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Cry and Response

Moses Begins
by Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch
August 24, 2014
Exodus 1: 8-14; 22; 2: 1-10

“[Rabbi] Reshi gives credit to [the Egyptian Princess’] way of seeing; she ‘sees It, the Presence of God, with the child.’ Her way of seeing makes room for the ‘hidden sphere,’ the ‘complex ferment’ that is The Presence of God in the crying voice of a child.” Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg, The Particulars of Rapture

If you noticed that the title of this sermon sounds a lot like “Batman Begins,” there’s a reason for that. Moses Moses is the first true hero of two faiths. Even Jesus based his ministry on Moses’ model. Moses begins it all. Before Moses, there was no Hebrew people. Before Moses, the Hebrews had no coherent identity. Sources from Egyptian times, sources far more ancient than the Bible, tell us that a group of disparate tribes arrived in Egypt about the time of the Great Famine. They may not have seen themselves as connected to one another at all. But the Egyptians referred to them as a collective, much as we tend to call all people from the south of the border Hispanic or Latinos, whether they are Mexican or Guatemalan or Colombian. The collective term the Egyptians used was Habiru. And it’s likely that is the source of the term Hebrew for the people who Moses saved.Read More »Cry and Response

The Risk of Prayer

THE RISK OF PRAYER Luke 11.5-13

Rev. Dr. Warner M. Bailey

No one likes to get a telephone call in the middle of the night.  In the parable about the unexpected guest, you are jolted out of bed by a friend who arrives at your door, bleary eyed and starving from 16 hours on the road.  He needs a place to crash and something to eat.  But your cupboard is bare, so while you have him wash up, you dash across the yard to bang on your neighbor’s back door.

Now get the scene.  In the neighbor’s bedroom, the entire family is sleeping on one bed, side-by-side, like sardines, from the youngest to the oldest with mother and father on the two outside edges.  All of a sudden, a sharp knocking at the door would have shattered the stillness of the house and a rough whisper would have jolted you awake. “Friend, wake up.  My friend has just arrived from a journey.  I must feed him, but have no bread.  Lend me three loaves, and I will repay you by sunrise.”Read More »The Risk of Prayer

Our Gethsemane

Matthew 26: 36-46

by Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch

Maundy Thursday, 2013

Jesus prays for something we’re all too familiar with. He prays that God change a situation. “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.”

Read More »Our Gethsemane

Easter Sunday: Go and Tell

Isaiah 25: 6-10

Mark 16: 1-8

By Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch, Pastor

April 8, 2012

St. Stephen Presbyterian Church

Fort Worth, TX

 “And the disciples all deserted him,” Mark tells us. First, Jesus told them to watch and pray with him, but they didn’t know how, so they fell asleep. Then the soldiers came and Jesus told them they couldn’t defend him with swords, and they didn’t know what to do, so they ran. The other gospels bear out that the disciples were so frightened that they were hidden away in a locked room. They left their Lord to die on a cross, alone.Read More »Easter Sunday: Go and Tell