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Adam and Eve

The Cosmic Do-Over Button

Fall and Creation
By Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch
July 20, 2014
St. Stephen Presbyterian Church
Fort Worth, TX

Romans 8:12-25

“Western Christians have imagined that, at the end of the day, God is going to throw the present space-time universe into a trashcan and we’ll be sitting on clouds playing harps. The ultimate future that we’re promised is much more interesting than that. It’s new heavens and a new Earth with new bodies to live in.”—N. T. Wright

I’m a year out from the 30th anniversary of my ordination in 1985. Don’t worry, I’m not fishing for another party like the one you threw me for my 10th anniversary. Frankly, the 30th anniversary of my ordination only reminds me of how old I am. But I do often have a fantasy. I sometimes wish I could go back to those first early years of my ministry, when I was a solo pastor of a small but wonderful little inner city church in Virginia, and start over again, but with all the knowledge that I’ve garnered from the past twenty-nine years. There were many good things about my years there, but many things that didn’t go so well either because of my personal shortcomings or because I simply didn’t know enough. That church in 1985 would benefit so much from what I know today in 2014 about pastoral care, preaching, worship leadership, community engagement, and social justice.Read More »The Cosmic Do-Over Button

All Things New

Revelation 21: 1-6

All Saints Sunday

All things new.

That’s what we believe as Christians.

A new heaven. A new earth.  Everyone of our loved ones who has died in the faith, possibly a whole lot of others, maybe even everybody, made completely new. You and me, made completely new.Read More »All Things New

Is It Job’s Fault–Or God’s?

Fault-Finding
By Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch
October 14, 2012
St. Stephen Presbyterian Church
Fort Worth, TX


Job 23: 1-9, 16-17

In our Old Testament scripture for today, Job longs to find a place where he can present his case for a fair hearing before God.

If only I knew where to find him; if only I could go to his dwelling! I would state my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would find out what he would answer me, and consider what he would say. Would he oppose me with great power? No, he would not press charges against me. There an upright man could present his case before him, and I would be delivered forever from my judge.

As Gerald Janzen points out, this is a “utopian” vision, for Job’s point is that such a place is “utopia”—a word that means “nowhere.” There’s no place where he could get that fair hearing where God would see the error of His godly ways in causing Job to suffer so, and would amend them. You see, here in essence is Job’s complaint: It’s not fair. The universe is not fair. The good people often suffer and the bad people often prosper. Suffering seems to happen without any direct connection to whether somebody deserves it. His complaint is that he thought that we live in a moral universe, and it turns out apparently we don’t.Read More »Is It Job’s Fault–Or God’s?