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What to Expect

Home Worship What to Expect

What to Expect

The congregation of Calvary warmly welcomes you. We look forward to greeting you personally and hope that this brief introduction will help you feel at ease when you visit.

If this is your first time visiting Calvary Church, or for that matter, any Episcopal Church, you may want to check out the Episcopal Church’s Seekers Center to learn more about worship in the Episcopal Church.

Sunday mornings at Calvary include:

8:00 a.m.
Traditional Eucharist
This service features more traditional “Elizabethan” language in a contemplative and intimate setting that features a cantor and traditional hymns. This service ends before 8:45 a.m. and many of the early morning worshipers gather for the parish breakfast which follows in the Mural Room.
9:15 a.m.
Formation classes for adults, youth, and children
Faith formation classes are offered for adults, children, and youth on Sunday mornings following the 10 a.m. worship service. The Adult Christian Formation Committee (ACF), a lay-led group that seeks to nurture the faith and spiritual growth of the Calvary community through inspirational and challenging formation offerings for adults, plans classes for adults for both Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings at Calvary. Classes are led by clergy, lay volunteers, and guest speakers from local colleges, seminaries, churches, synagogues, and non-profit organizations. Sunday morning classes for children use Godly Play as its foundation, while youth focus on learning to interact as a community of faith and learning how faith shapes their daily lives.
10:30 a.m.
Eucharist with Children’s Chapel
The 10:30 a.m. Eucharist with Children’s Chapel attracts a widely varied congregation of all ages including a strong contingent of young families. Music is led by the semi-professional Calvary Choir with participation from our Boys and Girls Choir, St. Cecilia Choir (second grade and younger), and the Calvary Ringers handbell choir.

5:00 p.m.
Contemplative Eucharist

Each Sunday evening at 5 p.m., all are invited to participate in a quieter, centering time of worship in the Orgill Room. This gathering offers a guided conversation in place of a sermon, new words for old prayers, and opportunities for silence and reflection. This service will not take place on Sundays when Evensong is offered.
5:00 p.m.
Evensong
Every first Sunday of the month, September through May

Join us for a traditional Anglican choral liturgy in Calvary’s beautiful nave at twilight. Following the Book of Common Prayer service outline, Evensong gives weekend travelers an opportunity to worship or having been to a morning service, it offers a time of prayer and quiet reflection as evening falls.

We offer this brief description of what you may expect on your first visit to Calvary.

Getting to Calvary

Calvary Episcopal Church is located at 102 North Second Street, at the corner of Second Street and Adams Avenue in downtown Memphis.

  • Traveling west on I-40, take the Second Street exit. Head south on Second Street for six blocks to Adams Avenue. Turn left (east) on Adams for parking directly behind the church.
  • Traveling north on I-55, continue north onto Riverside Drive along the Mississippi River. At Adams Avenue turn right (east). Calvary is at the corner of Second Street and Adams Avenue.

Second Street is a one-way street south.  B.B. King Ave. is a one-way street north.  You may travel both east and west on Adams and Jefferson Streets.

 

 

Free Parking on Sundays and for Calvary Events

On Sunday mornings, free parking is available in the Best Park lot directly behind the church adjacent to the church’s east entrance. The parking lot is accessible from both Jefferson Avenue and Adams Avenue, between Second Street and B.B. King Avenue. The city’s streets also are free on Sunday mornings.

If you are attending a service or meeting at Calvary, Monday through Friday, see the Information Desk Officer inside the door under the red awning after parking in the Best Park lot directly behind the church.

During the Lenten Preaching Series and Waffle Shop, the Best Park lot behind Calvary’s buildings is reserved for those attending the events but is not free due to the church’s incurred cost of reserving parking spaces. During the Series and Waffle Shop, the city does allow parking on the east side of Second Street between Washington and Jefferson Streets between 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.

 

Additional Parking Information
View additional parking information and costs.

 

Entering Calvary’s Buildings

If you park in the east parking lot, you will enter the church through doors located under a red awning and follow signs to the sanctuary on the second floor, where our services are held. This is also the handicapped-accessible entrance.

If you park across Second Street in the Best Park lot, you will enter the church through the red doors at the back of the sanctuary.

Worship

The seating at Calvary is not reserved and there is always room for visitors. An usher will give you a printed order of service where you will find the scripture readings of the day, along with additional service music and psalms.

Worship services at Calvary

Children are welcome at all Calvary worship services.

Listen to recent sermons at Calvary.

Dress

You will notice that the clergy and lay people serving at the altar wear special garments to signify their different ministries. The congregation’s dress is quite diverse with people dressed in everything from blue jeans to business suits.

Names and Nametags

When you visit Calvary Episcopal Church, you will be our respected and welcomed guest. You will neither be singled out in an embarrassing way, asked to stand before the congregation, nor to come forward. We do ask that, along with all the other worshippers, you wear a nametag so that everyone may learn one another’s names. Nametags can be found on most flat surfaces around Calvary. We are a pretty informal place and address our clergy by their first names.

Getting to Know Calvary Video Playlist

Calvary has several videos on our YouTube channel that offer a glimpse into life at Calvary.