Category: Holy Week

Bible, Christianity, Death, easter, Grief, Holy Week, Hope, hope, humanity, Jesus, Jesus, resurrection, spirituality, Story, Suffering, Theology, Worship6 Comments

Easter

Gary Furr

Six weeks ago my father died. I have not spoken much about that except to friends. Grief is deeply personal, and the journey is different for us all. Suffice it to say that as a primary caregiver for my Dad the past three years, two in a nursing facility, I have been up close and personal to the end of his life at 91. My father was a wonderful, larger that life presence in my life. For weeks it is the cursed insane busy-ness after death. Experience is crowded out by necessity, but that is not all bad. Denial has … Continue reading Easter

Art, Bible, Christianity, Faith, Holy Week, Hope, Jesus, Pilgrimage, Spirituality, spirituality, Suffering, Theology, Uncategorized

Pilgrims on the Rooftop

Gary Furr

In 2010, I was part of a group of ministers who went to Israel together on pilgrimage.  We were all Protestants—Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, UCC, and Episcopalians, along with one Mennonite for good measure. We were used to going on trips as church leaders, but this was different. We went as pilgrims. Pilgrimage is not a familiar term for Protestants and surely not Baptists. A friend of mine once said our spirituality is “extraverted, programmatic, and evangelistic.” Being silent, mystical contemplation and words like “pilgrimage” smacked of Catholicism, and when I was growing up that was negative, even if I didn’t … Continue reading Pilgrims on the Rooftop

Gospel music, Holy Week, resurrection2 Comments

In the Garden

Gary Furr

“And He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own. and the joy we share as we tarry there None other has ever known.” (C. Austin Miles, “In the Garden”) (this is a chapter I wrote in a book edited by Dr. Paul Basden called Encountering God in the Prayers of Others. used by permission.) For more information click here Moments of sensitivity to God’s presence happen in the oddest places—foxholes, pinned in a car wreck, or or a meal with friends and a good book.  God can show up anywhere, unannounced. … Continue reading In the Garden

Christianity, death, easter, Grief, Holy Week, Hope, spirituality, Suffering1 Comment

Prayer for a Requiem

Gary Furr

I am grateful that I have served with three wonderful worship leaders over the twenty-seven years at Vestavia Hills Baptist Church before I retired–Dr. Milburn Price, Dr. Terre Johnson, and Rev. Marty Watts. Thanks to being in a church with these outstanding musicians, we were exposed to some of the great music of the Christian church. Terre Johnson asked me to compose a closing prayer following a presentation of the Requiem by John Rutter, a beautiful and somber remembrance of human sorrow. Before we can hope again, we must grieve honestly to reckon our loss, and the Rutter Requiem is … Continue reading Prayer for a Requiem

Art, Christianity, Death, death, Family, God, Grief, Holy Week, Jesus, Mother, Race, spirituality3 Comments

Mother and Son

Gary Furr

Jaroslav Pelikan’s marvelous book Jesus Through the Centuries takes a sojourn through the vast and complex history of the interpretations of Jesus.  Among the chapters is one entitled, “Christ Crucified,” in which he notes the disproportionate focus on Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection in the gospel accounts.  By even the most “generous” reading, he notes, we have at most information about less than a hundred days of Jesus’ ministry on earth, but of the last few days we have an hour by hour account. Says Pelikan, “What was said of  the thane of Cawdor in MacBeth was true pre-eminently of Jesus: … Continue reading Mother and Son