Quotes from Fleming Rutledge

The Christian life of obedience is, therefore, not a pilgrimage toward a goal, as is commonly supposed. It is a witness or signpost to that telos (end, goal) that has already been achieved by Christ the Kurios and will be consummated in the last day by the action of God

Indeed, as some of the Protestant traditions recognize, the symbol of a cross per se can all too readily become a mere token or amulet leading to superstition and magical thinking. Even worse, when detached from its significance, it can and often has become a sign denoting allegiance to a cause that mocks the very One who died in that way — the cross of Constantine, the Crusaders, and the Ku Klux Klan.

God's justice, as Desmond Tutu insisted, is not retributive but restorative.64 It is natural that many do not understand this, because "God's love, resisted, is felt as wrath.

Paul calls these Powers by the names of Sin and Death. These Powers cannot be accounted for simply as the product of individual guilt.

Here is an important distinction with far-reaching implications for Christian behavior. The deeds of Christians in this present time — however insignificant they may seem, however "vain" they may appear to those who value worldly success — are already being built into God's advancing kingdom.

From beginning to end, the Holy Scriptures testify that the predicament of fallen humanity is so serious, so grave, so irremediable from within, that nothing short of divine intervention can rectify it.

Whenever we are sure that we are among the righteous, we immediately find ourselves among the arrogant.

Our lives are eschatologically stretched between the sneak preview of the new world being born among us in the church, and the old world where the principalities and powers are reluctant to give way. In the meantime, which is the only time the church has ever known, we live as those who know something about the fate of the world that the world does not yet know. And that makes us different. —Will Willimon, Conversion in the Wesleyan Tradition

If our preaching does not intersect with the times, we are fleeing the call to take up the cross. We can learn from the example of Dostoevsky, who in The Brothers Karamazov used material that he read in the newspapers to give a human face to the problem of evil.

Justice for everyone is an alarming thought because it raises the possibility that it might come upon oneself after all. As the author of Ephesians puts it, "by nature" we are all "children of wrath, like the rest of mankind" (Eph. 2:3).

If sin is not exposed, named, and renounced, then there has been no justice and God is dishonored.

Perhaps the strongest statement we can make about the resurrection in this book about the crucifixion is that if Jesus had not been raised from the dead, we would never have heard of him.

If we think of Christian theology and ethics purely in terms of forgiveness, we will have neglected a central aspect of God's own character and will be in no position to understand the cross in its fullest dimension.

The New Testament writings all presuppose that the fallen human race and the equally fallen created order are sick unto death beyond human resourcefulness.

America had, I believe, a divine founding. Call it American exceptionalism if you like. But that makes America all the more vulnerable to God's judgment if we become accustomed to glamorizing war, excusing lies, and parading our might and dominance.

If you and I are resting or shirking or slacking, his Spirit is nevertheless on the move with somebody else somewhere else, for "behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep" (Ps. 121:4). God is always accomplishing his purposes.

The mercy of God does not depend on human virtue for its fulfillment.

Only those who are forgiven and who are willing to forgive will be capable of relentlessly pursuing justice without falling into the temptations to pervert it into injustice" (Exclusion and Embrace, 123).

Gross injustice demonstrates a basic premise: in our world, something is terribly wrong and cries out to be put right.

Although people feel blessed in the presence of a holy man who wants the world to be right and people to be happy, the holy man cannot make that happen.

When are we closest to God? When we see ourselves as we really are:

If some of those who listen to our sermons reject the message, that is not our worry - as long as it is truly the kerygma that we preach, and not some feeble imitation of it. Rejection is built into the vocation of the preacher. But hear this: The incarnate Word of God is a mighty sword put into your hand. Those who hear it will feel their chains cut off, their prison unlocked, their lungs filled with oxygen: