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Stop Trying to Understand, and Believe!

Appearances Deceiving
By Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch
Easter Day, 2015
John 20: 1-18
Isaiah 25: 6-9

How do we believe what we don’t understand?

That’s what happens to the disciple who loved Jesus when he entered the tomb and saw Jesus’ shroud lying there where Jesus’ body had once lain. The Bible says, “He saw and believed,” but then adds, “They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.” So the disciple who entered the tomb—John, the gospel writer—believes, even though he doesn’t understand. Apparently his theology is not sufficient to cope with what he is experiencing. Apparently he doesn’t fully grasp the intricacies of the Chalcedonian Definition of the Dual Nature of Jesus, or the Five Points of Calvinism. Worse, he doesn’t understand the most basic, basic, core principle of Christianity: the actual resurrection of Jesus our Lord. John, the apostle, the Gospel writer, the Disciple who Jesus loved, John himself doesn’t understand that Jesus is raised from the dead!

And yet, he believes.Read More »Stop Trying to Understand, and Believe!

The Myth of Redemptive Violence

Rainbow Connection
by Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch
February 22, 2015
First Sunday of Lent
Genesis 9: 8-17

Chaos. Disorder. That’s what seems to be on the news all the time. The rise of ISIS. The spread of diseases. Civil unrest. And let’s be honest—ever since 9/11 people have been afraid. Certainly we’ve been afraid of things real and tangible, but fear has also been exploited—by politicians, by the news media, by entertainment. It’s a fear of a rising tide of chaos and unrest.

And yet, our Gospel tells us (Mark 1: 9-15) that Jesus came to proclaim “good news.” How can we proclaim–and believe–good news in these challenging times?Read More »The Myth of Redemptive Violence

Is God With Us?

On the Shoulders or On the Rock

Exodus 7: 1-7

If you’ve been following the story of the Exodus so far, then it will come as no surprise to you that the children of Israel wandering in the desert are complaining. This time, they want water! Once again Moses is on the spot. But God reassures him. Strike the rock with your stick, and water will come out of it. What God actually says, is: “Here, I stand before you on the rock at Horev. You are to strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people shall drink.” Moses does what God says and the people drink. And Moses calls the place Massah and Meriba, “testing” and “quarreling,” because of the contentious questioning of the people, who wondered, according to scripture: “Is God among us, or not?”[1]Read More »Is God With Us?

Faithfulness Builds Hope

The Kingdom Come: God’s Beloved Community
Romans 8:26-39
Matthew 13:31-33; 44-52

“But the end is reconciliation; the end is redemption; the end is the creation of the beloved community. It is this type of spirit and this type of love that can transform opposers into friends. It is this type of understanding goodwill that will transform the deep gloom of the old age into the exuberant gladness of the new age. It is this love which will bring about miracles in the hearts of men.”—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “Facing the Challenge of a New Age,” 1956

A story very familiar to long-time St. Stephen members but which may be new to the rest of you is the story of The Hole. You see, the idea of this gothic cathedral has been around since the forties, when the session of old Broadway Presbyterian Church first dreamed of moving here. Plans were drawn up, some of which we have framed on the wall in the church office. The original sanctuary, what’s now the Parish Hall, was built immediately after the church moved to this site in the 1950s.Read More »Faithfulness Builds Hope

The Virtues: Love

Luke 10: 21-36

This is the second of a series on the virtues.

The other day someone asked me, “What is love?” It’s an important question. The Bible teaches from beginning to end, “Love your neighbor,” so “what is love?” is a crucial question.

It’s not the one that the lawyer asks Jesus.

Instead he asks, “Who is my neighbor?”Read More »The Virtues: Love

The Holy Trinity: The Many Faces of God

 To Listen to this Sermon, click here -> http://sermon.net/ststphnfw/sermonid/1200034688

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

A Personal Journey, 8: God’s Kingdom of Forgiveness

A Canterbury Tale

By the end of my sophomore year at Hampden-Sydney College, Inter-Varsity, our official campus fellowship group, was becoming more exclusionary and judgmental. There were standards that brooked no room for questions or disagreement. I was increasingly frustrated for my friends in IV who had questions, or were troubled in their souls, or who didn’t toe the fundamentalist line, or who weren’t quite pretty enough, cool enough, or secure enough in their faith to fit the IV model. Don’t get me wrong, there were many good, faithful people in IV–but the tenor of the group had become increasingly “Us against Them”–us against the “liberal religion professors,” us against the fratty boys, us against the Creeping Religion of Secular Humanism. Us against the world.Read More »A Personal Journey, 8: God’s Kingdom of Forgiveness

A Personal Journey, 5: Love vs. Legalism

About six years ago, St. Stephen hosted two speakers, pro and con, on the issue of ordination of LGBT folk in the PCUSA. The issue had heated up again with the “Peace, Unity and Purity” Task Force Report to the 217th PCUSA General Assembly in 2006. The task force comprised 20 pastors and theologians on both sides of the issue of gay ordination. They advocated a “season of discernment” before any final decisions were made; but during that season there should be a “live and let live” attitude in which no one–pastor, officer, or governing body–was prosecuted for ordaining, or not ordaining, according to their conscience. It seemed a good time for a public presentation of the issues.

The first speaker was the Rev. Dr. X (forgive me for using pseudonyms–I would prefer to focus on issues, not people!). Dr. X had written a book about his own journey from evangelical condemnation of homosexuality to faithful acceptance. The next week we hosted Dr. Y, a strong critic of ordination of LGBT folk. Both nights were well attended, by people from both church and community. Many of our gay and lesbian members, and folks on both sides of the issue attended. Dr. X was well-received, but Dr. Y was not, and the reason was simple: he was a legalist.Read More »A Personal Journey, 5: Love vs. Legalism