Everyday Liturgist with Marcus Halley

Cameron Nations on Discernment, Vocation, and Becoming HumanIn this episode of Everyday Liturgist, Marcus Halley interview Cameron Nation, Canon for Vocations and Community Engagement in the Diocese of Alabama. Together they draw the wisdom of Rowan Williams, Marcus's experience of public discernment in the Western Massachusetts bishop election, and Cameron's experience cultivating leaders in Alabama to reflect on the church as a prayerful community of mutual discernment and grace-filled giftedness. They discuss discernment as ongoing, communal, and transformative, not mere decision-making, and critique consumer approaches to ministry. The episode closes by reframing vocation as learning “to be” and reflect God’s love and joy rather than chasing happiness, inviting the question: “Who would you have me be?”00:00 Introduction03:15 Meet Cameron Nations04:40 Interview with Cameron Nations08:00 Discernment is about clarity not ordination17:40 What Discernment Means21:39 Discernment and Discipleship28:14 Universal Christian Vocation35:48 Young Adults Seek Meaning42:36 Gratitude and Closing45:23 Reflection53:00 Closing Gratitude and Blessing This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marcushalley.substack.com

In this episode, Marcus Halley responds to a graduating student’s spiritual anxiety by asserting that surrender is the door to the spiritual life. Marcus shares that we all have a common experience of deep hunger: for meaning, connection, and love. He then contrasts trying to control God through formulas and practices with learning to surrender to God by cultivating practices of silence and listening. Drawing on Howard Thurman’s “A Seed Upon the Wind,” Marcus describes surrender as a long inner struggle that leads to a new life oriented toward God’s purposes. He suggests practices like community, contemplative prayer, spiritual direction, and gratitude as ways of embodying spiritual surrender.Leslie Odom, Jr.'s "I Surrender": https://youtu.be/V26iETMaj8E?si=NlH99PdhdAlq5hw400:00 Introduction01:55 How do I develop a spiritual life?05:58 Howard Thurman’s “Seed Upon The Wind”11:22 Tilling the Soil of Spiritual Possibility12:11 Gratitude and Final Blessings This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marcushalley.substack.com

In this episode of Everyday Liturgist, Marcus Halley shares an Easter Sunday sermon from Trinity College Chapel. Marcus frames human beings as God’s image-bearers called into partnership with God against the rebellious forces bent toward injustice and death. He argues that Jesus’ resurrection is not a return to normal life but the first sign of God’s new creation where domination ends and justice reigns. Christians respond faithfully by daily choosing to follow Christ in acts of love, humility, generosity, and justice, resisting systems that dehumanize.00:00 Introduction01:24 Sermon: Easter and the Christian Life14:34 Reflection20:59 Gratitude Practice and Final Blessing This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marcushalley.substack.com

In this episode, Marcus Halley shares a sermon he gave on March 22, 2026 at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Oxford, Connecticut. Using John’s story of the Raising of Lazarus, he explores how to face real grief while holding the church’s theology of life, echoing the Book of Common Prayer: “life is changed, not ended.” He distinguishes Lazarus’s temporary return to mortal life from Jesus’ resurrection, which ends death’s dominion, and urges Christians to live as if life leads through death by choosing love, prayer, generosity, and hope over prejudice, cynicism, and greed. 00:00 Introduction03:28 Sermon: I am the Resurrection and the Life14:52 Reflection20:24 Closing Gratitude and Final ThoughtsDean Andrew McGowan's Substack, "Andrew's Version": https://abmcg.substack.com/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marcushalley.substack.com

Walking in the DarknessMarcus Halley shares a Lent sermon from St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church (New Haven) on Jesus as “the light of the world” in John’s Gospel. He links the woman at the well (Photini) and the man born blind to the idea that true sight is spiritual insight. He argues that darkness is not the absence of God, drawing on Barbara Brown Taylor’s contrast between unrealistic “full solar” spirituality and a “lunar” spirituality that accepts seasons of doubt, fear, and uncertainty while trusting God remains present. Against war, political violence, and other heavy recent news, Halley says the light that shines in darkness helps us name suffering, perceive God at work, and join that work through prayer, and acts of solidarity and compassion, remembering we are never alone.00:00 Introduction01:26 Sermon: Walking in the Darkness14:33 Reflection18:31 Closing Gratitude and Final Blessing This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marcushalley.substack.com

Where Are the Young People? with Allen WakabayashiIn this episode, Marcus introduces an extended Everyday Liturgist conversation with Allen Wakabayashi, chaplain at the Episcopal Church at Princeton, prompted by Allen’s Living Church article “Where Are the Young People?” Both reflect on what students teach them with their diverse backgrounds, deep questions, a hunger for meaning, and the need for a non-performative community where it’s safe to be broken, ask hard questions, and mature beyond Sunday-school faith. The episode closes with Allen’s gratitude for continuing to “walk with Jesus” amid chaos and frustration, and Marcus’s reflection that faith must be allowed to evolve through loss, death, and resurrection, asking whether the church can create a container for transformation, reengage tradition with integrity, and live a vibrant faith that changes people from the inside out.00:00 Introduction05:08 Conversation with Allen Wakabayashi45:40 Take-aways, Learnings, and Challenges50:17 Closing Gratitude and Blessing"Where are the young people?" in the Living Church: https://livingchurch.org/commentary/where-are-the-young-people/Meet Fr. Allen, Chaplain at the Episcopal Church at Princeton: https://www.ecpton.org/clergy-staff This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marcushalley.substack.com

A Lenten Observance in a Distracted WorldIn this episode, Marcus Halley reflects on Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent as a call to cultivate focus and attentiveness in a chaotic, distraction-saturated world. The word “behold” (which appears twice in Matthew’s Transfiguration story) is more than seeing—it requires contemplation, stepping back, leaning in, and having “the eyes of our hearts enlightened.” Using Peter’s misunderstandings on Mount Tabor—wanting to build tabernacles and missing that Jesus is the tabernacle and that Jesus’ mission includes making people walking vessels of God's glory—he connects the Transfiguration to the true humanity found in Christ alone. Marcus critiques the “attention economy," warning that it is designed to yield outrage, anxiety, dehumanization, and confusion rather than wisdom. He invites listeners to resist distraction during Lent by learning to truly behold God, others, and the world.00:00 Introduction03:26 Sermon: Behold (Last Epiphany 2026, St. Paul's Church)19:10 My Lenten Practice: A Plan to Focus20:40 Closing Gratitude + Blessing"The Birth of the Attention Economy" by Jake Lundberg (The Atlantic): https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2025/07/the-birth-of-the-attention-economy/683727/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marcushalley.substack.com

When is violence the moral option? Is love really a durable power?In this episode of Everyday Liturgist, Marcus dives into a student's tough question on the morality of violence and the bigger themes around love and making a difference in the world. This conversation shaped the sermon he gave at St. Peter's Episcopal Church (which has been modified for this podcast) which explores the overwhelming presence of violence and cruelty in the world, the power of God's enduring love, the impact of living with compassion, and how God uses ordinary people to make a difference.00:00 Question: When is Violence the Moral Option?04:40 Some Centering Moment by Howard Thurman06:37 Sermon16:17 Closing Thoughts, Upcoming Conversations, and Closing Gratitude"Why I Am Not a Pacifist" by C.S. Lewis - https://www.42rulesforlife.com/why-i-am-not-a-pacifist/."Discernment" by Marcus George Halley - https://substack.com/home/post/p-174913767 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marcushalley.substack.com

"But Jesus answered him, 'Let it be so now, for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.' Then he consented."- Matthew 3:15What does Jesus's baptism mean for us? Divine solidarity. God chooses us even when we don't choose God. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marcushalley.substack.com

Happy Epiphany, y'all!What would make the Magi journey thousands of miles to see an infant? A king? A story, one that promised to reshape everything they, in their wisdom and knowledge, had come to know about the world. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marcushalley.substack.com

I read over 133 books* in 2025 (if you count all 77 books of the Bible). These are the five passages from the non-biblical books that I can't stop thinking about. Here's to more reading in 2026!Read the Bible in ONE Year! BibleProject | One Story That Leads to Jesus: https://www.bible.com/reading-plans/63058-bibleproject-one-story-that-leads-to-jesusOther books mentioned in this episode:Eiren Caffall's All the Water in the WorldHerman Melville's Moby DickOctavia Butler's Parable of the TalentsAbraham Verghese's The Covenant of WaterRobert Farrar Capon's The Man Who Met God in a Bar: The Gospel According to MarvinHave questions or comments? Email them to me: [email protected]. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marcushalley.substack.com

Jesus invites us to a life free of shame and fear... which might come as a surprise given what passes for Christian faith in our wider culture. If Jesus invites us out of shame and fear, what does he invite is into and how to do we practice this new sort of life into being?Have questions? Email them to [email protected] to the Everyday Liturgist newsletter on Substack. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marcushalley.substack.com

We're taking a new adventure! Everyday Liturgist is becoming a podcast! Let's explore ways of thinking of Jesus, faith, spirituality, and what it means to be a Christian disciples in new ways, with a little bit of humor and a whole lot of gratitude.Have questions? Email them to [email protected] to the Everyday Liturgist newsletter on Substack. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marcushalley.substack.com