Author: Gary Furr

I am a musician, writer and Christian minister living in Alabama. I am founder and President of the Alabama Coalition for Healthy Mothers and Children.
America, Citizenship, Culture, Ethics, Leadership, Politics, Story

Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me

Gary Furr

Jackie Gleason used to play a character called the Poor Soul. He walked with a slump and every step he took said, “I don’t deserve to be here.” I’ve been trying to figure out how a man who has the office of President and a cowering party that never calls him out can walk around like everyone is so mean to him. We’re running out of teacups for President Trump’s tempests. He does love them. The poor man. People seem to be so mean to him. Most recently, of course, it was a gentle admonition at the National Cathedral, when … Continue reading Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me

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Jimmy Carter’s Vision

Gary Furr

I had an earlier podcast about Jimmy Carter in February of 2023. He has woven in and out of my life for forty plus years. His funeral has been a powerful moment to stop and consider what life is about. That’s what funerals at their best can accomplish. We mark a passing, but also stop to mark our own journey to the same place. Maybe we slow down long enough to ask, “Am I living life as it is meant to be? ​In early 2009, I was asked to host Jimmy Carter’s visit to Birmingham for the New Baptist Covenant. He was … Continue reading Jimmy Carter’s Vision

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An Advent Prayer

Gary Furr

A prayer offered in 1993, my first year at a new pastorate, as part of a lovely service of lessons and carols led by Mrs. Marlene Taylor and the choir. Beloved in Christ, Advent invites our hearts and imaginations to            bring us again to the angels’ song, To lead us to sleepy Bethlehem where we behold again           the wonder of the Babe, lying in a manger. Therefore let us re-enter the Holy Scriptures and trace again           the trail of God’s loving purposes           that leads from God’s own eternal creative and loving heart           through our first … Continue reading An Advent Prayer

Christmas, The Incarnation

Stories of Christmas

Gary Furr

I am partial to storytelling and storytellers, since I am one. But in no place more than the birth story of Jesus does this reality hit home.  The more rational types are always trying to turn Christianity into a series of propositions which only succeeds in rendering the most thrilling narrative ever to grace a mind into propositions and abstractions that could be used as sleep aids. No, when God set out to save humanity in the Christian telling, it was in stories. The smallest elements of a story. There’s a subject. There is a verb. And you have a … Continue reading Stories of Christmas

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Straight Talk

Gary Furr

Listen to the podcast Many years ago. I came across a movie character actor I really liked. Veteran character actors are people you see over and over again in different movies and shows, making it more challenging for them to convince you that they are a different person than the last time you saw them. This actors name was Richard Farnsworth and the movie was “The Straight Story.” The Straight Story was released in 1999. It was directed by David Lynch, of “Twin Peaks” fame. It had the same pace and odd cadence of Billy Bob Thornton’s oddball flick, “Slingblade.” Slow, rambling, full of peculiar small-town characters that felt familiar to me. All these … Continue reading Straight Talk