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blessing

Sacramental Drama

 

By Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch

St. Stephen Presbyterian Church

Fort Worth,TX

 Communion Sunday and the Baptism of Eunice Kang

Mark 7: 31-37

James 1: 17-27

JC Kang, St. Stephen’s seminary student at Columbia, holds baby Eunice with his wife Jung and sponsors Beth and Robbie Fultz looking on, as Rev. Ritsch administers the sacrament of baptism.

Today we’re baptizing Eunice Kang, the daughter of JC and Jung Kang. JC is the seminary student we’re sponsoring at Columbia Seminary. But we’re also performing the Lord’s Supper, which means we’re performing both the sacraments that Presbyterians believe in.

 

Now when yours truly was in seminary, I was taught that one of the main purposes of the sacraments is drama. When I heard that, a little light went off in my head. See, I was an actor for quite a while myself. The sacraments are dramatic—of course! When we do the sacraments, we are actors in a play. Read More »Sacramental Drama

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, 6: Paul the Progressive

What’s A Christian, Anyway?

My sophomore year in college, I was having issues with the leadership of Inter-Varsity, the fellowship group, of which I was an officer, and which I would soon leave. I started to feel the leaders were too wedded to rules and regulations at the cost of the Gospel. I’d been challenged by a fraternity president when I’d accidentally said, in line with our IVCF philosophy, that “Christians and fraternity guys share some common goals.” He’d been incensed. “I’m a Christian,” he said, “and a fraternity guy. Who are you to make that distinction?” The criticism had stung.

Read More »A Personal Journey, 6: Paul the Progressive

Covenant: Genesis 9: 8-17


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

A letter from Sharon Curry in South Sudan


We’re hoping to set up a link to Sharon Curry’s blog, “The Journey,” but until then, I know that with the violence in The South Sudan, many of you have been concerned. This is her most recent blogpost on the PCUSA website. You can follow her on 

http://gamc.pcusa.org/ministries/missionconnections/curry-sharon-2012-1/

and on   http://the-journey-s-in-s.blogspot.com/

January 5, 2012

I just looked at the calendar on my computer in astonishment as I read the date.  I wanted to ask the question that I have been asked on a regular basis since I arrived in South Sudan, “Is it really?  Are you sure?”  I can’t believe it has been only five days since this year began!

If the saying, “So starts the year, so goes the rest” is true, it is going to be one heck of a ride this year.  Hang on tight!  We are all in for the ride of our lives!Read More »A letter from Sharon Curry in South Sudan

Why Be A Christian? Part One: Need

One of my former parishioners from Bethesda Presbyterian in Bethesda, MD, was in town last week for a conference. He lives, of all places, in London, England now. And he brought good news: he’s getting married to an English woman, a “barrister,” as the Brits call them. She sounds very intelligent, lively, and fun–perfect for my friend.

But she is not a Christian. She claims to be “agnostic,” but he suspects she’s just sugar-coating it “because she loves me.”Read More »Why Be A Christian? Part One: Need

Demon or God?–Genesis 32: 22-31

Demon or God?

Genesis 32: 22-31

Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch, Preacher

 

Our Old Testament story is one of the most familiar of the Bible. Jacob, the most conniving fellow in the scriptures, finds himself between a rock and a hard place. He has managed to outsmart his father-in-law Laban and free himself and his family from Laban’s service. But now he has to figure out how to overcome the demons of his past. Years before, he had disguised himself as his twin brother Esau to trick his blind father into giving him Esau’s blessing. Now Jacob has to pass through the land where Esau now lives, and he has heard that Esau is coming to meet him with two hundred men.  Jacob is terrified. He divides his own company into two groups, so that if Esau attacks him, one group has a chance of escaping. He sends them off and he waits, alone, by the river Jabbok, waits—for what?Read More »Demon or God?–Genesis 32: 22-31

The Dysfunctional Family of God

We are studying the story of Jacob and his family in our weekly Bible Study. It’s a story that reminds us why the Bible is a better book than we give it credit for. Jacob is a scoundrel, a liar, and too clever by half. He ends us fathering the Twelve Tribes of Israel because he’s outsmarted by his father-in-law Laban, who tricks him into marrying the daughter he doesn’t want to marry so that he can marry the one he does want to marry. There’s more sex, family dysfunction, and intrigue in this story than there is in Desperate Housewives. God is, at least to the protagonists, almost an afterthought, a bit player in their family drama. But through it all, God is working God’s purpose out. Through Jacob’s line the blessing that God has promised the world through Abraham’s heirs is perpetuated.

I asked everyone, “How does this story affect the way you look at your own dysfunctional family?”

Read More »The Dysfunctional Family of God