Music this Advent

The Rev. Ed Bacon

Ed Bacon, the son of a Baptist minister, began his Episcopal journey of faith at St. Luke’s nearly four decades ago when, while serving as our parish’s youth minister, he was granted admission as a postulate for the priesthood. Ed was ordained in 1983 and his ministry led him to become a national voice on issues of faith and justice for all regardless of race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation.

Until his retirement in May 2016, Ed was the rector of All Saints Church in Pasadena, California – a 4,000 member multi-ethnic urban Episcopal parish, with a reputation for energetic worship, a radically inclusive spirit, and a progressive peace and justice agenda. He shepherded All Saints for more than two decades. Before that he served as dean of the Cathedral of St. Andrew in Jackson, Mississippi; rector of St Mark’s in Dalton; and, earlier, when he was a Baptist minister, he was campus minister and dean of students at Mercer University in Macon.

Ed, who holds a master of theology from Emory University and honorary doctorates from The Church Divinity School of the Pacific and Mercer University, is the author of 8 Habits of Love, a guide to living life through love and connection, not fear and isolation. His energies these days focus on leadership in anxious times; living a love-based life as opposed to a fear-based life; peacemaking; interfaith relations; contemplative practices and their impact on relationships, creativity, and brain functioning; and, articulating the Christian faith in non-bigoted, science-friendly, and inclusive ways. He blogs regularly on Medium.com about wholemaking in a tribalized/polarized cultural environment and can be followed there as well as on Facebook and Twitter @RevEdBacon. His new website is Edbacon.co.

Ed has been both a guest and a regular guest host on Oprah Winfrey’s Soul Series on Oprah & Friends Radio, and a guest panelist in the Spirituality 101 segment of The Oprah Winfrey Show’s “Living Your Best Life” series. He is a contributor to Oprah.com and a frequent guest on Super Soul Sunday on the Oprah Winfrey Network and his interviews with her have been chosen as part of Super Soul Conversations by Oprah podcasts. He is the recipient of many awards including the Peace Award and the Compassion Award from the Muslim Public Affairs Council, Los Angeles. In October he was the recipient of the Ruby McKnight Williams Award from the Pasadena NAACP.

Ed and his wife, Hope Hendricks-Bacon, have two adult children and two grandchildren. Since retiring they have lived near their family in Birmingham, Alabama.

The Rev. Elizabeth Shows Caffey

Elizabeth Shows Caffey has served at St. Luke's since February 2015. Elizabeth has a passion for liturgy, spiritual development, and a love for all things community. Before seminary she developed and subsequently directed the Johnson Intern Program at Chapel of the Cross, an Episcopal Service Corps Program, while also working as the family coordinator for Chatham Habitat for Humanity. She has served at the Church of the Holy Trinity in New York City and All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Atlanta as the priest for outreach, liturgy and pastoral care. The connecting thread through all of Elizabeth’s work has been engaging the compelling questions about God and living as a person of great faith and intellectual inquiry and responding with action and intention in how we live. She loves camping with her children and dog, Ana, and is always up for travel and adventure. As an alumni and North Carolina native, she is an avid Duke basketball fan.

The Rev. Horace L. Griffin

Matthew Brown

Matthew Michael Brown joined the St. Luke’s staff as Director of Music in 2020. A native of North Carolina, he holds degrees from the North Carolina School of the Arts and the Eastman School of Music. His major organ teachers include Dame Gillian Weir, David Higgs, Jack Mitchener, and Wayne Leupold. Mr. Brown frequently concertizes throughout the USA and abroad, and several performances have been heard in radio broadcasts of American Public Media’s Pipe Dreams and the nationally syndicated program, With Heart and Voice. He has performed as a guest artist for series and festivals in Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s Cathedral, London; Barcelona Cathedral, Spain; Washington National Cathedral; Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, New York; Princeton University Chapel; Assembly Hall of the Mormon Tabernacle; Trinity Church on Copley Square, Boston; and the Episcopal Cathedrals of Atlanta, Charleston, and Nashville. He serves as course manager for the annual Royal School of Church Music Carolina Course at Duke University. Beyond his professional responsibilities, he enjoys frequent collaborations for music to connect with non-profit organizations which care for society’s most fragile and vulnerable citizens.

Liz Beal Kidd

Elizabeth Moore

Mark Simmons