News

Ghosts of Christmas Past by Carol Is there anything that can tie us so tightly to our childhoods as Christmas? Childhood memories are especially powerful even though they are often amorphous. The smells, the sounds, the seasonal triggers of memory form a kind of dream world that has little to do with the current Christmas or even with any one of those Christmases now past; it is the accumulation of Yuletide after Yuletide. In fact, the  dreamworld never actually arrives; it...

Miracles, Simplicity, & Peace From James As a lover of fairy tales and cartoons, I have wanted to believe in miracles since I was a child. The notion that extraordinary things could happen—the deus ex machina, the lightning that appears out of thin air and makes everything all right—it felt to me that the extraordinary was right around the corner. And as I reflect, maybe it is true that miraculous things are happening, but maybe they’re so commonplace that we overlook them....

Blue River Quarterly Meeting From Shahin Adrian, Juli, and I traveled to DuBois, Illinois September 20-22 for the Blue River Quarterly (BRQ) gathering that is part of Illinois Yearly Meeting. Friends welcomed us warmly, curious about how we discovered them and how things fared with Memphis Friends Meeting and our own yearly meeting. Many of us had similar stories about attendance before, during, and after the pandemic and about hybrid worship. We arrived late Friday for registration and found our cabin...

Sharing Treesby Robin The Black Seeds Urban Garden in Uptown Memphis and the Frayser Community Urban Garden sit in food deserts where they are committed to improving the availability of fresh foods in their respective neighborhoods. Back in 2023, several Friends in our Meeting met these gardeners during the Experience Memphis Garden Tour that summer. When the Frayser Garden held their Annual Greens Cookoff Fundraiser last fall our meeting made a contribution and Adrian and I attended the event.In our early...

When Way OpensBy MalloryBefore a global pandemic, before a continued journey of infertility, before a baby entered our lives, before I knew anything about pastoral care or chaplaincy, when my now spouse and I were dating, Katelyn and I were traveling one weekend. I was driving and the topic of seminary came up. I was hesitant because the only seminaries I knew where I would be welcome were residential only and not in the South or were otherwise unaffordable. She...

Rediscovering Friendsby Mary JaneMy first encounter with Quaker meeting was in London. I remember the stillness, the plain woodenbenches and the plain glass windows looking out into Covent Gardens. Having been raised in an Evangelical tradition, I was surprised how well the quiet suited me but when I got home, I resumed worship with my family church. During my first marriage, I raised my children in an Episcopal Church. While I appreciated the community, I questioned the amount of money...

On Wednesday, July 10, Kate Chilton's friends and family will gather at the meetinghouse beginning at 6:00 pm central, with worship beginning at 6:30 and tea service at 7:30. For those unable to come in person, Zoom access will be available (to request access information, please email memphisfriendsmeeting@gmail.com). Below is the wonderful obituary written by Kate's brother Randy. Look for a MFM remembrance of Kate also in the upcoming July MFM newsletter. KATE CHILTON (August 11, 1952-June 5, 2024) Kate Chilton (Catherine Magruder...

Finding FriendsBy Kent One day when I was about 7, I asked my mother if she thought people who didn’t worship the way we did would really go to hell.She answered by asking, “What do you think,” and I simply said “No, they don’t.” It didn’t make sense that God would love some people and not others, no matter what was said in church or in my catechism classes.In my adult life, very much on the periphery of Christian faith, I had several powerful experiences that I simply...

Memphis Friends’ Meeting, 3387 Walnut Grove Road, (F/N), 1-5pmWith appreciation and respect for the Chickasaw people who were stewards of our area long before settlers arrived, the members of the Memphis Quaker Meeting have planted two raised beds in the “Three Sisters” tradition. Many native American groups, including the Chickasaw, used the companion planting of corn, beans and squash (the Three Sisters) to conserve water and enrich the soil while producing food. Our garden honors this tradition.More info: https://experiencememphisgardens.org/

Recently, at the memorial service for Mark Gilley, Memphis Friends were able to share with Mark's friends from other parts of his life the news that over the years a few of Mark's poems had appeared in the MFM newsletter. We also brought smiles to the faces of old friends when we recalled how Mark had come to the meetinghouse during the pandemic to play the meeting's piano.