Tag: love

Baptist life, Christianity, Citizenship, Conflict, Culture, Economics, Ethics, Forgiveness, Justice, Leadership, Love, Politics2 Comments

Lessons in Politics from a Baptist Preacher

Gary Furr

I don’t know many people who aren’t generally disgusted with the political process right now.  Left to right, top to bottom, it’s a mess.  I thought I’d put a little advice together for would-be leaders. Further, Baptist preachers are about the most able politicians around.  They are more like small-town sheriffs, who have to lock you up AND get your vote.  Since Baptist churches are about the purest form of democracy around, where even the least of these can topple the most of those with enough work, a Baptist preacher learns to hone the skills of diplomacy, bridge-building and persuasion.  … Continue reading Lessons in Politics from a Baptist Preacher

Family, Family, Love, Mothere's Day, Parenting1 Comment

A Mother Is a Miracle

Gary Furr

A mother is a miracle, certainly why any of us were born, and the main reason most of us have survived to tell about it. A mother is a miracle, certainly why any of us were born, and the main reason most of us have survived to tell about it.  We are among the weakest of all creatures when you think how long it takes us to live on our own.  We have to have nurture and protection long after being  (spoiler alert) hatched/delivered.  Each mom devotes nine months to getting us safely here, nine months  of her life, bodily … Continue reading A Mother Is a Miracle

Cancer, Death, Faith, Forgiveness, Holly Week, Hope, Jesus, Love, Suffering, Thankfulness, Theology and Life

The Four Things That Matter Most

Gary Furr

  Please forgive me.  I forgive you.  Thank you.  I love you. The wonderful New Testament scholar George Beasley-Murray once wrote that what the gospel of Mark imparts to us in nine verses, the gospel of John spends five chapters.  John 13-17 is the home of some of the richest, most direct and powerful sayings of Jesus.  It is called by scholars, “The Farewell Discourse.”  Words from a dying man to his beloved friends.  He says, “I love you,” again and again in many ways.  He tells them things that need saying.  Death concentrates the mind and focuses life. My … Continue reading The Four Things That Matter Most

Christianity, Creativity, Culture, Ethics, Leadership, Love, Politics

The State of the Union–of Love and Truth

Gary Furr
Gary Furr

Love and truth belong together.  So why is it that they are so often found separated?  Moral life arises from the recognition of eternal truth, the acceptance of the reality of others in that same truth, and the sensitivity to feel the connection between them.  Puritan preacher Richard Baxter said love for one’s neighbor is akin to hunger and food connecting.  It makes possible a new and different conversation.

Truth and love cannot live divorced from one another.  Otherwise we are, in the former case, driven to principles rendered only as power, devoid of kindness and the graces and kindnesses of feeling for the other. Continue reading “The State of the Union–of Love and Truth”

Children, Ethics, Hope, Love, Music, Theology and Life3 Comments

Grandparents, Moneyball and the Call to Worry

Gary Furr

Watched “Moneyball” Sunday night.  I liked it.  It surprised me.  I wasn’t sure that it could be faithfully made into a film worth watching, but, as usual, I know little about the art of that.  Brad Pitt is a great actor, all of the fluff of paparrazinsanity aside, and he hit a homer again.  It’s an interesting story about baseball, change, and the resistance to new things that always comes.  It doesn’t end with exploding lights, a la, “The Natural,” but with the gentle irony that success leads Billy Bean to a fateful choice between one vision of “success” and … Continue reading Grandparents, Moneyball and the Call to Worry