Walking with Mary: Created in EDSD, Shared Across the Church

What began as an Advent resource created for the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego is about to reach people far beyond our diocese. Walking with Mary, the three-week Advent formation program created by the Rev. Jacob Robling, Teresa Hixson, and Charlette Preslar, has been selected by Forward Movement for publication. 

Beginning in November 2026, Walking with Mary will be available as a free download, with both a Leader & Participant Guide and presentation slides available in English and Spanish. Forward Movement is also hosting a three-session live Zoom experience on December 1, 8, and 15, led by the curriculum’s creators, Charlette Preslar, Teresa Hixon, and the Rev. Jacob Robling. 

It is an exciting next chapter for a resource that began with a simple invitation: slow down during Advent and walk alongside Mary as she prepares to bear God into the world.

Walking with Mary explores Mary’s story through Scripture, prayer, conversation, and spiritual practice. Across three sessions, participants encounter a young woman living at the intersection of God’s promise and the uncertainty of the world around her. Her waiting, courage, trust, and response to God offer a way into Advent that moves beyond preparing for Christmas and toward preparing ourselves for Jesus.

Each session includes prayer, context and grounding, exploration of scripture, connections with the Hebrew Scripture, spiritual practices, and questions for reflection. The curriculum was intentionally designed to be flexible enough for a small group gathered around a table or a larger congregation looking for an Advent formation experience. Its new home with Forward Movement significantly expands that reach.

Best known for Forward Day by Day, Forward Movement serves Christians through print and digital resources in English and Spanish. It has been a ministry of the Episcopal Church since 1935, when it was established following General Convention with a charge to help reinvigorate the life of the Church. Today, Forward Movement’s mission is to “inspire disciples and empower evangelists” through devotionals, Bible studies, formation courses, books, digital resources, and other tools that help people grow in their life with Jesus. 

For EDSD, publishing Walking with Mary is also an opportunity to recognize something much closer to home. Across the diocese, our staff, clergy, and lay leaders are creating thoughtful, theologically grounded resources that help people know Jesus and live their faith more fully. 

Walking with Mary is an example of what can happen when the gifts already present in our diocese are brought together–a resource created to serve local congregations can grow beyond its original scope. Something developed by EDSD for people in San Diego, Riverside, Imperial, and Yuma counties is now helping shape the prayer, faith, and discipleship of someone hundreds or thousands of miles away.

That movement—from local ministry to a resource for the wider Church—is worth celebrating.

It’s also something uniquely Episcopalian. We belong to congregations, but we are never only individual congregations. We are part of a diocese, a wider Church, and a communion in which creativity and faithful practice can be shared. When one community discovers a meaningful way to pray, teach, serve, welcome, or grow as disciples, that gift can become a gift for others.

This Advent, people who have never visited an EDSD congregation—or even set foot in Southern California or Arizona—will pray with a resource created here. They will encounter Mary’s courage. They will wrestle with scripture. They will sit together in conversation. They will prepare themselves for Christ’s coming into the world.