Tradgedy at First Church in Memphis

At 3am this morning, First United Methodist Church, the oldest church in Memphis/2nd oldest building, caught on fire. The fire started in the basement. The building was quickly consumed.

This is the same church that we took Cedie to back in August. (See link : http://cedielynn.blogspot.com/2006/08/81306-birthday-reception-at-first.html ) My great grandmother has been a member of this beautiful church for over 50 years. My parents were married inside this church. This is also the church where my sister and I had our Christening as infants. As a little girl, my grandparents and my great grandparents would take me to the church often and I even sang in the children's choir.

Besides our personal memories of the church, First Church has an incredible history of its own. See link: http://www.firstchurchmemphis.org/history.html In the sanctury, there were these hand sewn pillows that depicted scenes from the various events throughout the church's history. I always found the pillows facinating and always looked forward to looking at them again each time I visited the church.

As a result of this fire, 3 other historic downtown Memphis buildings caught on fire. Luckily, all 4 buildings (the church included) were vacant at the time and no one was hurt. It took over 250 firefighters with 50+ fire engines to get the fires under control.

PLEASE pray for all those who were affected by this great disaster.