Why We're Publishing Bruce Reyes-Chow's “Prophets, Priests, Pastors, & Poets” Trio

You may have noticed something different about this year's Advent and Lent devotionals from Chalice Press. We think you'll like what we've done.

For years, Chalice Press has published devotionals specifically for Advent and Lent. They’ve usually been unrelated, written by different authors using different themes. The 2026-2027 Advent and Lenten devotionals are different. Two years ago, we had the idea of publishing seasonal devotionals by the same author, with the same theme—and then we added a larger book to anchor the pairing year-round and to dig deeper. We immediately realized Bruce Reyes-Chow would be the ideal author for this trio.

The author of the popular (and much-needed) In Defense of Kindness: Why It Matters, How It Changes Our Lives, and How It Can Save the World, Reyes-Chow has been a keen observer of how our faith is too often betrayed by our sometimes-quite-rational behavior. We asked Bruce what he had been considering as his next writing project, and he shared his observation that Jesus’ ministry is too often compressed into a single preferred stereotype. A healthy faith requires four approaches, operating in harmony, to follow Jesus in the four roles of his ministry:

• Prophet: “A table-turning activist, political troublemaker, and cultural provocateur who with righteous indignation, passion, and courage, challenges the world to align with God's hopes.”
• Priest: “A going-off-to-pray, miracle-worker spiritual teacher who curates holy spaces, nurtures spiritual discipline, tends our histories, and invites us into ritual as ways to connect to God.”
• Pastor: “A 'giving the benefit of the doubt' convener of relationships, instigator of belonging, and unapologetic bridge builder who yearns for us to cross cultural, economic, and theological divides...”
• Poet: “A 'more questions than answers' sculptor of words, ideas, and actions; and the one who opens the human imagination in order to see the possibilities that God has for the world.”

By balancing prophetic activism, priestly reflection, pastoral connection, and poetic imagination, the framework Bruce builds calls believers to respond holistically to a complex world. Together, these four postures transform daily spiritual practice into concrete, imaginative action in pursuit of justice and belonging.

One trait of Jesus’ ministry that is always relevant is that the conflict Jesus endured mirrors our current society. At the heart of these three books is Bruce’s refusal to isolate faith from the social and political reality of our days. Noting the books were written in 2025-2026, “…unprecedented does not come close to describing what we are going through as a country and culture,” Bruce wrote. “In all honesty, this has been a difficult book to write... because it is difficult to hole away, sit down, and focus on what feels like a detached and futile endeavor while our country's socioeconomic and political chasms are widening...”

Reyes-Chow confronts Christian nationalism, the weaponization of faith, and the quiet temptation to retreat into comfort. Rather than offering an otherworldly escape or a rigid, one-dimensional dogma, he challenges us to move through turbulent times using the multi-faceted model of Christ's ministry: activist, teacher, bridge-builder, and artist.

This concept ultimately created Chalice's first devotional pairing, with Prophets, Priests, Pastors, and Poets as the anchor for two seasonal devotionals, Possibility (Advent) and Beckon (Lent).

What makes this trio uniquely powerful is that readers are equipped to put what they read into action around them through the seasonal devotionals. Through Possibility and Beckon, the foundation of Prophets, Priests, Pastors, & Poets reaches into lived experience across the liturgical year. The devotionals share a common format, beginning with scripture followed by a short lesson, a question for personal reflection, and a closing prayer. (For the preachers out there, Sundays include preaching prompts.) Possibility frames the Advent season of waiting as a transformational act of resistance grounded in divine possibilities, encouraging us to reimagine a world beyond current systemic failures. Beckon reframes the traditional Lenten discipline of “giving something up” with the goal of accepting invitations to embody Christ.

Ultimately, Bruce consistently asks the essential pastoral question: ”So what?” Every Chalice Press book over the past decade-plus asks that same question, with an emphasis on being able to put what you’ve just read into action. Theological reflection is meaningless unless it inspires concrete, loving action in the world. By inviting readers into an expansive, curious, and courageous relationship with Jesus, this trio provides the practical tools needed to repair breaches, cultivate belonging, and boldly embody the resurrected Christ today.

We hope that Bruce is a good theological travel partner from November 29, the first day of Advent, through March 28, Easter Sunday, and in the years to come. 

Gratefully,
Brad Lyons, President & Publisher