New Cincinnati Friends Meeting (CFM) member Mardi Fallon’s spiritual path began as a child “with peak experiences” and a devout Catholic upbringing. She dipped into Buddhism and worshiped for five years with Community Friends Meeting before discovering her current spiritual home. A desire to get back in touch with those
I Believe…Help Thou My Unbelief
I believe, help thou my unbelief I take the finite risk of trusting like a child I believe, help thou my unbelief I walk into the unknown trusting all the while. These lyrics are from one of so many hymns and worship songs from perhaps the most prolific hymnist of
A Model of Spirituality in a Time of Tribalism and Chaos
There is a certain passage in John Woolman’s Journal that has always moved me deeply. It has to do with Woolman’s description of his own spiritual growth and transformation. It begins with the words: “While I silently ponder on the changes wrought in me, I find no language equal to
CFM Roots: Discipline and Disownment
George Fox, the founder of the Religious Society of Friends, noted that, in addition to worship, one of the functions of the meeting was to “admonish and exhort such as walked disorderly or carelessly, and not according to Truth.” Quakers approached this task according to the guidelines laid out in
A Voice from the Past: The Sermons of Murray Shipley
I first “met” Murray Shipley when I began researching my book Friends Past and Present: The Bicentennial History of Cincinnati Friends Meeting (1815–2015). I was immediately intrigued by his character and accomplishments. A deeply devout man, Shipley was very active in Cincinnati Friends Meeting, and was recorded as a minister