Calvary Lenten series hits stride Calvary Lenten series wraps up The Rev. James M. Lawson Jr. takes the pulpit today as the 79th annual Calvary Lenten preaching series reaches an end Friday. Guest speakers from congregations across the nation will lead midday sermons Monday through Friday from 12:05 p.m. to 12:40 p.m. in Calvarys sanctuary. The services are free and open to the public. Lawson, of Los Angeles, preaches and lectures nationwide on "soul force," or creative nonviolence, working with interfaith coalitions for justice and peace. He also hosts a national cable network television show examining current affairs through the lens of compassion and justice. The series begins to wind down by Wednesday with a sermon by the Rev. Samuel "Billy" Kyles, pastor of the local Monumental Baptist Church since 1959. As founding board member of People United to Save Humanity, Kyles is a member of the Religious Action Network and helped monitor South Africas first multiracial election. Dr. Bill J. Leonard, dean and professor of church history at Wake Forest Divinity School in Winston-Salem, N.C., will the close the 2002 series leading sermons Thursday and Friday. Leonard has authored and edited 13 books including the recent "Christianity in Appalachia: Profiles in Regional Pluralism," and was former co-editor of the "Encyclopedia of Religious Controversies." The series began on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 13. Holy Week begins Sunday. Easter Sunday is March 31.