{"id":108209,"date":"2021-12-26T17:22:18","date_gmt":"2021-12-26T22:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=108209"},"modified":"2021-12-26T17:24:49","modified_gmt":"2021-12-26T22:24:49","slug":"a-fleming-rutledge-story-fron-new-york-for-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=108209","title":{"rendered":"A Fleming Rutledge story from New York for Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

From there<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u2018Years ago when I served at a church in New York City, I used to hang around with some urbane literary types, most of them disdainful of religion. I have never forgotten one conversation I had. The man in question, knowing I was a priest of the church, made a confession to me. He told me very sheepishly that he had done something behind his wife\u2019s back. Apparently she had long since banished every hint of religion from their household. She held Christian faith in contempt, as a relic of a superstitious and unenlightened era. Church, of course, was out of the question. Her husband told me that he found himself so longing to hear the story from St. Luke that he smuggled a small King James Bible into the bathroom, locked the door, and read it to himself. That\u2019s a true story. I\u2019ve been thinking about it ever since. Do you think that his wife would have required him to take \u201c\u2019Twas the Night Before Christmas\u201d into the bathroom? Or \u201cA Child\u2019s Christmas in Wales\u201d? Or Dickens\u2019 A Christmas Carol? It\u2019s something to think about, isn\u2019t it? The only Christmas story that has something transcendent about it is Luke\u2019s. That\u2019s why it continues to have a hold on people. God is in this story. Something greater than the birth of a baby is here. This is a story about something mysterious, something ultimate.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

–used by yours truly in the Christmas Eve sermon<\/p>\n

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The Light of the World (Nativity), 1750
By
Francois Boucher (1703-1770)#Christmas<\/a> #ReligiousArt<\/a> #CatholicArt<\/a> #Jesus<\/a>❤️#25DaysOfChristmas<\/a> #KalinaB<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/xGagmUpsoX<\/a><\/p>\n

— Kalina Boulter (@KalinaBoulter) December 25, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n