Why
By Rev. Dr.Fritz Ritsch
October 21, 2012
Job 38: 1-7, 34-41
Job is a righteous man of God whose children have been killed, whose wealth has been taken away, and whose health is shattered, and he wants to know WHY? Why, God, why is there suffering in the world?Read More »The Gospel According to Job: Why
Fault-Finding
By Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch
October 14, 2012
St. Stephen Presbyterian Church
Fort Worth, TX
Job 23: 1-9, 16-17
In our Old Testament scripture for today, Job longs to find a place where he can present his case for a fair hearing before God.
If only I knew where to find him; if only I could go to his dwelling! I would state my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would find out what he would answer me, and consider what he would say. Would he oppose me with great power? No, he would not press charges against me. There an upright man could present his case before him, and I would be delivered forever from my judge.
As Gerald Janzen points out, this is a “utopian” vision, for Job’s point is that such a place is “utopia”—a word that means “nowhere.” There’s no place where he could get that fair hearing where God would see the error of His godly ways in causing Job to suffer so, and would amend them. You see, here in essence is Job’s complaint: It’s not fair. The universe is not fair. The good people often suffer and the bad people often prosper. Suffering seems to happen without any direct connection to whether somebody deserves it. His complaint is that he thought that we live in a moral universe, and it turns out apparently we don’t.Read More »Is It Job’s Fault–Or God’s?
Din Torah
By Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch
October 7, 2012
World Communion Sunday
Job 1:1, 2: 1-12
Yaffa Eliach, a highly respected Jewish historian who is herself a survivor of the Holocaust, tells the story that in 1979, she was a member of President Carter’s Commission on the Holocaust. The commission, who would ultimately lay the groundwork for the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, had visited sites of countless atrocities and collected stories from Holocaust survivors. After visiting Auschwitz, the commission held evening services at the ancient Rema Synagogue in Cracow, Poland. In the middle of the worship service, “Miles Lerman, a former partisan and sole survivor of a large Jewish family,” stepped forward, banged his fist on the bema, the pulpit, “and declared that he was calling God to Din Torah—summoning God to court!” Read More »God on Trial
World Communion Sunday, Oct. 7, tomorrow, 8:30 and 11:00 am: Latin Music with CANTA Rhythm and Brass, and the beginning of Rev. Ritsch’s sermon series… Read More »World Communion Sunday, Oct. 7
By Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch
St. Stephen Presbyterian Church
Fort Worth, TX
February 26, 2012
You probably remember the discussions between Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell after Hurricane Katrina about their belief that this natural disaster had hit New Orleans because of the city’s acceptance of gays and lesbians but also because of their sexual immorality in general. Their perspective was of course offensive at many levels, but it also reflects some pretty commonly-held notions about how God has ordered the universe. Basically the notion is that God has ordered things on a reward-and-punishment system. Bad natural occurrences, like earthquakes or famines or hurricanes, are sent as punishment by God for our moral misbehavior; likewise good things like a successful crop or a child born healthy and whole are the results of good behavior.Read More »Covenant: Genesis 9: 8-17
