Tag: faith

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Love Your Neighbor–part 1

Gary Furr

The phrase “love your neighbor as yourself,” which appears in nearly all religions as what we often call the “Golden Rule,” is the rule of reciprocity—love as you wish to be loved, treat others as you wish to be treated. Now this seems almost imbecilically obvious except that we are living through a ghastly moment of stupidity in our public life. “Strength” is exalted across the world by rightward mobs in reactionary anxiety of cultural and societal erosion. These changes, in my view, are mostly our own creations due to endless speeding up of life, isolation by our technologies of … Continue reading Love Your Neighbor–part 1

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Life Goes On

Gary Furr

Been away for two weeks welcoming our new grandson. He’s glorious, sweet, wonderful, and his big sister turned four while we were there. We celebrated at Chuck E Cheese. Grands give me hope, yes they do. Not certainty, the world is too unpredictable than that, but a baby’s face does something, makes me root for humanity in spite of ourselves. Just keep finding something good to do where you are. It matters. My daughter had a framed saying in her kitchen when we brought our little prince home: “You are the sky—everything else is just weather.” We kept big sister … Continue reading Life Goes On

Disappointment, Faith, fear, hope, humanity, Jesus, Spirituality, spirituality, Story1 Comment

The Gift of Doubt

Gary Furr

My children asked the question, “Have you ever doubted your faith?” This is what I wrote. I hope it reassures you to know that the answer is simple: Yes, of course. In some ways, the question itself could open so many different directions. Is the question, “Have I ever doubted whether I have faith?” Yes. Many times. Have I ever had questions that threatened to undo my sense of belief, everything I had trusted in my life? Yes, those are more about the subjective experience of faith. Sometimes it could be taken to mean, “Have you ever doubted the faith?” … Continue reading The Gift of Doubt

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The Mystery of Daddy Shucks: A Memorial Day Story

Gary Furr

Rev. Tommy Simons is the Pastor of Third Baptist Church in St. Louis, and a friend of more than thirty-two years. This week, his pastor’s email came with this reflection about Memorial Day. I asked if I could share it and he graciously agreed. Here it is: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., was created to honor the U.S. armed forces members who served and died in the Vietnam War (1955–1975).  The winning design was Maya Lin, 21-year-old Yale architecture student. A V-shaped black granite wall, sunken into the earth, inscribed with over 58,000 names in chronological order—connecting the … Continue reading The Mystery of Daddy Shucks: A Memorial Day Story

Bible, Christian Nationalism, Christianity, Citizenship, Culture, Ethics, Faith, fear, Hope, hope, humanity, Jesus, Love, Politics, Story, Television

Random Thoughts from the Bargain Bin

Gary Furr

When the new Pope began speaking, I wasn’t sure what language I’d be hearing, so I turned on “live captioning.” When he said, “We must pray to Mother Mary” in Italian, it said, “Pray to Mother PayPal.” (Did that J.D. Vance do that?) In the gospel of Matthew, we are told the Wise men came to Jerusalem, asking where the child was to be born. The Bible says, “When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him.” As a precaution, he ordered all the baby boys massacred. So when terrible things happen, trace irrational oppression. You … Continue reading Random Thoughts from the Bargain Bin