The Rev. Dr. Calvon Jones: A Farewell Sermon
The Rev. Dr. Calvon Jones will be leaving the Memorial Church this week after five years of service to the congregation as the Assistant Minister. He is planning to relocate to North Carolina to be closer to family.
"This is my fifth year as the minister of this church, and I have only known this church as Calvon as my colleague in ministry here," said the Rev. Matthew Ichihashi Potts. "I have only known this Church with his blessings among us. Calvon is one of the reasons I love this Church and we are sad to see him go. Calvon and Alleya have been a blessing to this Church."
By the Rev. Dr. Calvon Jones
Assistant Minister/Director
The Memorial Church of Harvard University
(The following is a transcript of the service audio, March 8, 2026)
For the reading you've heard from John 6, I would like to place a tag upon that text for it constitutes the context from which I will attempt to preach one final sermon here. What's in your hand? MemChurch, there are moments in ministry that are joyful and there are moments that are bittersweet. Today, if I'm honest with you, this is one of those moments. For almost five years, it has been my deep honor to serve in this sacred place. Five years of worship, prayer, learning, wrestling, laughing, and growing together. Five years of walking alongside a community that cares deeply about faith, about justice, and about the world beyond these walls.
Before I go any further into this sermon, I simply want to say thank you. Thank you. Thank you for allowing me to be Calvon. Thank you to my clergy colleagues for sharing their gifts and their families. Matt. Thank you, Matt, for being one of the best supervisors and a great friend. To your wife, Colette and your beautiful kids. Alanna, thank you for being just so genuine. To Colin and your beautiful kids. Emmanuel, thank you for being such a wise friend. To your beautiful wife and Tule and your children, thank you. To the seminarians, Marty and Elizabeth, who I also call my colleagues. I've learned from you as well.
And to Amy, who has been such a great person working with the children, to the church crew families, to all the staff, and to this amazing choir. I'm going to miss them, y'all. You know, it's almost like we should be paying for a concert every Sunday, because they are just amazing. To Ed and David, and to all of you. You've welcomed me, you've trusted me, and I'm grateful. To my sweet potato, Alleya, my wife, who came with me when we said we are leaving and coming to the cold. Just had a blizzard, right? Thank you for supporting me. I appreciate you from the bottom of my heart.
And while this carries some sadness for me, I also know that God is still writing the story here. This is not the end of the story. It is simply another chapter in the long and faithful work God is doing through this community. Moments like this have a way of making you reflect. You begin to look back at what has been shared, what has been given, what has been built together. And when I was praying about the word that I would leave with you today, MemChurch, I kept coming back to a simple question that echoes throughout scripture, a question about what we bring, about what you bring, what we offer, and what God can do with that.
MemChurch, what's in your hand? Our scripture today comes from the sixth chapter of John's Gospel. If you've been in the church as long as me, you would have heard this familiar story. Jesus looks up and sees a great crowd coming toward him. Thousands of people have followed him out into the wilderness. Hungry people, curious people, people carrying burdens and questions. And Jesus turns to Philip and asks him a question, "Where should we buy bread for these people to eat?" Now, the scripture tells us something important. Jesus already knew what he was going to do, but he asked the question anyway.
And Philip starts to doing the math. Philip says, "It would take more than a half a year's wages just to give everyone a bite." In other words, Philip looks at the need and says, "This is too big. This is too much. We do not have enough." And if we are honest, we know something about that feeling. Can I have amen? We live in a world where the problems can feel overwhelming. People are hungry. People are hurting. Our democracy is on the verge of crumbling. People are struggling under systems that feel bigger than them. People come to church and smile, but you don't know what they're going through. People are facing so much.
And sometimes the church looks out at the world and says, "What can we do? We do not have enough." Not enough resources, not enough time, not enough power, not enough influence. What can we do to make this yet united, yet to be United States better? What can we do to save this church? But Jesus does something interesting. Instead of asking what they don't have, the story turns toward what is already present. Andrew speaks up and says, "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish." As my grandmother would say, "Two pieces of fried chicken catfish and cornbread." And Andrew even says it loud, "But what are they among so many?"
And I love this moment in the story, MemChurch, because the miracle does not begin with abundance. It begins with a small offering, a child's lunch, not enough for thousands, but it is what he had in his hand. And the question echoes through scripture again and again, what is in your hand? When God called Moses to lead the people, God asked him, "What is in your hand?" And Moses said, "Just a staff, just a stick." But once it was placed in God's hand, that staff parted seas, struck rocks, and helped lead people to freedom. MemChurch, what do you have in your hand? A little courage, a little faith, a small act of generosity, a voice willing to speak truth to power, a heart willing to love.
It may not look like much, MemChurch, but when it is placed in God's hands, ordinary things become vessels of extraordinary grace. This reminds me of something from my own family, Matt and Alanna. I have an uncle, and Alleya probably knows who I'm talking about, who is serious about Spades and Dominoes. See, I never have gotten that down pack. I don't know about you, do you got some people in your family, when it comes down to those games, they are serious? To the point where I'm like, "You know what? I'm not coming over for Thanksgiving or Christmas if we're going to go through this." When he sits down at the table with the family, you would think that the national championship was on the line.
And one thing he always says is this, "I don't have a poker face." Whenever he gets a good hand, it shows all over his face. If he has the ace of spades, the joker or the king of spades, you will see him smiling from ear to ear, letting you know, I have a good hand, because he knows what he has in his hand. And church, sometimes we walk through life acting like we have a weak hand. But sometimes you have to dance in the dark, sometimes you have to smile even when it seems like everything around you is in disarray. Why? Because you have a good hand. You got gifts, you have compassion, you have wisdom, you have the love of Jesus, you have faith, you have courage.
And what you have may seem small, but in the hands of God, it becomes more than enough. And the scripture tells us that Jesus took the loaves, and the first thing he did is he gave thanks. Before the miracle, before the distribution, Jesus gave thanks because gratitude has a way of opening the door to God's abundance. And in God's hand, five loaves and two fish become a feast. That is the mystery of faith. It is our hands. It may seem small, but in God's hands, it becomes more. And the text tells us something beautiful. Everyone ate, not just a bite, but it was enough. And that raises the question, do you believe in miracles?
Our scripture is full of them. A bush that burns, but is not consumed. The Red Sea parting before the Israelites, oil and flower that never run out during the drought, a fiery furnace that cannot destroy faithful people. And here, thousands are fed with a child's lunch. Do you believe in miracles? Sometimes we question if it's magic. Did it really happen? How did it happen? And we try to explain miracles away. But if we spend our time trying to explain everything, we risk losing our capacity to wonder, because miracles remind us that God is at work in the middle of real human struggles, hunger, suffering, fear, and pain.
And the miracle is that God invites us to make the world a better place. Some scholars say the miracle may have looked like this. Perhaps once the boys shared his lunch, others in the crowd began to share what they had brought. Maybe a woman who had figs pulled them out. Maybe a fisherman who carried dried fish shared what he had. Maybe people who were afraid of scarcity suddenly realized there was enough if everyone shared. Whether the miracle was multiplication or sharing, the outcome was the same. And the truth is, we do not have a food shortage in this world. We have a distribution problem.
In the United States alone, nearly 40 million tons of food are wasted every year while millions struggle with hunger. Scarcity tells us, "If I share, I might lose something." But the kingdom of God works differently. It's not subtraction. It is multiplication. Not fear, but generosity. Not hoarding, but sharing. One writer says it this way. "Five loaves and two fish in reluctant hands stay small. Five loaves and two fish in surrendered hands feeds a multitude." So MemChurch, what's in your hand? We can do this together. God is not intimidated by not enough. God specializes in it. And when God is finished, there will be more grace than you started with.
During my five years here, church, I have seen you use what's in your hands. I've seen this church bring what it has. I've seen you wrestle with difficult questions about justice. I've seen you care so deeply about those who are unhoused in the community, those who are suffering because they've been relegated to the margins of society. I've seen you use what you have in your hands. And you may be still saying, "Well, Reverend Jones, I still don't feel like I have enough." Use it anyway. And when what we have is placed in the hands of Christ, something miraculous begins to happen because God has a way of still raising up people.
When empire raised up Pharaoh, God sent Moses. When injustice seen unstoppable, God raised up prophets. When apartheid ruled South Africa, God raised voices like Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela. When Bull Connor tried to crush the civil rights movement, God raised up leaders like Fred Shuttlesworth. When the Roman Empire believed that it held all the power in the world, God sent a carpenter son from Nazareth by the name of Jesus Christ. Even now, God is raising up people. It may be you in this congregation. God is still raising up communities, churches to tell good news to a hurting world.
So MemChurch, I leave you not as goodbye, but a see you later. See you later, but until I see you later, what's in your hand? Perhaps there are some gifts and talents that you have, and you are asking God, "Can it be enough?" But God wants me to tell you, you do have something to give to this world. You may be questioning what is it for me to do at Harvard? What is it left for me to do on my job? What is it left for me to do with my family? There is something for you to do. There's still hungry people to feed, still justice to pursue, still love to embody in this world. So keep bringing what you have, MemChurch. Keep placing it in God's hand. Keep trusting that what seems small can become more than enough.
And to the morning prayers crew who I have been able to see daily, you know I've often told you all about my grandmama, Mary Lizzie Jones, who died at 93. She was such a positive person. And anytime someone would ask her, even when she was going through, you would say, "How you doing, Mary?" "She would say, "I'm still holding on." They would say," Well, keep on keeping on then." MemChurch, keep holding on. You may get weary, but do not let go. Keep holding on. Keep fighting for justice. Keep living a holy life. Keep showing the world that Christ is love. Keep sharing the good news of that liberator, Jesus Christ.
Amid unbearable news clips of wars, violence, racism, storms, climate change, hold on. Amid campaign promises, conference, debates, protesting, platitudes, hold on. Amid the intentional erasure of the value of humanity, keep holding on. Hold on until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. Hold on until the mountains of discrimination can come down. Hold on until mountains of housing inadequacies can come down. MemChurch, keep holding on.
Hold on until the mountains of prison labor can come down, until the mountains of sexism can come down. Keep holding on. Hold on until the valley of healthcare despair can be filled with peace. Keep holding on, MemChurch, until the valleys of hatred and evil can be filled with love. MemChurch, if I don't see you again, keep holding on. Keep holding on until the valleys of war, the valleys of genocide can be filled with hope. You know I couldn't end it without singing.
Singing:
Yesterday, a man stepped to me.
He said, "How can you smile when your world is crumbling down?"
And I said, "It's my secret."
When I want to cry, I take a look around.
And a see that I'm getting by.
And just hold on (hold on).
A change is coming (change is coming).
Hold on.
Don't worry about a thing.
Just hold on.
You can make it.
Hold on.
Everything will be all right.
Some people like to worry.
Some people like to hide.
Some people like to run away from the pain inside.
And then, that's your business.
Do whatever you want to do.
But if it don't work out,
Here's what you ought to do.
Just hold on.
Your change is coming.
Hold on.
Don't worry about a thing.
But just hold on.
You can make it.
Hold on.
Everything will be all right.
Break it.
Hold on.
The Rev. Dr. Calvon Jones:
Clap your hands.
MUSIC:
A change is coming.
Hold on.
Don't worry about a thing.
Just hold on.
You can make it.
Hold on.
Everything will be all right.
Just hold on.
A change is coming.
Just hold on.
Don't worry about a thing.
Just hold on.
You can make it.
Hold on.
Everything will be all right.