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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

PC(USA) Sanctions Against Israel Are the Wrong Way to the Right Answer

I will be away from June 12-18 to attend the Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly in Detroit. I will be there not as a delegate, but as an advocate, hoping to dissuade commissioners from voting in favor of divesting from, boycotting, or sanctioning Israel and businesses supporting it. Those who promote boycott, divestment, and sanctions (called “the BDS movement”) are good-hearted people outraged by the plight of Palestinians in the occupied territories. Unfortunately, sanctions on Israel are not a solution to the problem and reflect a misunderstanding of the situation on the ground. Furthermore, for our church to promote such sanctions will only further alienate our Jewish friends in the United States while doing little or nothing to advance us to a positive role in promoting peace in the Middle East. To take such a position undermines the very nature of Presbyterian peacemaking: we are a reconciling community, not one that chooses sides.Read More »PC(USA) Sanctions Against Israel Are the Wrong Way to the Right Answer