Episode 337 : Fleming Rutledge — And in him there is no darkness at all
Back on the podcast is our friend, mentor, and muse, Fleming Rutledge. It’s our Christmas gift to you. Thanks to all our listeners!
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The Christmas Creed in a Nutshell
“I am not interested in what I believe. I am not even sure what I believe. I am much more interested in what the church believes.” ― Stanley Hauerwas, Hannah’s Child: A Theologian’s Memoir Stanley Hauerwas often insists on pointing out that the reason doctrine— that is, speaking Christian— is critical to Christians in a…
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Stuck with Jesus
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible…” St. Paul writes a good 3 decades before St. Luke sets down to write the Christmas story. The trees and decorations this time of year, the…
Read MoreNot just any young Jewish girl would do. The one to carry Jesus would be “Mary.”
“Isaiah does not say that “a” virgin or young woman will bear a child. Isaiah says “the” young woman will bear a child (Isaiah 7:10-16). “The” is a definite article indicating that not anyone would give birth and still be a virgin, but someone in particular would be a virgin mother. We did not know…
Read MoreMary’s Song: Liberation is Not Salvation
This coming sabbath marks the third Sunday of Advent when the lectionary forces us to hear a song that should tighten our collective sphincters. When Mary reaches the home of her cousin Elizabeth, herself pregnant with John the Baptist, the Mother of God exclaims: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God…
Read MoreI’ve Got the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy Outside My Heart
When I was counselor at a United Methodist summer camp, we sometimes had to sing with the kids that song “I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart.” You know the song? I hate that song. Especially this time of year. It’s always been hard for me to feel at peace during…
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Jesus, Boaz, and Me (and You)
hereDo you ever feel like an orphan in the world? Do you feel like the circumstances of your life – some of your doing and some of others – have conspired to place you in a situation where no one really cares what happens to you? It’s best not to indulge these self-defeating feelings but…
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It’s Better to Receive than to Give
In 1850, Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, wrote a story called “Christmas” wherein the main character gripes, “Christmas is coming in a fortnight, and I have got to think up presents for everybody! Dear me, it’s so tedious and wasteful!” To which, her Aunt responds, “…when I was a girl presents did…
Read MoreThe Waiting Game
Stanley Hauerwas writes in his collection, Without Apology, that Advent is a season in which Christians play at waiting. That is, Advent is a time when we pretend to be waiting, recapitulating Israel’s exilic longing as our own. Despite the readings from the prophets, the purple sentinel-like candles, and the melancholy minor key hymns, Christians,…
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Living According to the New World that Begins in Mary’s Belly
Since her “Let it be with me according to your word” makes Mary not only the mother of Jesus but Christ’s first disciple, I often wonder if Mary was among the riff-raff gathered to hear her boy’s sermon on the mount. Clearly, she had to have been present for some of his teaching and preaching,…
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