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Loving A Whole God

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Loving a Whole God

Luke 7: 36-8:3

 Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch

 “She is a sinner.” Well, we know what that means. Prostitute, right?

Well, maybe. But the definition of “sinner” could have been so broad as to include a great swath of behavior we wouldn’t even think questionable in our culture today. Divorce. People who live together before marriage. You know. Normal people.Read More »Loving A Whole God

This Life We Live

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John 11                                   This Life We Live                              Rev. Beth Hessel

St. Stephen Presbyterian Church                                                        9 June 2013

 

James had been a chubby, happy baby his first year. His parents and big brother delighted in him. Knowing this youngest was her final baby, James’s mother drew out nursing, cherishing those quiet moments before her active boy wiggled away. He weaned at 18 months. Immediately, his parents noticed a decline, as James lost weight and strength. Tests revealed a pernicious cancer from which his mother’s milk had protected him.  The family fought, oh, how they fought for life. But at five, James couldn’t fight anymore. He died at home, in his father’s arms.

Read More »This Life We Live

FINDING YOUR VOICE UNDER A SILENT HEAVEN

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FINDING YOUR VOICE UNDER A SILENT HEAVEN[1]

1 Kings 18.17-49   Psalm 96    Galatians 1.1-12   John 6.53-71

June 2, 2013

Rev. Dr. Warner M. Bailey

It is wonderful to hear “God Bless America” being sung these days at ball parks, hockey rinks, and race tracks.  In the face of horrific acts of random violence, it is a testimony to our determination, our stamina, our grit as Americans.  As a someone who loves his country, I am proud to be an American and to sing what has become our second national anthem.Read More »FINDING YOUR VOICE UNDER A SILENT HEAVEN

The Wounds of the (Holy) Spirit

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Pentecost 2013

John 20: 19-29

Genesis 11: 1-9

 Leonard Cohen once wrote, “A scar is what happens when the word is made flesh.” A lot of us know that, and know it profoundly. We know that love hurts. We know it when our loved ones are declining in health, and there’s nothing to do about it. We know it when our children take risks and make mistakes or simply seem so vulnerable and we can’t help them or they don’t let us help them.  We know it when we’re shocked, stunned, and grieved by a disaster of regional impact, like the recent tornadoes or the explosion in West. We know it when there’s a disaster of national impact, like 9-11 or the bombing at the Boston Marathon, and we all feel vulnerable and want to dig a hole and hide.

When the Word has been made flesh in our lives, and the Divine has touched our hearts and souls, we’re vulnerable. We’re certain to get wounded.Read More »The Wounds of the (Holy) Spirit

Jacob Fergus’ Senior Sermon!

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Turn and Walk In

By Jacob Fergus

May 12, 2013

Senior Sermon, Youth Sunday

John 13: 1-17

Revelation 22: 12-17

 

Jesus Christ, Savior of the World, affirms his role on earth: “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am.” This attitude is rare for Jesus, who, when facing Pilot and certain death, did not confirm his stature. Following the washing of feet Jesus chooses to take this momentous step in order to make a stern point: “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you…no servant is greater than his master.”Read More »Jacob Fergus’ Senior Sermon!

Pilate vs. Jesus

The Cross and the Crown

By Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch
St. Stephen Presbyterian Church
Fort Worth, TX

March 24, 2013
Palm/Passion Sunday
John 19: 1-16

Biblical scholars Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan claim that what we call Jesus’ “Triumphal entry” happened at the same exact moment as, on the other side of Jerusalem, at a more prominent gate of the city,  Pontius Pilate made his ceremonial entrance into the city. Pilate was the Roman procurator of Judea, the man appointed by the Roman emperor Tiberius to govern Judea. Judea was Rome’s most unruly province. Every year, at Passover, Pilate came with a procession of soldiers in full military regalia, to back up the already strong presence of the Praetorian Guard that was always stationed in Jerusalem. He came because it was during Passover that the most Jews were present in Jerusalem and that any agitation against Rome would most likely take place.

If Crossan and Borg are right, then Pilate’s entourage was being imitated, and mocked, at the other end of the city by a lowly Galilean peasant carpenter, riding a donkey, greeted by excited revelers, laying out coats and waving palm fronds in deliberate parody of Pilate’s entrance to the city. (Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus’ Final Days in Jerusalem. HarperCollins Paperback, 2007, pp. 2-5)

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Teachable Moments

TEACHABLE MOMENTS

Joshua 4.1-7 and 4.15-5.1

I Timothy 4:6-13     Luke 2:41-52

The Rev. Dr. Warner M. Bailey

January 27, 2013

A class of fourth graders was given the overnight assignment by their teacher to write a one page paper about their family roots.  One fourth grade boy asked his mother for help on his paper, but he neglected to tell her it would be read in class the next day.Read More »Teachable Moments