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The Virtues, Part I: Humility

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2 Kings 5: 1-14

This is the first of a series on the virtues. 

 

“Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real.” Thomas Merton

This past week we heard about the tragic deaths of nineteen Granite Mountain Hot-shots, top firefighters who were killed in a forest fire in Arizona. We are all moved by their bravery and by their sacrifice. These are men who demonstrate arête, the Greek virtue of excellence—they strived and succeeded at being the best of the best, part of a world-wide elite of firefighters. They died doing what they believed in and what they trained for, and so, according to the Greek heroic tradition, they died a good death, and therefore lived a good life.

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LET’S MAKE THE CHURCH TOGETHER

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2 Kings 2: 1-2, 6-14  *  Psalm 77

Galatians 5:1, 13-26  *  Luke 9: 51-62 

June 30, 2013

Rev. Dr. Warner M. Bailey

Over the last few weeks billions of cicada grubs have awakened from 17 years of subterranean slumber to emerge into the bright sunshine of America’s Mid-Atlantic states.[i]  Their strange cycle brought vast swarms of males swirling above the trees who created a tremendous racket in the hope of mating, frantically, then to die, unlamented, leaving behind eggs that will hatch in another 17 years.Read More »LET’S MAKE THE CHURCH TOGETHER

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.

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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 Holy Trinity: The Many Faces of God

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Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31

Romans 5:1-5

St. John 16:12-15

My years acting gave me a different perspective on what it means to be a human being. I have played MacBeth, the tyrannical, power-hungry King of Scotland. I have played one of the ditzy star-crossed lovers in A Midsummer’s Night Dream. I played a comic character in Neil Simon’s The Good Doctor and Don Juan in Man and Superman and lots of what are called “spear-carrier” roles, where you’re really nobody but simply a tool to carry forward the plot, you know, the messenger or something. And I’ve played Jesus Christ.Read More »The Holy Trinity: The Many Faces of God

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!

Chapter VII: The Cowtown Christ Is Dead

We Crucify the Cowtown Christ, II: The Cowtown Christ is Dead

John 13:1-18

Jesse the Cowtown Christ had become a political lightning rod. On one side were the far-left wing liberals, calling attention to the fact that Jude, a prominent psychiatrist, had declared Jesse in need of serious mental health treatment. Well, she wasn’t going to get any decent treatment in Texas, they said, noting the shortage of mental health services in the Lone Star State. And anyway, isn’t threatening to lock up or deport Jesse just a way for “The Man” to quiet dissent? Kinky Friedman put together a “Free Jesse” Concert in Zilker Park.Read More »Chapter VII: The Cowtown Christ Is Dead

Chapter VI: We Crucify the Cowtown Christ, Part One: To Tell the Truth

By Fritz Ritsch

John 18: 28-38

 For a couple of days after their arrests for interrupting the broadcast of the National Day of Prayer in Cowboys Stadium, Jesse the Cowtown Christ, and Peter and Mary, her two self-acknowledged accomplices, wore the orange jumpsuits of the Tarrant County Jail on Weatherford. They were represented by a law firm that specialized in federal crime. Jesse had no clue who had hired the law firm until their very expensive bonds were paid and they were released on their own recognizance. As they were leaving the courthouse with their lawyer, they were met by two men Jesse knew: the rich man from her old church job who had tried to pay for her to start a new church, and the political power-broker who’d tried to get her to run for office.Read More »Chapter VI: We Crucify the Cowtown Christ, Part One: To Tell the Truth