of Christ, she also holds standing in the United Church of Christ and joined the staff of Memphis’ First Congregational Church after graduation in her “vintage years” from Memphis Theological Seminary. “I felt satisfied, but not complete” is her explanation for pursuing a seminary degree after careers in education, social work and communications as well as extensive volunteer and staff experience with nonprofit organizations. She feels “our challenge is to be on God’s side,” and follow as guideposts her interpretations of the first and second commandments: “love God with everything God gave me, mind, body, treasure, heart and soul; and love my neighbors [God’s bratty children, my brothers and sisters] as myself.”
RABBI MICAH GREENSTEIN
Senior Rabbi, Temple Israel
Memphis, TN
“One God means one humanity” is how Senior Rabbi Greenstein of Memphis’ Reform Temple Israel defines one portion of what he terms his two-fold “life sermon.” The “second thread is my Jewish leap of faith that what God cares about most is not that we believe what is right but that we DO what is right.” Therefore, “the greatest challenge facing people of faith today is humility,” of “being aware of realities greater than one’s self, including other paths to God.” Rabbi Greenstein stresses that “we must move the emphasis from claiming that God is on our side to worrying more about being on God’s side of compassion, grace, justice, acceptance, and love,” and utilizing “this lifetime as one big opportunity for holiness.”
PROFESSOR YASIR QADHI
Resident Scholar, Memphis Islamic Center and Lecturer, Rhodes College
Memphis, TN
Yasir Qadhi was an engineer before deciding to pursue studies in theology. He is now completing a doctorate in theology at Yale University. “Never before has religion been so marginalized as it is in our times,” he states, pointing out that “it is becoming increasingly difficult to be a person of faith in such a secular and, at times, anti-religious world.” He believes the essence of Islam is “a sincere, pure and humble devotion to the Creator of all,” which it shares with Christianity in the “commandments to love God with all one’s soul, and to love others as one loves oneself.” He also finds “the Muslim practice of fasting in Ramadan similar in spirit to Lent” – the purpose “in both faiths to increase one’s humility before God and one’s generosity to others.”
DANISH SIDDIQUI
Memphis Islamic Center
Memphis, TN
Danish Siddiqui is life-long Memphian and a product of the Shelby County school system. As a former Memphis Tiger, it’s only fitting that he’s also a big basketball fan. Besides being a fan of the Tigers and Grizzlies, Danish is a boardmember of the Memphis Islamic Center, a blogger for FaithinMemphis.com and tries to be a productive citizen. Recently he, along with a dynamic group of young professionals across the state, established a new non-partisan advocacy organization called the American Center for Outreach to empower Tennesseans to become informed and engaged on local issues that impact their everyday life and to keep Tennessee an inclusive and welcoming state for everyone.
THE REV. DANIEL P. MATTHEWS
Rector Emeritus of Trinity Wall Street
New York, NY
Dan Matthews is one of the Lenten Series’ perennial favorites. His feisty and inspirational stories give great insight into the role of a Christian and leave listeners on the edge of their seats. Since 1972, Matthews’ work has been concentrated in larger, inner city parishes, but he also has been influential in bringing together faith groups and clergy through the Hallmark Television Channel,the Clergy Leadership Project, and the publication of Spirituality and Health. For years the rector of Trinity Wall Street in New York City, Matthews played a major role in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, as an apostle for hope and healing in lower Manhattan as the district sought to rebuild itself.
FR. NICHOLAS L. VIERON
Pastor Emeritus, Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church
Memphis, TN
Fr. Vieron recalls, “I enjoyed my first sacred service in the Bluff City in your church.” Upon arrival in Memphis, “I attended a wedding at your elegant Calvary sanctuary on Saturday, March 26, 1955—exactly 57 years ago!” About his role in the 1968 Sanitation Workers’ Strike, Fr. Vieron noted that recently a middle-aged, black man told him, “‘My dad was a garbage man. I remember him telling me how you and Rabbi Wax helped them during the strike.’ When I heard those words, tears filled my eyes.” Fr. Vieron continues “to enjoy my Adult Greek Class, now in its 40th year,” with a wide variety of students, who are every one “embraced in the reality that we are all children of one God.”
THE REV. BILLY VAUGHAN
Teacher, Memphis School of Servant Leadership
Memphis, TN
Mr. Vaughn often refers to Will Campbell’s eight-word definition of faith: “We’re all bastards but God loves us anyway.” Contemplating recent reading he’s found compelling, he selected “RaisingAbel: The Recovery of Eschatological Imagination by James Allison,which reminds me that God is about breaking down our dividing walls—that our faith is not about love for the righteous and judgment for the unrighteous, but about a Divine love that breaks through such categories and calls us into vibrant and radically merciful community.” Vaughn feels strongly that “the character of any leadership role we play needs to be grounded in our identity as servants.”
THE REV. ROSALYN NICHOLS
Pastor, Freedom’s Chapel Christian Church
Memphis, TN
“At the end of the day,” Dr. Roz Nichols, Pastor of Freedom’s Chapel Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), states, “it is my belief that people of faith today face the same challenge the people at Corinth faced in Paul’s day”—which is “how to remain faithful to expressing our faith in ways that show our care and concern for all of God’s creation, including the earth, sky and seas, the beasts, fowl, fish and creepy crawlers, and the human beings to whom we are all ultimately connected and related.” And additionally, “how does my faith free me up to help free others,” so that together we can achieve “healthy, loving, relationships?”
THE REV. LINDA MCFADDEN
Interim Pastor, Bethesda UCC
Bethesda, MD
The Rev. Linda McFadden says, “I was tremendously excited about the book I recently read, Mystical Christianity: A Psychological Commentary on the Gospel of John by Jungian Analyst John A. Sanford. Sanford uses…Greek linguistics, biblical commentaries spanning the early church Fathers to the work of 20th century scholars, and the insights of contemporary psychology to lay bare the multiple layers of meaning in this gospel,” and explores how “John’s deep spiritual insights into the life and ministry of Jesus coincide with contemporary understandings of Jungian psychology.” Today, “nothing is valued unless it can be measured and contributes to the bottom line. This has led us to mistrust the subtle wisdom of dreams and prayer and intuition and blinded us to the subtle, the luminous,the ineffable.”
FRIENDS OF THE GROOM
Theater Company
Terrace Park, OH
“We’re a Christian theater group that tries to bring the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ alive through drama and comedy,” states Tom Long, the group’s director. He explains, “The best theater always shows more than it tells. I hope our work gives people a fresh vision of traditional Christian concepts and the person of Christ.” For him and the other performers, one of their great rewards “are those rare moments on stage when you feel as though the words are coming from somewhere else—as though you were not ‘performing’ so much as being a channel for God’s Spirit speaking through you. In that moment, your own emotion and the emotion of the character become almost indistinguishable.”
Friends of the Groom Drama Workshop
A drama workshop, co-sponsored by Calvary Episcopal Church and St. George’s Episcopal Church, will be held on Saturday, March 31, at St. George’s, 2425 S. Germantown Rd. Stay tuned for more details!
BALMORAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 2012 LENTEN SPEAKER SERIES
Balmoral Presbyterian Church’s 2012 Lenten Speakers Series, TRANSFORMATION: the journey toward change in a soul…in a city…in a society, will focus on transformation, with five men and women telling the stories of how they came to do transformative work in Memphis.
“Featuring five people who have taken on developmental challenges in our city, Balmoral Presbyterian Church offers an inspiring Lenten journey that will introduce us to ways we all can engage in transformative practice in our souls, in our city and in our society,” said Balmoral pastor Rev. Carla Meisterman.
The Wednesday night events will be in the sanctuary of the church at 6413 Quince Road in Southeast Memphis. Admission is free. All starting times will be 6:30. A 15-minute question-and-answer session will follow the talks.
JOHN McQUISTON II
Attorney and author of “Always We Begin Again – The Benedictine Way of Living.”
John McQuiston is the author of four books on religion and spirituality, with a fifth to be published this fall. His talk will be based on his book “Always We Begin Again – The Benedictine Way of Living.” It is a concise and modern paraphrase of the 6th Century Rule of St. Benedict and has helped readers lead more balanced lives focused on God. He is a graduate of Rhodes College and Vanderbilt Law School, and he practices business law with Evans Petree in Memphis. He has two married daughters and three grandchildren, all living in Memphis. One of his daughters, Katherine Bush, is an Episcopal priest presently serving as the chaplin of St. Mary’s Episcopal School.
AMY MORITZ
Director, Center for Transforming Communities
Amy Moritz is director of the Center for Transforming Communities, a faith-based organization that has worked for social justice for more than 20 years. Based in Binghamton, it helps churches be full partners with their neighbors and neighborhoods, encouraging community initiatives throughout Memphis. A native Memphian, she spent the first part of her adult life working for a Fortune 100 corporation and living in the Northeast. While on leave from the business world to care for her two children, she was awakened to her desire to serve and enrolled at the Memphis Theological Seminary. She graduated in 2006.
KATIE KITCHIN
Executive director, Community Alliance for the Homeless
Katie Kitchin is executive director of the non-profit Community Alliance for the Homeless. She joined that group after working as a consultant to the city of Memphis’s effort to fight homelessness. Before coming to Memphis in 2008, she did similar work for the city of Norfolk, Va., where she developed a long-term plan that reduced homelessness by 25 percent in three years. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and a master’s degree from the University of Southern California.
BILL PIACESI
Professional photographer and founder of Focus for the Good
Bill Piacesi is the founder of Focus for the Good, a project devoted to using fine-art portrait skills of photographers – professional and student – to raise awareness of our community’s poor and to raise money to help them. He teaches underprivileged children to find their voice through photography, and he offers his affordable services to nonprofit organizations. He has been a commercial photographer for 25 years and has been honored by professional association in Virginia, the Southeast and nationally. Some of his portraits will hang in the Balmoral sanctuary during Lent.
MARLON T. FOSTER
Founder and executive director of Knowledge Quest and pastor of Christ Quest Community Church
Marlon T. Foster is founder and executive director of Knowledge Quest, known for its after-school programs in South Memphis that help young people in K-12 to continue their academic and character development. He founded Knowledge Quest three years after earning his bachelor’s degree from LeMoyne-Owen College. He also works with entry level students at the Memphis Theological Seminary, where he earned a master’s degree. He is pastor of Christ Quest Community Church, which is founded in 2005.
LENTEN PROGRAMS AT ST. GEORGE’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH
2425 South Germantown Rd. in Germantown
Mardi Gras dinner at 6 p.m. followed by a children’s program of the “Burying of the Alleluias” in which the children bury words and songs containing the word “alleluia” symbolizing entering the penitential season of Lent until the joyful resurrection of the alleluias on Easter morn.
The Ash Wednesday liturgy with the imposition of ashes will be held at 7 a.m., 12 noon and 7:30 p.m. Special children’s liturgies are planned for Ash Wednesday and Good Friday beginning at 5 p.m.
Daily services of Evening Prayer will be held Monday through Friday at 5 p.m. beginning on Thursday, Feb. 23
Stations of the Cross will be conducted every Friday in Lent at noon.
“Christ on Trial: How the Gospel Unsettles Our Judgement,” one of two adult education classes beginning in Lent for lay people based on the book by Archbishop Rowan Williams, will be offered on Sunday mornings at 11:15 am, from Feb. 26 through April 1.
“Unopened Letters from God,” is an 8-week class on Wednesdays from 7 to 8 p.m. beginning Feb. 29. Additional information about the Lenten Programs at St. Georges or the classes can be found on the church website at www.stgchurch.org.
TRINITY CME CHURCH WEDNESDAY NIGHT LENTEN SERVICES
1096 Thomas
Trinity CME Church announces its weekly Wednesday night Lenten Services. Guest ministers and their congregations will participate in each service beginning at 7 p.m.
Located at 1096 Thomas, on Uptown’s northern boundary, Trinity CME Church has a 110 year history of service to the North Memphis Community. “Equipping Saints for Kingdom Living through Discipleship, Stewardship and Evangelism” is its mission. The pastor, Rev. Roland M. Johnson, Jr. and the members invite you to join in this worship celebration.
CHURCH OF THE ANNUNCIATION LENTEN SERIES
8282 Macon Road in Cordova
Reverend Noble R. Walker (Padre) will be hosting a Lenten Series of discussions entitled “The Faces of Jesus.” Join him each Wednesday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. beginning Feb. 29 and lasting through March 28 at the Church of the Annunciation, Cordova, for this informative and enlightening series. Soup, salad and bread will be provided. All are welcome. Messages can be left at the church office at (901) 753-0142, or visit www.EpiscopalCordova.org for directions and a map.
