The Bible and the New York Times
Rutledge, Fleming
Commonweal 30 September 10,1999 THE WORD OF RECORD Robert P. Imbclll Recently, while preparing a Sunday sermon, I came upon a quote from the English novelist P.D. James. "Sermons," opined...
...He or she must enter into "the strange new world of the Bible" and wrestle with the Word (as Jacob did with the angel) in order to bring forth a blessing of transforming judgment and grace...
...The Times, on the other hand, represents the multiple worlds that form and often deform the lives of God's people...
...As the graphics of the book's cover illustrate and as the sermons themselves testify, Bible and newspaper do not receive here equal billing...
...Clearly not a sentiment destined to enhance the preacher's self-esteem...
...Now I gratefully add a new and distinctive voice of homiletic inspiration and instruction: Fleming Rutledge...
...In the face of this, Rutledge's sermons manifest a two-fold...
...Sermons," opined James, "are the most ephemeral of prose writings...
...The evangelical call to conversion holds the primacy: the renewal of minds and hearts according to the pattern of Christ...
...Now the preacher bears, as Barth insisted, a crucial ministry...
...whether the wedding at Cana, the parable of the Good Samaritan, or even the Crucifixion...
...And the church daily takes up this cry as it begins the Prayer of the Hours...
...As the Spirit moves, I dip into Augustine or Bernard, Newman or Barth...
...In every case "repetition threatens to make the story stale...
...From this perspective, then, the preacher's task is "ephemeral...
...Barth-inspired," because it echoes the great theologian's persuasion that the preacher must undertake his or her awesome duty with the Bible in one hand and the daily newspaper in the other...
...If today you hear God's voice, harden not your hearts," the psalmist proclaims and warns...
...One difficulty every preacher must confront is the sheer familiarity of the biblical narrative: whether that of Adam and Eve, Abraham, or Moses...
...Rutledge, a priest of the Episcopal church, has published her fine collection of sermons under the Barth-in-spired title, The Bible and the New York Times...
...It seeks nothing less than to relate the biblical Word to the "everyday," thus actualizing the Word and enlivening the everyday with God's presence and call...
...Indeed, the ongoing challenge and responsibility of our entire Christian life is to realize (in the strong sense intended by Newman) the Word of God in the everyday of faith...
...Still, I must confess to being a surreptitious reader of collected sermons, for both personal edification and professional stimulus...
Vol. 126 • September 1999 • No. 15
