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Now In Flesh Appearing

John 1: 16-30

December 11, 2011

Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch, Preacher

 

The Christian message, simply put, is this: Jesus shows us everything we need to know about God.

Is there more to know about God than Jesus? Absolutely. But everything that matters about God we learn through Jesus. We learn it though His teachings. We learn it through his life. We learn it through his death. We learn it through his resurrection. In Jesus, God is distilled to God’s essence.

Here’s what we learn about God, through Jesus.Read More »Now In Flesh Appearing

Christmas Worship & Music at St. Stephen

Christmas Eve at St. Stephen starts at 12:00 noon, Saturday, December 24, 2011, with a Service of Christmas Lessons and Carols in the Chapel of the Holy Trinity. The Chapel is located in the Education building. It is the first room on the left when you enter the education building from the covered walkway linking it to the sanctuary. Music will be led by a quintet of St. Stephen choristers. Read More »Christmas Worship & Music at St. Stephen

Why Be A Christian? Part One: Need

One of my former parishioners from Bethesda Presbyterian in Bethesda, MD, was in town last week for a conference. He lives, of all places, in London, England now. And he brought good news: he’s getting married to an English woman, a “barrister,” as the Brits call them. She sounds very intelligent, lively, and fun–perfect for my friend.

But she is not a Christian. She claims to be “agnostic,” but he suspects she’s just sugar-coating it “because she loves me.”Read More »Why Be A Christian? Part One: Need

“Tell Us, When Will This Be?”–Everyday Apocalypses


Mark 13: 24-37

November 27, 2011

Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch, Preacher

 

I’m sure we all remember the big billboards a few months ago announcing that The Judgment was coming on May 23, 2011, so we all better be ready. And of course, it didn’t, and then the purveyor of this idea, evangelist and radio host Harold Camping, said he’d made a slight math mistake—don’t we all make math mistakes?–and actually the day of the Lord was to arrive on October 21, and of course, it didn’t again, but I don’t think people were paying as much attention, so I suppose it could have come and nobody noticed it.Read More »“Tell Us, When Will This Be?”–Everyday Apocalypses

Why I Give To St. Stephen

Minute for Mission
November 2011
Written by Betty Arvin and Mark Thielman

I’ve been asked to talk to you about why you should consider pledging to St. Stephen. I don’t know why you should support this particular church. (Pause to see Fritz get a bit pale here.) What I mean by that is that church and faith are personal and individually centered. I can only tell you why I support St. Stephen.Read More »Why I Give To St. Stephen

THE NINETY-NINE AND THE ONE


Rev. Dr. Warner Bailey, Preacher
Ezekiel 34.1-24 Psalm 100 Ephesians 1.15-23 John 10.11-16
November 20, 2011

Before I go any further, I owe you a word of full disclosure. You may remember that you were told prior to the reading of the Old Testament lesson that what you would hear would be coming from the New Jerusalem Bible. If you were following the reading from your pew Bible, you were reading the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. The Jerusalem Bible comes from the work of scholars who are part of the Eccole Biblique in Jerusalem. The Eccole Biblique is an internationally respected school of biblical study founded by French Roman Catholic scholars. I chose the Jerusalem Bible over the pew Bible for today’s text because of what the Jerusalem Bible says God will do with the fat sheep when the new shepherd comes in judgment and salvation. The Jerusalem Bible says that the shepherd will watch over the fat sheep. The watching over is part of the overall plan to save the entire flock. Your pew Bible says that the savior-shepherd will destroy the fat sheep. Watch over or destroy. Those are pretty big alternatives.Read More »THE NINETY-NINE AND THE ONE

To Have and To Have Not


Matthew 25: 14-30

November 13, 2011

St. Stephen Presbyterian Church

Fort Worth, TX

Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch, Pastor

 

One of the great things about Facebook is the ability to get back in touch with people you haven’t seen in decades. Yes, decades. Like my high school friends. It’s kind of cool to see how they’ve turned out. Some of them are pretty much what I’d expect—the guy who I thought would be a preacher is a preacher; the guy who I thought would be a no-good ne’er do well is indeed a no-good ne’er do well. Most people grew up just to be themselves, but grown up—the same basic personalities and quirks and gifts and foibles, only now on an adult stage, with jobs, families, so on; and with adult problems, like unemployment, divorce, kids with problems.

There are some exceptions, though, like my friend Connie.Read More »To Have and To Have Not

A Board Member Says Good-bye

Yesterday was my last official meeting as a board member of the Presbyterian Night Shelter. Executive Director Toby Owen presented me with a beautiful plaque that is a photo montage of the clients PNS serves—homeless men and women, children from the Women and Children’s Unit, even a couple of staff members. Board President Steve McLauren asked me to close the meeting with prayer. I found myself choking up a bit. I thanked God that during the turmoil of the last six years, the PNS Board has remained focused on its purpose: serving the needs of the homeless in our community. I thanked God for an incredible board, forged by fire; and for an amazing staff, after years of uncertainty.

Read More »A Board Member Says Good-bye

System of a Down: What Sandusky’s Crimes Tell us about Dysfunctional Organizations

News comes today that the Penn State Board of Trustees has fired Head Coach Joe Paterno and college president Graham Spanier. This comes atop shocking reports of child sexual abuse by former Penn State defensive line coach Jerry Sandusky. A Pennsylvania Grand Jury has returned charges that Sandusky abused eight boys, starting as young as 8 years old, associated with a charity he started. At least two other Penn State officials are leaving/forced out of their jobs already, and no doubt more will come. Today police are determining who needs to be held accountable for a violent student uprising over the firing of Coach Paterno.

While it’s a shame that Paterno’s career has ended this way, these students need to recognize that this isn’t a steroid scandal. This is child sex abuse. It is shocking and inexcusable. Sandusky needs to be punished to the full extent of the law. Those boys are damaged for life. There is nothing the legal system can do that will give them back what they lost.

And like it or not, both Penn State in general, and Joe Pa in particular,  are accountable for it.

A graduate assistant informed Paterno of an egregious incident in 2002. Paterno referred him to college administrators. According to some accounts, Joe Pa became agitated and said, effectively, “don’t tell me about this, tell somebody else.”

This is where the Nittany Lions’ head coach went wrong.Read More »System of a Down: What Sandusky’s Crimes Tell us about Dysfunctional Organizations

Jesus, Plumber of our Souls

I live in a wonderful historic neighborhood inFort Worth, Fairmount, and one of its distinctions was that it had its own plumber, Gene Forman. Gene was a large, affable man in his early sixties who had created a niche for himself in our neighborhood. And we kept him and his erstwhile partner, Petey, plenty busy.

In fact, I thought us Ritsches needed to keep him on retainer. With all our failing pipes, new fixtures and water heaters, and impossible clogs, Gene and I got to be pretty good friends.

Gene and I talked a lot about faith. He had been involved in the founding of a church years ago. He’d been fond of the pastor and consequently been hands-on in both building the church and leading it for awhile. But for some reason–I gathered because of inevitable church politics–he’d gotten discouraged and fallen away. He may have been disappointed in the pastor. I’m not sure. It was years ago, and he hadn’t attended since.

Read More »Jesus, Plumber of our Souls