Tag: Holy Week

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

Calling, Christianity, Disappointment, God, Jesus Movement, Ministry, spirituality, Uncategorized4 Comments

Wobbling On the High Wire

Gary Furr

Holy Week has always  been special for me as a Christian and pastor.  Frankly, in the church year it always meant more to me than Christmas, though I adore Christmas for the deep cultural sense of family, baby Jesus and joy. Holy Week is not the same tone. It is juxtaposed with an equally perilous spiritual history, Passover, when the Hebrew people were delivered by God from slavery and oppression, but not without great anxiety and fear. For Christians, it is a somber week that strips away, day after day, one human pretension of pride after another until all that … Continue reading Wobbling On the High Wire

Christianity, Covid-19, Death, death, Disappointment, easter, Faith, Pilgrimage, Poetry, Suffering, Writing1 Comment

Good Friday

Gary Furr

Morning coffee comes to our cells, We are not in jail, we are monks of the pandemic “Go to your cell. It will teach you everything.” This time can teach us, too. We can go to Good Friday here.     By three o’clock, the world shaken, The darkness a shadow across our souls, the failures and oblivion of us all fully revealed and judged. By three o’clock, the thieves will have died, too. The crowd dispersed, the disciples disheartened, His mother and the Beloved Disciple, Having to keep their distance, wait to receive His body. All will descend into silence. … Continue reading Good Friday

Art, Christianity, church, easter, Faith, Holly Week, Jesus2 Comments

Out of the Ashes of Holy Week

Gary Furr

The emotions of Holy Week run the gamut.  From the wild enthusiasm of Palm Sunday morning to dread and anxiety of Maundy Thursday, the stark hopelessness of Good Friday and “darkness across the face of the earth” to the somber placing of Jesus in a borrowed tomb, the pilgrimage takes us through the full range of human experiences. Churches will look forward to crowded sanctuaries on Sunday morning, naturally. Children in beautiful new Easter clothes, beautiful ladies’ hats, uplifting music and, unless a pastor has the flu, a message of enthusiastic hope and energy. A great crowd, a holiday,: of course, … Continue reading Out of the Ashes of Holy Week

9-11, Anger, Christianity, Citizenship, Culture, Ethics, Faith, Holy Week, Hope, humanity, Modern Life, Politics, September 11, Terrorism, Theology and Life, Tragedy, violence, worldview2 Comments

Another Day of Terror: Holy Week Reflection

Gary Furr

I woke up to the bad news from Brussels, Belgium today. We are so numbed to the violence on our globe, we have to wonder about the ambivalent gift of “information.” There is no time to digest, reflect, pray, consider. We are, instead, an endless echo of bad news cycles, compounded by the “unsocial media” that encourages the worst among us to speak loudly even if it is unworthy to hear. Here is the reflection I sent to my congregation today:

The recurring horror of terrorism is found in the terrorists themselves.  They are, finally, demented haters of life, of humanity, of our collective existence—that is the essence of terrorists’ acts. There is nothing in them but absolute despair of hope, and the desire to destroy it in all others for the sake of fantastic delusions of forcing the hand of the universe to bend to their will. There is nothing at the end oftheir action except death and blood.

They are not new. Throughout all of history, they have killed, as governments and society seek to kill them in response. On and on the fatal disaster continues, hopelessly. It is into Holy Week that the latest delusion happens. In Brussels the fanatics strike civilization once more, convinced that they will prevail, and destined absolutely to fail.

Of all weeks, this one should comfort those who believe in Christ Jesus. Of all people, we began in a story of unjust death, amid terrorists who led people into the desert (Acts 21:38) and to the top of Masada only to die for nothing and their hopes dashed. Those who waved the palms would flee for their lives—and for what? The emptiness of a lost cause. Continue reading “Another Day of Terror: Holy Week Reflection”