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Stranger

by Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch

St. Luke 24:13-35

“You have to be a stranger yourself. There has to be an intentional marginality, an intentional experience that becomes part of our spiritual discipline.  One can’t claim the role of host all the time; … it is a gift also to be willing to be guests and to share in people’s lives.”–Christine D. Pohl, Professor of Social Ethics at Asbury Theological Seminary

 It’s been almost ten years since I preached my first sermon here at St. Stephen. It’s been almost ten years since I arrived here a stranger, and you welcomed me.

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Easter: Jesus Rose

 

by Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch

John 20: 19-31

 

“Jesus’s resurrection is the beginning of God’s new project not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven.  That, after all, is what the Lord’s Prayer is about.”—N. T. Wright (b. 1948), Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection and the Mission of the Church

 

Today we celebrate Easter. Easter is the most important Christian holy day, because this is the day that we remember that Jesus rose from the dead. He was dead, but God raised Him from the dead.  This past week We have been reflecting on Jesus’ suffering and death. Often our focus is his life and teachings. none of that is in itself particularly unique. Other wise people have taught. Other miracle workers have healed. Other martyrs have suffered and died. Perhaps He should have been remembered, if He was remembered at all, as one among many great teachers of history.

But He rose from the dead. That changes everything.Read More »Easter: Jesus Rose

This Life We Live

To Listen to this Sermon, click here -> http://sermon.net/ststphnfw/sermonid/1200044139

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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Chapter VIII: The Cowtown Christ Comes Back!

John 20: 19-29
By the Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch

John, Peter, Joanna, and Anna traveled with the hearse to pick up Jesse’s body at Eagle Pass. When they arrived, they had to pass, once again, through reporters and distraught crowds. Jesse’s pale, slightly bluish body was arranged on a metal morgue table, covered by a sheet from the chest down, over which could be seen the “y” incision made by the coroner.Read More »Chapter VIII: The Cowtown Christ Comes Back!

Don’t Be Afraid: God Loves You

 To Listen to this sermon, click here:  http://sermon.net/ststphnfw/sermonid/1200034601

We Are Risen Indeed!

Matthew 28: 1-10

By Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch

Easter Day, 2013

 

Holy Jesus, I hear God’s mighty “Yes!” in your Resurrection. You invite me to live also, and I want to say “Yes!” to you. Take me out of the tomb that imprisons me: lead me into the morning of new life, and walk with me wherever your love may lead.

Peter Storey, Listening at Golgotha

 Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary,” probably Mary the mother of James, go to the tomb on Easter day, and what they aren’t expecting– is Easter.

They are expecting to find a tomb guarded by soldiers. They expect to find a great stone rolled in front of the grave. They expect to find Jesus in there, even more dead as He was a couple of days before.

Read More »Don’t Be Afraid: God Loves You

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

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

Easter Massacres and Good Friday Accords

On Easter morning, March 30, 1997, newspapers reported that “a peaceful rally against government corruption in the plaza outside of the Parliament building in Phnom Penh, Cambodia was turned into a killing field by grenade hurling soldiers. The blasts, which killed 20 and wounded 117, were part of a calculated attack by troops loyal to Second Prime Minister Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge field commander.” Their target was democratic activist Sam Rainsy, who barely escaped with his life. (“U.S. Policy and the 1997 Easter Sunday Massacre in Cambodia,”By Al Santoli. Special To The U.S. Veteran Dispatch March/April/May/ 1997. )Read More »Easter Massacres and Good Friday Accords