Lift High the Cross: St. Stephen Goes to Washington, DC By Dirk Maney Processional crosses, torches, colorful banners, jubilation streamers, great hymns of the Church,… Read More »Lift High the Cross: SSPC Teens Participate in National Acolyte Festival
This is the timeline we’ll be using in The Northminster Sunday School Class, Sunday, Feb. 20, when we’re discussing Bonhoeffer’s attempt at Church-Based Resistance.Read More »Timeline: Bonhoeffer and Church-Based Attempts to Resist Hitler, 1933-39
Ash Wednesday, Family Friendly Service & Supper
Wednesday, February 22, 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.
The church staff and the Worship Committee invite all parents and children to attend the “child-friendly” and multi-sensory Ash Wednesday Service for Children & Families, Wednesday, February 22. Participants will gather in the sanctuary narthex (front hall) and the service will take place in the sanctuary. Ash Wednesday marks the start of the Lenten Season, where we prepare ourselves and our families for the life, miracles, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This service includes a child-friendly Lord’s Supper and the Application of Ashes. Read More »Ash Wednesday, Family Friendly Service & Meal
The Second “NEXT Church” Conference will be held at First Pres, Dallas, February 27-28. As the PCUSA experiences change generated both from within and… Read More »“NEXT” Church Con in Dallas Explores the Future of the PCUSA–You Should Go!
The Rev. Dr. Laura Mendenhall, Senior Philanthropy Advisor of the Texas Presbyterian Foundation and former President of Columbia Theological Seminary, will be guest preacher on January 22, 2012, when St. Stephen kicks off its three year capital campaign to replace the sanctuary roof and upgrade our HVAC and energy efficiency. There will only be one worship service on January 22nd, at 10:00 a.m., in the main sanctuary, followed by a luncheon in the Parish Hall, prepared by the Capital Campaign Committee.Read More »Mendenhall, Luncheon, Special Time and Special Music, Highlight Capital Campaign Kickoff January 22nd
Matthew 13: 1-9, 13-16
July 10, 2011
St. Stephen Presbyterian Church
Fort Worth, TX
Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch, Preacher
When we lived in rural Virginia, when Margaret was pregnant with our first child Sara Caitlin, we decided to plant a vegetable garden across the street from the manse, right next to a cow pasture. We planted watermelon, cantelope, tomatoes, squash, beans, lettuce, and corn. We’d climb over the barbed wire fence and get cow pies to fertilize it. We were especially proud of our corn, because all the corn farmers around us told us we’d never grow any. The problem, they said, was that we’d planted one row of corn, and you need two rows to cross-pollinate. So when we grew a row of healthy, juicy corn, they were a bit put off. But in reality, we grew that corn because of them. A quarter mile away in any direction there were acres and acres of corn. The wind blew, the bees buzzed between rows of corn. And ultimately our little row of corn was the beneficiary. So really, our row of corn was growing thanks to all those farmers who told us the corn would never grow. They were pollinating our corn but they didn’t know it.Read More »Seeds–Matthew 13
