Fleming Rutledge
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frutledge.bsky.social
Fleming Rutledge
@frutledge.bsky.social
Episcopal priest, theologian, author of "The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ" and many other books. Wife, grandmother.
Working on the fault line between evangelical and progressive. Romans 11:32.
This is a time when I miss the reach of Twitter. This is an appeal to take very seriously. And pulpits are mentioned.
I could wish that I was still in the pulpit with a congregation that I know and love...the best setting for an act of courage like this.
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/08/o...
Opinion | How Will We Know When We Have Lost Our Democracy?
www.nytimes.com
May 11, 2025 at 4:22 PM
I'm drifting away...I hate to disappoint anyone who has "liked" my posts and I appreciate each of you very much. I won't go back to what was Twitter but I miss the energy.
I'll stay here but won't be active.
My energy now is focused on the care of my husband.
Jesus is Lord...nothing else matters.
May 2, 2025 at 9:05 PM
King Charles III sent a message about the Pope's death. He spoke warmly about his meetings with Francis, then gave thanks for "this faithful servant of Jesus Christ."
The Queen spoke of her faith in Jesus in her last Xmas messages, but I have never heard KC3 name him so clearly before. A good thing.
April 26, 2025 at 1:43 AM
I got an email from a young theological student who was not happy to hear an Easter sermon about "the resurrections that happen in our lives."
How rare it is to hear a sermon that declares with Tom Holland (see link below) "THEY SAW SOMETHING." And because they saw something they changed the world.
April 22, 2025 at 12:18 PM
This is one of the best Easter sermons I have ever heard/read. I have heard Ben deHart preach often enough to be able to summon up his passion, energy, and seriousness...plus a rock solid biblical faith.

open.substack.com/pub/bendehar...
What the Resurrection Does
I believe the Resurrection of Christ actually happened.
open.substack.com
April 21, 2025 at 1:18 AM
Here is my Easter present to everyone.
Here is an avowed nonbeliever (so he says...😉) and my new friend, testifying to the truth of the Resurrection more convincingly than any Easter sermon I've ever heard or ever preached.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry77...
Tom Holland: Jesus' Disciples Saw SOMETHING. (Clip)
YouTube video by Speak Life
www.youtube.com
April 20, 2025 at 1:47 AM
Willie James Jennings' Good Friday sermons are now on YouTube. Look for them on the St Thomas 5th Ave website.
I know a thing or two about preaching the Seven Last Words...this is at the highest level of theological drama.
We listened to two of them tonight and the rest tomorrow. What a blessing.
April 19, 2025 at 1:24 AM
I apologize for the impropriety of pointing to my own work on this day....but since there is so little Good Friday preaching going on now in the churches, my two (2) books of Good Friday sermons may be of help to some, God wiling.
Listening to Fleming Rutledge today. @frutledge.bsky.social
April 19, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Tomorrow, Good Friday, Willie James Jennings will be the Seven Words preacher at St Thomas 5th. I wouldn't miss it.
It saddens me that the three hours of preaching that ruled when I was younger barely exists any more. I was honored to preach 35+ (lost count) Good Friday services. What happened?
April 18, 2025 at 1:38 AM
There are wonderful opportunities online for Holy Week. I just listened to Andrew McGowan at St Thomas 5th tonight...
saintthomaschurch.org/events/the-m...
[Holy Week 2025 Triduum Maundy Thursday] The Mass of the Lord's Supper
Thursday, April 17, 2025 @ 5:30 p.m.Sung by the Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys. Sermon by The Very Rev. Andrew McGowan, Dean of the Berkeley Divinity School and McFaddin Professor of Anglican Stud...
saintthomaschurch.org
April 18, 2025 at 1:32 AM
There's a problem with the much-loved Holy Week hymn, "My song is love unknown." It's moving, but it's all about "my" vs. "they."

Contrast that with the greater (IMO) hymn, "Ah, holy Jesus":

Who was the guilty?
'Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied thee;
I crucified thee.

See them at Hymnary.org
April 17, 2025 at 3:23 AM
Andrew McGowan is one of the most respected thinkers and leaders anywhere in the business of theological education. He is also a remarkably incisive commentator on the dire situation we are in. It's not preachable, but preachers today have got to get a grip on what this Australian is saying.
The Nazis would have killed (sic) to have this guy.
ICE director envisions Amazon-like mass deportation system: ‘Prime, but with human beings’

michiganadvance.com/2025/04/09/i...
April 14, 2025 at 12:24 AM
Dear friends, no one can fathom the depths we are suddenly in, just these last two months. The future of America the Beautiful is gravely endangered. As we enter Holy Week, may we be instant in worship, prayer, and Scripture--to strengthen us for a gospel witness as the Spirit moves we know not how
April 13, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Its occurs to me that observance of Holy Week is a profound moment of truth for Christian faith. Deep rooting in the traditional liturgy, when it is not modified beyond recognition by trendy manipulation, is an antidote for the kind of "Christianity" that we see propping up the MAGA ideology.
April 10, 2025 at 2:58 PM
This is beyond belief: Jim Wallis' book (among many others) banned at the Naval Academy. The "Christian" beliefs of JD Vance, Pete Hegseth, and other cohorts are so twisted as to be unrecognizable.
religionnews.com/2025/04/07/m...
My book was just banned from the US Naval Academy library
(RNS) — Book bans are an aggressive, systemic form of lying. This one takes aim at key texts at the intersection of religion and racial justice.
religionnews.com
April 10, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Val Kilmer. Never mind Batman, Top Gun, etc. His Doc Holliday is the most mesmerizing. I'm not interested in most of Tombstone but I've viewed it 3 times to see Doc. He's my huckleberry.
And I've used "It's not revenge he's after; it's a reckoning" to help interpret God's ultimate purpose vs. evil.
April 4, 2025 at 2:51 AM
Watch for the name of Moumen al-Natour. According to the WashPost today he is emerging as the leader of a non-violent movement against Hamas. The short Wiki account gives the basics. I will be fervently praying for him.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moumen_...
Moumen al-Natour - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
March 31, 2025 at 1:19 AM
Nobody preaches the way Andy Buchanan does. Don't even think about trying it. But any sermon of his will give you a shot of adrenaline. My husband and I listen to him a lot. Here's just one (website of Galilee Church, Virginia Beach)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gB9...
Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost | 11/3/2024
YouTube video by Galilee Church
www.youtube.com
March 17, 2025 at 1:01 AM
"Jesus is Lord, and everything else is bull...."
--Stanley Hauerwas
(and Will Campbell chiming in)

Thanks to Jason Micheli for this 😘
March 16, 2025 at 1:58 AM
O Lord of the nations, your ways are hidden. Human history contains such suffering, so many evils. Yet great historians have acknowledged the extraordinary staying power of American democracy thus far. We look to you for leaders to emerge in our time of desperate need.
In the Name of the one King.
March 16, 2025 at 1:42 AM
David French is one of the best writers about our present crisis and the responsibility of the churches. Follow him here and on many other sites.
If the Biden administration had done this, it would be deemed proof of the Democrats' hostility to religion. But Trump is doing it, so his Christian allies turn against Christian ministries and gut their ability to serve the poorest of the poor. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Trump’s foreign aid demolition hits major Christian charities
In a closed-door meeting, U.S. officials touted their success in “zeroing out” foreign assistance, but the downsizing has clipped religious allies, too.
www.washingtonpost.com
March 9, 2025 at 4:50 PM
We Episcopalians lost so much when we gave this up. I grew up with it from early childhood, being in a Morning Prayer parish. It comforts me still, just as it was with the "offensive" phrases still in place.
March 8, 2025 at 1:57 PM
March 8, 2025 at 1:40 PM
I've been continuing my study of the American Revolution which I have been working on for several years now. It's very therapeutic. I have always thought that the "committees of correspondence" connecting patriots throughout the colonies might be a model for resistance in the church of today.
March 5, 2025 at 3:44 AM
I was electrified by the splendid Fareed Zakaria, talking with brainy Ezra Klein on Ezra's podcast. It's long, but it's riveting and DEEP. If you don't have an hour and a half, start in the middle and listen to their testimony about Christianity. Find it on the usual podcast video sites...
March 5, 2025 at 12:26 AM