Glad Tidings

Observing how spiritual language is often male-focused and overlooking the uniquely female experience, author Shannon K. Evans wrote her latest book, "Feminist Prayers for My Daughter", as a gift to women and girls everywhere. It offers short prayers that affirm the unique challenges and embrace the natural abilities embodied by our daughters, young and old alike.

On this week's show, Emily Austin talks with Shannon about her how her faith informs her life as a writer, a mother, and a woman. Shannon is the Spirituality and Culture editor for the National Catholic Reporter, and her other titles include "Rewilding Motherhood" and "Embracing Weakness."

Learn more about Shannon K. Evans and subscribe to her newsletter at https://www.shannonkevans.com/, or follow her on Instagram.

This week on Faithfully Memphis, Bishop Phoebe is joined by Minnassa Gabon, CEO of Minnassa Wellness. Through mindfulness speaking, coaching, training, and creating mindful spaces in the workplace, Minnassa helps people reduce stress in their lives and incorporate mindfulness in their daily lives. She holds a BA in Political Science from California State University, Northridge and a Masters of Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary. She is a traditionally ordained AME minister and currently is a New Thought/Unity/Centers for Spiritual Living Minister.

Our series on Women in the Church continues this week with Emily Austin in conversation with Laura Wilson, a painter and designer, mother of three daughters, and a founding member of St. Nicholas Orthodox Mission in Jackson, TN. Laura's diverse background is the result of a minister’s daughter and woman of faith reclaiming joy from abstraction and finding it in the meeting of spiritual and material existence. Join Emily and Laura for a conversation that includes church planting, carving out your own denominational identity, female clergy, and a great explanation of what exactly an icon is!

You can learn more about Laura Wilson on her website: https://www.marylaurawilson.com/

Learn about St. Nicholas Orthodox Mission in Jackson, Tennessee here: https://orthodoxjackson.com/

Make a gift to WYXR on their website: https://wyxr.org/

"I'm sure there were times Constance was afraid, but she kept on putting one foot in front of the other, and we have to know that the spirit that was with her is with us, too.
-Sister Hannah, Prioress of the Community of St. Mary, Sewanee
This week on Faithfully Memphis, join the Reverend Lisa McIndoo, Rector of Holy Apostles Episcopal Church (Collierville) for a conversation with Sister Hannah, CSM, the Prioress of the Community of St. Mary in Sewanee, Tennessee. An Episcopal Benedictine monastic community for women, the community was founded in 1865 in New York – the first Episcopal monastic community in the United States. In 1873 the Community sent Sisters to Memphis to begin a school for girls and establish a Church home for the poor and needy, but their work was interrupted by the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878. All but one of the Sisters died in their attempts and are remembered today as the “Martyrs of Memphis” for their heroic service. The one surviving Sister moved to Sewanee, TN and in 1888 started what is now the Southern Province of the Sisters of St. Mary. Today the Sisters’ ministries include providing spiritual direction, leading retreats and workshops, preaching and teaching at churches across the country, and working with Oblates, Associates, volunteers, and Organic Prayer Program interns. 

You can learn more about the Community of St. Mary here: https://www.communityofstmarysouth.org/

"I think that people in general, when you get down to it, they're looking out for one another. I look around in my neighborhood, and I see how Covid was a great example of that. We stepped up. We helped each other, and that's always happened in the world. Think about the disasters in Syria, Turkey, and Ukraine. Nobody's throwing in the towel. They're all looking, how do I get a drink of water for my neighbor? And that's always going to give me hope." 
Ann Langston has devoted her life to servant ministry. This week on Faithfully Memphis, join host Emily Austin as she talks with Ann about how her lifelong faith has been fueled by the example of Christ. 

Emily also talks about the Feast of the Annunciation, which is celebrated on March 25.

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry appointed Ruthie McLain of Calvary Episcopal Church (Memphis) as one of nine delegates from the Episcopal Church to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. This year’s conference theme—"innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls”—is timely, considering how the world has evolved since the pandemic began, noted Lynnaia Main, The Episcopal Church’s representative to the United Nations.

Our Women in the Church series continues with a conversation with Blair B. Evans. Blair manages to be "kind with a spine" and politely persistent in spite of the challenges that come her way each day as a woman in the world. In her conversation with Emily Austin, learn how faith shapes Blair's outlook, the people she models herself after, and her servant leadership at St. Columba Episcopal Camp & Retreat Center and Church of the Holy Communion.

This week on Faithfully Memphis, we embark on a new series in honor of Women's History Month! For this first episode in the series, join Bishop Phoebe as she talks with Jeane Chapman, longtime member of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church (Memphis) about her role as Small Church Consultant for the Diocese of West Tennessee. Throughout her decades-long career in healthcare administration, Chapman excelled in organizational assessment and analysis, consultation and program development, and communication and collaborative problem solving. 

Living God, long ago, faithful women proclaimed the good news of Jesus’ resurrection, and the world was changed forever. Teach us to keep faith with them, that our witness may be as bold, our love as deep, and our faith as true. Amen.

A century ago, the people of Calvary Episcopal Church in Memphis began presenting special weekday noontime preaching during Lent in a downtown theater. Five years after that, the Waffle Shop began, serving plates of waffles, chicken hash, and fish pudding to those who came to hear the preaching. One hundred years later, Calvary still offers this “radical hospitality” to the City of Memphis with outstanding preaching and traditional Waffle Shop favorites available Wednesdays through Fridays through March 31.

Our podcast series on the future of the Church - Cast Down, Raised Up - concludes this week with a very special conversation with the Most Rev. Michael Curry, the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church. Bishop Curry was elected in 2015 to a nine-year term in this role, and the animating vision and message of his ministry is Jesus of Nazareth and his model of radical, sacrificial love.

You can learn more about Michael Curry here: https://www.episcopalchurch.org/presiding-bishop-michael-curry/