Daniel Davidson, a veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, says the trials of life on the front lines brought him closer to God. Here, Davidson reflects upon feeling God’s presence in the still of the night while on guard duty in Afghanistan, as Chaplin Benita Livingston, with the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Memphis, [...]

Master gardener, and retired Navy Chaplin, Anne Krekelberg talks about how she finds God in her garden, and how being a good steward of the land is part of her spiritual journey. She is learning to live with the many critters that inhabit her wooded lot in Bartlett. Her home will be on the Third [...]

Prayers from the Pub: 2010 International Blues Challenge Champion Grady Champion sings a prayer of thanksgiving while performing at Huey’s. He says his blues is very spiritual and he believes his music touches people spiritually. Champion is one of 22 children. He is singing “Thank You for Giving me the Blues,” a song that has [...]

An Easter meditation. Behold, I make all things new! Revelation 21:5 set to photographs, harp and additional scripture from 2 Corinthians: ” Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! ” 2 Corinthians 5:17 Find these photographs in Sunday’s Viewpoint section, along with ideas about the meaning [...]

Morning Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Cordova, Tenn. started in 1875 as a brush arbor where people worshiped under trees and sat on stumps. Today, the church is located at 9441 Grove Road near Berryhill and Grove Road. Elders reflect on how far their church has come as they celebrate moving into a new building, [...]

Wayne Jackson of the Memphis Horns, who received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award on Feb. 11, talks about his magical journey as a sideman for many of the greatest musicians of our time, and the special friendship he shared with Andrew Love, the other half of the Horns. Wayne gives the credit to God, whom [...]

Rejoice; a meditation. This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalms 118:24. These horses at Shelby Farms are the backdrop for reflection on the scripture.

After Hurricane Katrina Bob Sunda was put off the river boat he worked on at the cobblestones in downtown Memphis and given $200. He found gigs in and around town before he becoming a teacher at Rhodes College and settling into playing for a church in Nesbit, Mississippi. Here, he speaks about how all music [...]

Music played live at the bedside as an adjunct to traditional health care can encourage healing or assist in the life/death transition. Marsi Bellamy, in addition to performing at weddings, receptions, churches and parties, is a certified Healing Music Practitioner who also uses a special repertoire of healing music for hospice, hospitals and…[Read more]

Michelle Clark, 16, a patient with No Place Like Home sings “Amazing Grace” during last year’s No Place Like Home Christmas party at The Peabody. No Place Like Home offers support for recovery and recuperation from short or long-term illness for patients who want to remain in their own homes. Michelle was hit by a [...]

Msgr. Peter Buchignani of St. Francis Catholic Church in Cordova reflects on one of his favorite sayings about wisdom and knowledge. He explains that a wise person recognizes that he doesn’t know Jesus sufficiently enough to live completely as Jesus asked us to, and understands that knowledge of Christ is a lifelong process.

His Holiness, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, is the spiritual and temporal leader of the Tibetan people. He offered this famous quote on happiness in the 1998 book The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living: “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”

Singer Al Green leads his congregation in song during a worship service at the Full Gospel Tabernacle Church in Memphis, Tennessee. Green founded the church 34 years ago. He can be found preaching there, most Sundays when he is not on tour.

Cantor Aryeh Samberg of the Anshei Sphard Beth El Emeth Congregation in East Memphis sings about waiting for the Messiah. Samberg has led services in Israel and throughout the U.S. He has performed in concert in Israel, New York, New Jersey, Maine and of course in Memphis. Here he sings about his faith in the [...]

Dean Nash, a nurse at Crossroads Hospice, says “Love is the most powerful medicine we have.” He often brings his 10-year-old Australian Shepherd, Stormy, to work, so his patients can experience unconditional love. Nash explains that for a brief time, his patients don’t hurt as much, and they don’t think about dying, they just enjoy [...]

Grammy award winning jazz artist, Kirk Whalum, is also President and CEO of The Soulsville Foundation, which operates the Stax Museum of American Soul Music and the Stax Music Academy here in Memphis. Kirk is an ordained minister who has earned his Masters of Art in Religion. It’s in this spirit that he serves his [...]

From Sept. 9–11, the Strawberry Plains Audubon Center in Holly Springs, Miss. will host the 12th Annual Hummingbird Migration Celebration & Nature Festival as ruby-throated hummingbirds make their annual stop in Holly Springs. The birds return on the same days each year during their winter migration to Central America. Field ornithologist Bob…[Read more]

Duke Brando reflects on his calling to move to Memphis, near Graceland, and the spiritual vibe he feels living here. Brando drives a pink caddy on Elvis Presley Blvd. for Marlow’s Restaurant in Whitehaven.

Rabbi Joel Finkelstein reflects on what ‘faith’ means to him. He believes that is no matter what happens, God is with you.

Lee Cagle has been playing mountain dulcimer since 1988. In addition to performing in various venues in the Memphis/North Mississippi area, she teaches dulcimer and bowed psaltery, is the author of a book for beginning players, and produces instructional CDs and arrangements for the mountain dulcimer. Her CD, The Water is Wide , is a compilation of [...]