Who is Marcus Borg?

by the Rev. Mimsy Jones

 

‘Who is Marcus Borg?’ I asked my Calvary colleague, the Rev. Gay Rahn, as we looked over the list of Lenten Preaching Series (LPS) preachers for 1999.  “He’s a leading theologian in historical Jesus scholarship,” she said. “It’s a real coup that he’s coming to Calvary; don’t miss him.”

 

Given Gay’s strong recommendation, I persuaded my husband Frank to join me for Marcus’s first LPS sermon in March,1990, and for the next twenty-five years, we were in Calvary every time he preached or taught, until his untimely death in 2015. Many of you were there for all those sermons, too.  I think it’s fair to say he opened our hearts and minds in ways we have never forgotten.

 

The 2025 LPS list of preachers (click here to read the list) includes beloved ‘old-timers’ like Memphis’s Rabbi Micah Greenstein, poet and peacemaker  Padraig O’Tuama, the one and only the Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor, and respected historian and author Dr. Jemar Tisby. No doubt there will be a full house for them, as well as for the Rt. Rev. Dorothy Wells Sanders, the 11th Bishop of Mississippi and a longtime friend of Calvary.

 

But there are also several ‘first-timers,’ and I wanted to know more about them, so I started asking questions:

 

Who is the Rev. Dr. Paul Fromberg?  As the lead-off preacher, it may be helpful to know that he is a powerful presence behind the pulpit! After hearing him preach one sermon on YouTube, I ended up listening to two more. He is the rector of St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco.

 

Who is The Rev. Wil Gafney? I will be as close to the front row as I can get when she preaches! The Rev. Wilda Gafney, PhD, is a Biblical scholar, an Episcopal priest, and one of the most intriguing, engaging story-tellers of Scripture I have ever heard.

 

Who is Jeff Chu? In his own words: “I wear several hats: writer, reporter, pretend farmer, preacher, teacher.” What he doesn’t say is that he was Barbara Brown Taylor’s first choice to be a Dialogue partner with her on Wednesday, April 2 at 6:15 pm.  Enough said?

 

Who is Jericho Brown? An associate professor and director of the Creative Writing Program at Emory University,  he won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 2020 with his poetry collection, The Tradition. His poems have appeared in The New Yorker, and The Paris Review. WOW.

 

Who is Mihee Kim-Kort? Presbyterian minister, agitator, speaker and  writer, she is known as a ‘slinger of hopeful stories about faith and church.’  I love that; can’t wait to hear her sling some of those hopeful stories our way.

 

LOCAL, LOCAL, LOCAL!

Seven of this year’s seventeen preachers (eight, if we include Micah Greenstein) are Memphians who teach, preach, direct, activate, empower, and inspire our community: Renowned playwright Ekundayo Bandele, founder of Hattiloo Theatre;  Cumberland Presbyterian minister and dynamic preacher the Rev. Dr. Peggy Jean Craig (when she preached LPS preacher last year, it was hard to find a seat); Arabic, Islamic Studies and Biology professor Brother Nabil Bayakly, who is also passionate environmentalist.

 

Also, Kat Gordon, the irrepressibly creative, very Proud Memphian and founder of Muddy’s Bake Shop; the Rev. Dr. Lillian Lammers, pastor, chaplain, educator, mom, who currently leads First Presbyterian Church in Downtown Memphis; the Rev. Earle J. Fisher, Ph.D, senior pastor of Abyssian Baptist Church in Memphis and founder of #UPTheVote901; Dr. Christopher B. Davis, president of LeMoyne-Owen College, and pastor of St. Paul Baptist Church, Holmes Road.

 

Here’s a Lenten Challenge: Pick one preacher on the list you have never heard of (until you read this), and come to Calvary the day that person preaches. I cannot guarantee it, but that preacher might turn out to be another Marcus Borg for you.