AIDS Healing Service Listen to the 2009 service
An annual tradition at Calvary Church, established in 1989, the “Ecumenical Service of Prayer and Healing in a Time of HIV/AIDS,” otherwise known as the AIDS Healing Service, brings together clergy and parishioners from numerous denominations across the city, non-profit organizations, families, friends, doctors, nurses, social workers, caregivers, and concerned citizens that support HIV/AIDS patients. The purpose is to lift up the continuing reality of HIV/AIDS to the city, affirm the ministry of caregivers in Memphis, and offer special music, compassionate preaching, nourishing prayer for healing, and hospitality to all who attend.
During October, a beautiful fabric sculpture made of white muslin hangs from Calvary's beams and honors those who are living with HIV. The sculpture was created in 1989 and is the work of Memphis artist and Calvary parishioner David Johnson, who was inspired by the message of the first HIV/AIDS Healing Service, which embraced those living with AIDS and continues to do. It also reminds us of the work of those in the medical community who care for those who are infected, and of the importance of continuing the research dedicated to overcoming the disease once and for all. The fabric sculpture you see today is actually the third version of David’s original creation.
A highlight of the season of Advent is the Children’s Pageant. Children involved in Godly Play dress in hand-made costumes as Shepherds, Angels, Stars, and Sheep to help to tell the story of our journey towards Christmas.
A highlight of the Advent Season is the Festival Service of Lessons and Carols, an enriching service that combines the Word of God with musical commentary. The Word helps us to understand why God sent His only Son. The Advent carols, hymns, and anthems prepare us for the coming of the Christmas season.
For over 80 years, Calvary has hosted a noonday Lenten Preaching Series that features the very best in local, national, and international preaching voices in the pulpit of Calvary Church. The six-week series, weekdays during Lent, draws hundreds of parishioners and others from the downtown and larger Memphis community to Calvary for half an hour of hymns, prayers, and homilies. The series offers all of God’s people an opportunity to pause in the midst of busy, daily lives to meditate together on God’s Holy Word.
A Calvary tradition for over 25 years, the annual procession to City Hall Plaza for Prayers for the City is a highlight of Palm Sunday. Following the brief service of the Blessing of the Palms on the front steps of the church, the parish re-enacts Christ’s entry into and blessing of the city of Jerusalem by marching to the front doors of City Hall with palms waving. Recently, we have been joined by other downtown churches in our march and prayers, including the parishes of St. Peter Catholic, First Methodist, and First Presbyterian.
Since 2002, Calvary has held an annual Holocaust Commemoration Service as part of the national Days of Remembrance. The interfaith community gathers together for prayer and reflection near the day of Yom HaShoah (Day of Destruction), which commemorates the deaths of six million Jews and five million others. The tower bell of Calvary tolls eleven times at the beginning of the service, one time for each million that died in the Holocaust.
All Saint’s Sunday, the Sunday closest to All Saints Day, is the day we remember the saints departed and celebrate our lives as living members of Christ’s body. Intercessions for those parishioners who have died in the previous year remind us that we too will die. Beautiful flowers, gorgeous music, and a Children’s Parade of Saints, combine to enable all of us to celebrate the saint living within each of us.