Weeds and Wheat
Matthew 13: 24-30, 36-43
July 17, 2011
St. Stephen Presbyterian Church
Fort Worth, TX
Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch, Preacher
Some of you may remember a sermon I did a few years ago about the problem of Trumpet Vines growing in our yard and garden, and our quest to get rid of them permanently. I tried many things, a large number of which you all suggested. And guess what:
They’re ba-ack.Read More »Wheat and Weeds
We are studying the story of Jacob and his family in our weekly Bible Study. It’s a story that reminds us why the Bible is a better book than we give it credit for. Jacob is a scoundrel, a liar, and too clever by half. He ends us fathering the Twelve Tribes of Israel because he’s outsmarted by his father-in-law Laban, who tricks him into marrying the daughter he doesn’t want to marry so that he can marry the one he does want to marry. There’s more sex, family dysfunction, and intrigue in this story than there is in Desperate Housewives. God is, at least to the protagonists, almost an afterthought, a bit player in their family drama. But through it all, God is working God’s purpose out. Through Jacob’s line the blessing that God has promised the world through Abraham’s heirs is perpetuated.
I asked everyone, “How does this story affect the way you look at your own dysfunctional family?”
Matthew 13: 1-9, 13-16
July 10, 2011
St. Stephen Presbyterian Church
Fort Worth, TX
Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch, Preacher
When we lived in rural Virginia, when Margaret was pregnant with our first child Sara Caitlin, we decided to plant a vegetable garden across the street from the manse, right next to a cow pasture. We planted watermelon, cantelope, tomatoes, squash, beans, lettuce, and corn. We’d climb over the barbed wire fence and get cow pies to fertilize it. We were especially proud of our corn, because all the corn farmers around us told us we’d never grow any. The problem, they said, was that we’d planted one row of corn, and you need two rows to cross-pollinate. So when we grew a row of healthy, juicy corn, they were a bit put off. But in reality, we grew that corn because of them. A quarter mile away in any direction there were acres and acres of corn. The wind blew, the bees buzzed between rows of corn. And ultimately our little row of corn was the beneficiary. So really, our row of corn was growing thanks to all those farmers who told us the corn would never grow. They were pollinating our corn but they didn’t know it.Read More »Seeds–Matthew 13
Remember when you were a kid, and you looked forward to summer as the time when things slowed down and you got to play and relax and watch TV and sleep late and go to the beach? That early training sticks with me as an adult. I still imagine summer is going to be slow and relaxed.
Of course, the truth was I spent a whole lot of the summer pretty bored, wishing there was something to do.
And there’s plenty to do here at SSPC! Summer is prime time for ministry. Whether it’s celebrations, summer camps, reaching out to the needy struggling through this hot Texas summer, or preparing for the upcoming year, one thing I can say with authority is that summers are NOT slow at St. Stephen.Read More »Summertime, and the Livin’ is Easy–Not!
The Room in the Inn program, in support of the homeless,continues its fourth summer session at St.Stephen! Beginning Tuesday, July 5, and continuing each Tuesday… Read More »Room in the Inn, Our Ministry with the Homeless
Please join us for an annual tradition at St. Stephen–“A Poppin’ Fourth on the Hill”! Our beautiful lawn is the perfect setting for a Fourth… Read More »A Poppin’ Fourth on July 3rd!
Genesis 22: 1-14
St. Stephen Presbyterian Church
Fort Worth, TX
Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch, Preacher
The Tuesday Bible Study has focused on Genesis and just recently we did the story of Abraham taking Isaac to be sacrificed. One of the participants said, “Why all of a sudden is Abraham so docile, so unquestioning? What happened to the guy who negotiated with God over whether to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah? If Abraham was willing to negotiate with God to save such wicked cities, why wouldn’t he negotiate with God for his own son?”
It’s a good question.Read More »Holy Chutzpa
Several years ago a gay male couple came to St. Stephen with their son, seeking to have their son baptized. They shared that they’d had an unfortunate experience at the large Houston church they’d previously attended. Both had been deeply involved at the church for years. Both had taught Sunday school or served on important committees. It was known in the church that they were a couple, but they never felt ostracized until they went to the church’s leadership, the Session, and asked to baptize their son.Read More »Presbyterian?
When I became a Christian as a teen in the ’70s, Billy Graham was the guy I looked to. I read Decision Magazine avidly every month. I like to tell people that “I was a teenage Evangelical.”
But when I went to college, I began to fall away from my early evangelical roots. Then, too, I discovered a soulmate and guide in Billy Graham, whose post-Nixon soul-searching led him to question some of the assumptions that had driven his early ministry–assumptions about God’s anointment of leaders, the unblemished blessedness of the American Way, and the necessity of nuclear weapons. He was a harbinger of a new, broader-minded evangelicalism, and you see his spiritual children in the likes of Rob Bell. And, I hope, in me. Graham’s humble, honest search for a broader way to represent Biblical truth in a political setting helped me return to my own evangelical roots.Read More »I Miss Billy Graham
by Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch
Yesterday–Pentecost–started out appropriately enough with some surprises. The sanctuary air conditioning didn’t work. This is Texas in the summer–you want the A/C to work! While a crackerjack team of retired General Dynamics engineers worked to solve the problem, folks at the 8:30 service sat faithfully through a very, very warm service. I kidded that the heat reminded us of the Tongues of Fire and the breeze blowing through the open doors reminded us of the Wind of the Spirit, both of which came upon the city of Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost 2000 years ago. I don’t know if anybody thought I was funny….!Read More »Pentecost Promise
