And so to you, beloved of God at the church of the Good Shepherd:
The apostolic ministry has lost standing in the Episcopal Church, even in Virginia where it used to be very highly valued. Here in this parish, however, you have responded to it, and that is a cause for great thanksgiving and great hope. There is no greater need in the church today than that of feeding the flock with the full, concrete, biblical, Trinitarian content of the gospel of Jesus Christ crucified and risen. Ross Wright has spent his entire life studying that full content. In your embrace of him to be your rector, you have an idea of what you are receiving, and that is therefore part of your calling also, your service also. That reception of the gospel translates into the good works that identify Christ’s life in the world. Christ’s life, not ours. The transcendent power belongs to God and not to you, to God and not to me, to God and not to Ross.
It will cost Ross a good deal to bring you this message week in and week out, as it costs every parish priest, but you will receive life from it. The transcendent power of God is defined by Paul in Romans as the power that raises the dead and calls into existence the things that do not yet exist (Romans :17). And as you receive that divine life, you will be moved, invigorated, and sustained by it. It will send you out to serve his needy, broken, suffering world””the world for which he poured out his life, the world for which he gave himself in surpassing love, for which he conquered death, and for which he came again in the fulness of his resurrection power to bear you up in all your trials and bring you into his everlasting kingdom.
As much as I hate to admit it, being vehemently oppossed to WO, this is an excellent sermon.
This is a powerful sermon, rich in scripture, reflective. Moreover it manages that difficult balance of being both affirming and challenging. Thank you Kendall for posting it. It gives me lots to ponder and be nourished by.
She’s always good.
In fact, the only thing that bothers me about Fleming Rutledge is that she was not the first female Presiding Bishop.
Anyone know if her “generous orthodoxy” includes a pro-gay stance?
What does “pro-gay” mean? I thought the issue was whether sexually active non-married persons should be priests or bishops. How does pro or anti figure into it?
I’m not sure what she means by distinguishing the diaconate from the task of messenger or herald. Deacons read the the Gospel. Deacons preach and teach. What deacons don’t do is celebrate the Eucharist. No priest-No Eucharist.
@NoVA Scout–the answer to your question is easily answered by doing a search on Rutledge’s website.
I don’t comment much on Episcopal affairs anymore, now that I’m in an ACNA parish, but it was good to read this sermon. Ross gave good friendship and spiritual counsel to me when I was a graduate student worshiping at Grace Church, New York; I had lost track of him, and am glad to know that he is still a priest. As for Fleming, her sermons at Grace were always thought-provoking and so vivid that I still remember some of what she said, nearly thirty years later. May God continue to bless both of them as they minister where they believe He has placed them.