Flowing Streams

Don’t Leave–Transfiguration Sunday

2 Kings 2: 1-12

Mark 9: 2-9

Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch, Preacher

When I started as pastor of a small church some time ago, I wanted to kick off with an officer’s retreat that dealt with some of the issues that the congregation had left over from when the previous pastor left. I had a conversation with the Christian educator, who’d been there several years and was quite sharp. He explained to me that people were extremely angry and felt betrayed that the previous pastor had left them. We agreed that a Biblical look at betrayal and abandonment would be a good start. Read more →

Timeline: Bonhoeffer and Church-Based Attempts to Resist Hitler, 1933-39

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 →

Ash Wednesday: the beginning of Lent

by Mark Scott, Music Minister

The Lenten season extends over a forty-six day period beginning Ash Wednesday and ending on Saturday evening prior to Easter Day.  However, the six Sundays in Lent are not actually a part of Lent (thus they are styled Sundays IN Lent rather than Sundays OF Lent) making the actual number of days in Lent 40.  The date of Ash Wednesday is determined by the date of Easter.  This year, Ash Wednesday is February 22. Read more →

Big Tent?

Former PC(USA) moderator and prolific blogger Bruce Reyes-Chow has started a petition drive called “There is more than one version of Christianity!” His point is that there is a great deal of diversity the Christian family. Christians need to be more tolerant of one another and the media and culture need to recognize Christian diversity, too. Read more →

Secret Agenda: Mark 1: 40-45

Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch, Preacher
February 12, 2012

St. Stephen Presbyterian Church
Fort Worth, TX

Our friend Sharon Curry, who went in December to serve as a missionary in the South Sudan, had to be evacuated almost as soon as she arrived because of ethnic violence. She has been frustrated by this, obviously—not only because she has been interrupted in the mission work she intended to do, but even more because she’s been in her placement in Akobo just long enough to get to know people. Now she is in a major city, Malakal, far from the fighting, hearing second-hand how overwhelmed her friend the local doctor is, and how all the families she’d just gotten to know are experiencing deaths and hiding in the forest, afraid to go to the hospital for fear that they’ll be killed by guerilla fighters.

While she’s stuck in Malakal, she’s finding her own way to do ministry—reaching out to the homeless, as she has done for years here in Fort Worth, and finding a Sudanese church that’s glad to welcome her, scheming with another displaced missionary about other ways they can serve the community. Sharon’s very resourceful that way. She just blooms where she’s planted—rather than get frustrated that her plans have been thwarted, she just figures out what God needs her to do in the place God has put her. My personal suspicion is that Sharon is able to do that because she’s always been quite clear on what’s important: she seeks first the Kingdom of God. She puts being a disciple of Christ before anything else. If that’s what’s important to us, we’ll discover that no matter what happens, there’s always some way to serve Christ in any situation, even the most unpredictable and unexpected.

In our Gospel today, Jesus has big plans. He and his disciples have set out from their base in Capernaum and begun a mission to preach the Gospel to the major cities in Galilee. But just as he’s off on this major mission, it gets interrupted. Jesus is confronted by a leper in the road. The leper begs Jesus to heal him. “If you choose, you can make me clean,” he says.

The Scripture says, Jesus “was filled with compassion.” But take a look at the footnote at the bottom: some texts say Jesus was “angry.”

Whenever translators run across a serious variation in text like that, they have a tough call to make. Which was the original word, angry or compassion? In this case, they’d have several rules of translation to weigh and consider. One would be: how many ancient texts say “compassion” versus “anger”? Another would be: how old are those texts? It’s a general rule that the older the text, the more reliable it is as a source.

But there’s another that comes into play: What’s the most embarrassing translation? That’s actually a very important rule that scholars use. Many of the stories of scripture show the apostles or other heroes of the Bible in an embarrassing light. Scholars generally consider those more authoritative because, Why would the biblical authors tell embarrassing stories about themselves, or about biblical heroes, or about Jesus himself, unless they were true?

Apparently, scholars have decided that the best texts say ‘compassion,’ not ‘anger’—but there’s strong enough evidence in favor of “angry” that it can’t be ruled out, so they leave it as a footnote.

It’s embarrassing to admit that Jesus might have been angry. We don’t like to think of Jesus as angry, or for that matter having any “negative” emotions. But Scripture shows Jesus in an abundance of embarrassing situations. In a couple of cases it takes him a few times to heal someone. We catch him displaying a very prejudiced perspective toward Gentiles when he calls a Syro-Phoenician woman a dog. He is verbally abusive of scribes and Pharisees. He seems fearful about his fate as He prays right before his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, and he says, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” while on the cross. So sure, Jesus could be angry.

Why would Jesus have been angry about the leper asking to be cleansed?

Actually, the reason is quite practical. If Jesus cleanses the leper, he has to abort his plan to visit the cities in Galilee. In order to heal the leper, Jesus has to touch him, which will make him ceremonially unclean. If word gets out that He’s touched a leper, then he won’t be allowed to visit the cities. He’ll have to stay out of public places for a set period of time to make sure He has not contracted leprosy. His plan will be thwarted.

What’s a messiah to do?

This is hardly a rare situation for Jesus, by the way. We often find him in the middle of attempting to do something, only to be interrupted by some particular person needing a miraculous intervention. Jesus has to make a choice, and note how important Jesus’ ability to choose is to this story. The leper says, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” Jesus replies, “I do choose. Be made clean!” In all the situations in which Jesus is interrupted, no matter how he may feel either about the interruption, the person who interrupts, or the importance of what He has been doing, Jesus almost always chooses to help the person in need, even if it means that his other plans are thwarted. Why is that?

Ultimately, because Jesus has a secret agenda. His secret agenda is to display God’s compassionate love so that the wounded and the sick may be healed and the lost may be rescued. Because of that, he has chosen never turn away anyone who is in need, no matter how much it frustrates his own plans or personal needs. So Jesus may be frustrated or angry; he may have had an exhausting day; he may feel sidetracked by the need of someone who comes to him out of the blue while he’s doing something else. Certainly we have the impression his entourage of disciples felt like there were people who were wasting Jesus’ time, like beggars who demand his attention, or parents bringing their children for a blessing, or the Samaritan woman at the well. These are all people who his disciples try to turn away. But Jesus chooses to welcomes them. He chooses to reach out to them. He chooses to show God’s love for them.

This is, I suspect, one reason the translators chose “compassion” over “anger” for this passage. Because sometimes Jesus was angry, frustrated, tired, or impatient with the people who constantly demanded his attention and caused him to put aside all his best-laid plans. But he didn’t choose to act out of his anger, frustration, exhaustion, or impatience. He chose to act out of compassion. Jesus was just like all of us—he had needs, he had personal problems, he had strong emotions. He didn’t like to get sidetracked. But He knew what was important. What mattered most was serving the Kingdom of God, showing God’s love and compassion. He could put aside his personal agenda because he knew what was important: He sought first the Kingdom of God. No matter what the situation, Jesus could choose the Kingdom of God.

And so can we.

There’s a lesson here for all of us Christians about knowing what’s important. Most of us are pretty ambivalent about our feelings. Sometimes we feel like emotions are bad and need to be controlled. Other times we say, “Hey, I can’t control how I feel!” and so we just act out of whatever we’re feeling.

Jesus felt how He felt. He’d sometimes even say it out loud, much to the embarrassment of His disciples. But He never let his feelings control Him. He knew what was important, and He always chose that over all the other things that He was tempted to choose instead. He knew that what came first was his calling to serve God, and to serve the Kingdom of God. He knew His calling was to “seek and save the Lost, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” With that clear priority, Jesus could rise above His own personal feelings, which might just as easily be the result of what he ate for breakfast or a bad night’s sleep, as anything else.

But here’s what’s really amazing. Here is a guy with an even bigger secret agenda: he is the messiah, the Son of God, sent to save the world! Jesus is “the Most Important Man in the World”! Here’s the one person who apparently has a completely justified messiah complex! He could easily justify saying to the leper, “Listen, buddy, sorry, my first priority is to save the world! If I save you, I won’t be able to save all the people in those cities I’m planning to visit! So, sorry, man, but my plans are too important–I’m too important for this!”

He doesn’t.

It’s a witness to all of us who believe our great plans are all-important. This is a personality trait to which those who feel called by God are especially prone: we feel like God’s anointment has made us all-important, and that our plans are therefore God’s plans. We become impatient, emphatic, narrow-minded, and insistent on our own way.

Really, if the Son of God was willing to allow His plans to be thwarted by a nameless homeless leper, who do we think we are?

What it finally came down to for Jesus—and for us all—is our willingness to trust that God is present in the unpredictable and the uncontrollable–that, as Scripture says, Our ways are not God’s ways, and our plans are not God’s plans. God has a secret agenda, a big plan to which we are not privy. We can plan as best we can, and as faithfully as we can; but things can change at the drop of a hat.

And when they do, the important thing is to have it clear what’s important: Christ’s compassion, love and healing.

Christ’s mission: seek and save the lost.

Christ’s top priority: Seek ye first the Kingdom of God.

If that’s what’s important to us, we’ll discover that no matter what happens, there’s always some way to serve Christ in any situation, even the most unpredictable and unexpected.

“The Lord is Trying to Do Something Grand Through Us…Therefore We, God’s Servants, Arise and Build”

Our unofficial church historian, Cathy Corder, has unearthed some fascinating documents from the early days of St. Stephen. Most interesting are those that detail the process our predecessor church, Broadway Presbyterian, went through in deciding to move from its location across from present Broadway Baptist to this site. Read more →

Calling–1 Samuel 3: 1-10; John 1: 43-57

By Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch

January 15, 2012

St. Stephen Presbyterian Church

Fort Worth, TX

The Saturday Evening Post recently ran a story that checked up on another story they published over 100 years ago: an article written in December of 1900 predicting what will happen in the 20^th Century. The old article got a lot of predictions right. It predicted that the average American would be 1 to 2 inches taller. It predicted digital photography: “Photographs will be telegraphed from any distance. If there be a battle in China, a hundred years hence, snapshots of its most striking events will be published in the newspapers an hour later.” It even predicted wireless technology. All in all, pretty amazing. Read more →

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!

Can you imagine my surprise when I received a copy of the following press release yesterday?

Mission Co-worker Sharon Curry Is Safe

Please continue to pray for South Sudan

I was hoping to tell you stories of Christmas and New Year in Akobo.  Instead, I have a much different story to tell. I have been told that I am a pretty good storyteller. I’ve been told that I have an over–the-top imagination, but nothing in my wildest dreams could have prepared me for my first two and a half weeks in Akobo.

This story begins shortly after Christmas with reports of intertribal fighting between the Lou Nuer and the Murle, two rival tribes in the Jonglei State in South Sudan.  The Lou Nuer are from Akobo, where I am living and the Murle are from an area maybe 100 miles south, if my finger measures on the map correctly.  Approximately 6,000 Lou Nuer descended on the Murle territory near Pibor, the place where I landed on my way to Akobo.  The Nuer burned one entire village to the ground, women and children were kidnapped, and the youth headed on to Pibor.

On the ground!! Who would have ever dreamed up ME being on a UN emergency evacuation flight!!

A few days later we heard reports that the Murle were involved in a revenge attack in West Akobo, about a day’s walk for me.  That is when things got, shall we say, interesting.  There was much discussion back and forth between the PC(USA) and Presbyterian Church of Sudan (PCOS) staff in Louisville, Juba, Malakal, and Ethiopia, along with me and the general secretary of the Akobo Presbytery in Akobo. There were reports of where the latest battles were taking place.  There were reports of which NGOs were evacuating, when, how and who.  Everyone was worried about my safety.

I should say “everyone” but me!  I was having the time of my life getting to know everyone in Akobo and finding my way around.  I have been busy meeting with church leaders, learning the language, getting to know people, proving that this American girl really can cook with a wood fire and trying to find my way to the latrine in the dark and to bale water for “showers” with a flashlight sticking out of my mouth!   I have been getting to know the women and we have been learning to communicate with each other through a whole lot of laughing over my blundering efforts to learn their language.

I had visited the hospital and chosen the location for my new house/office.  I stood with the pastors and elders of the church as they excitedly discussed the merits of the two locations they had chosen.  It was with great joy in my heart that I watched hope bloom in the middle of this hard, dry, cracked ground that will someday be my home as the men discussed the location to the river, where the shade fell so the women could have their tea, pointed out where “we” would sit for our lessons.  I think it was then that I realized this was going to be much more than my office/home.  It was going to be a beacon for the future.

I spent Christmas Eve with my future neighbors as I watched them butcher some kind of animal—I am not sure what it was since it didn’t have a head or hide any more, but I was told “it is for the Kreeesstmasss Dinner” as they shared their excitement with me.  I had marched through the town with the elders, leaders and youth of the church, singing and dancing, and we gathered on Christmas morning to worship the “the new baby Jesus” through song, dancing, prayer and worship.

I celebrated the New Year surrounded by their love as we all joined in prayer the morning of New Year’s Day.  I was a part of their annual baptism—of 158 people, from teeny, tiny newborn twins to an elderly lady leaning on her walking stick.  Much to my surprise, I was called on to offer the closing prayer.

They taught me so much in such a short time, especially that a woman NEVER goes to church without her lu-all—a pretty sheet wrapped around her and her head completely covered.  If you do the elders will stand you up in front of the church at the Christmas Eve prayer service and dress you appropriately, in front of God and everyone!

I was learning their hymns and trying to sing along with them.  I even learned to recognize the Lord’s Prayer and Apostle’s Creed during worship so I could say both along with the congregation and feel a part of worship.  I didn’t realize how important it was to them until people stopped me on the road, for the entire week after I tried, to say, “I saw you singing.”

The kids and I all along the road and down by the river were learning to communicate by playing football and sitting and watching each other, through waves from the water as the boys in the cattle camps across the way started to trust me enough to come close, and the girls laughed as they braided my hair one afternoon.  The shoeshine boys even knew my routine well enough to say “late” when I came down the road in the afternoon instead of the morning one day.

And that is how in such a short time the people of Akobo came to be such an important part of my life and my heart.  And in the midst of my business, there were emails and phone calls and Skype conversations flying back and forth.  There were news reports and location reports and meetings with other NGOs (non-government organizations) working in the area.

After much discussion, it was determined that Rev. Peter, the general secretary of Akobo Presbytery, and I would go and visit the commissioner for a security update.  I think I sat there in numbed shock as I heard the words he said to Rev. Peter and then turned to me and said, “It is time.  You should go.  You should go now. We can’t guarantee we can keep you safe. You should go now, while we can get you out.”  Those words were followed by a flurry of activity as people began to swarm his office and I sat trying to hold back tears and comprehend that this was really happening.

It is a swirl in my memory of words like “charter tomorrow” and “he is with IRC (International Red Cross)” and a flurry of words I didn’t understand followed by “it is not possible,” a scribbled note on a piece of paper handed across the desk and the word “UNIMISS” as a person left the office in a hurry.  Now I know that UNIMISS stands for United Nations Mission in South Sudan, and I know that I had met with them early in my time in Akobo to greet them and make my introductions.  I knew they said they would make sure I was safe, but I never thought I would need them!  “It is OK, they had all left!”  (I should qualify that statement with, they didn’t leave me, they were busy elsewhere saving way more lives than mine!)

I remember walking back to the compound in this dazed fog, trying very hard and not succeeding to not cry in this surreal wave of emotion as my heart tried to grasp what my head already knew.  I was leaving.  The commissioner had really said I had to leave!  I am not quite sure how I made that phone call to Michael Weller, PC(USA)’s regional liaison for the Horn of Africa.  He answered the phone, “How’s your day?”  “Not good.” I replied, “The Commissioner said I have to leave.”

From there life becomes one huge, giant blur of activity.   I know there were phone calls to the U.N., the U.S. Embassy, and God only know who else.  I know that throughout this whole situation there were at least a dozen, and I am sure more, people involved in the planning and monitoring of the situation.  I know that many, many PC(USA) staff members gave up their vacations and holiday time to take care of me, and watch out for me, and to make a number of plans and backup plans and counter plans to make sure that all of the bases were covered.  If there was a possibility that a base could be covered, it was covered, from the best scenario—that I was able to get on a U.N. flight—to the most obscure, in my mind at least, that I had to escape across the river and what would happen if I did.

Fortunately, the best-case scenario happened and I was on a U.N. flight out of Akobo the next morning.  It took some fast talking on my part and the amazing compassion and grace of two U.N. pilots who said “Yes” to get me on that plane.  I know that when I made that final phone call to Michael and said the words, “I am on the plane” there was a huge sigh of relief that was heard around the world.

I looked around the room where I was staying Wednesday night in Juba, at my suitcases, my computer cases lined up by the door, and my shoes kicked off on the floor, and thought, “Where is the sheet? And, don’t forget to close that bag before you go to bed.” Then I remembered my “go” bag was gone.  It came with me. I remembered I didn’t have to repack the food bags into my market bag tonight.  My nightly routine had become so routine I didn’t even think about it.

I always knew there was a possibility of evacuation from Akobo.  I kept my “go” bag hanging by the door with all my extra IDs and copies of important papers in it, along with some food and water and a change of clothes.  I took my shoes off and placed them underneath it, open and ready to slide my feet in.  In the last few days, after the attack on West Akobo and I knew the fighting was getting closer, I had added a “bush go bag” in case I had to make a hasty retreat in the middle of the night.  It was lightweight and held the bare essentials, a few food bags and a couple of bottles of water along with my flashlight.  Draped over the top of it, my brown sheet and my black pants—something to give me a little more camouflage in the dark if I needed it.  I had routes planned for every direction I might have to go and knew the hazards of open spaces and barbed wire fences that would hide in the dark.  My Girl Scout leaders should be proud I was prepared, and thank God, I didn’t need it!

I was sitting in the sanctuary of the church next to the guesthouse I am staying in just as the sun was beginning to set.  I was offering up prayers of thanksgiving for all the ways I have been blessed during the past two weeks and for all the prayers that have been and continue to be lifted up for me and the people of Akobo and Pibor.  I picked up a songbook and found “Lord prepare me to be a sanctuary.”  I thought, “How fitting,” as a slideshow of all the sanctuaries in my life went flashing through my head. Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Texas, where I grew up and spent my summer days in the refuge of the sanctuary watching the sun dance off the stained glass windows. I remembered Dr. Elliot stopping to talk, or just sit a while with me, and thinking he was as close to God as you can get.  I thought of my home church sanctuary and the Lord’s table that I love so much because of the massive size and strength is symbolizes.  I thought of St. Stephen and the white dove in the stained glass window that if I looked just right, in the early morning light, seemed to glow, just for me.

I thought of all the people that are sanctuaries for me—the pastors, the friends, the family who give me strength and courage and who are the refuge in the face of storms, the wings that lift me, and the hearts that hold me in love, support and prayer.  And I thought of the amazing, amazing job that the PC(USA) and PCOS staff have done in keeping me safe, in preparing for any possible scenario and all their prayers along with so many others that I probably don’t even know about.  They and you all represent “sanctuary” to me.

So, as I sat in the quiet and peace of the sanctuary tonight, I prayed, “Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary” for the people of Akobo if they need refuge from the storms of the intertribal violence they are facing when I return.  Lord, let me be the sanctuary to them that others have been for me.

Thank you is just not enough for everything that has been done for me in the last two weeks.  I am very humbled, and very grateful for all the time, energy, effort and love and support that have come my way.  Thank you all for being my sanctuary.

Sharon

Prayer requests:

• For a peaceful resolution for the intertribal violence between the Nuer and Murle
• For safety and security for the friends I had to leave behind
• Prayers of gratitude for the amazing church we have and the World Mission and Presbyterian Church of Sudan staff members who worked so hard to make sure I was safe and well cared for
• For the blessings of fellow mission co-worker Debbie Blane who said “Sure!  Come and stay with me!”

Sharon

Beginnings: Baptism of the Lord, 2012

Genesis 1: 1-5

January 8, 2012

St. Stephen Presbyterian Church

Fort Worth, TX

Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch, Preacher

What with the ongoing concerns about the end of the world so often dominating Christian conversation, we often forget that Christianity is not about endings. It’s about beginnings.

Even the so called “end times” are not about endings, per se, but beginnings. The “end times” also known in the Bible as “The Day of the Lord”—in other words, the day when God’s reign, which has always been reality even though we did not see it, is at last officially inaugurated. The “end times” are not the end of the world, as we are often taught—they are the beginning of the new, true world, the new heaven and the new earth. Read more →

Being Joseph: Christmas Eve, 2011

Matthew 1: 18-25

St. Stephen Presbyterian Church

Fort Worth, TX

By Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch

We spend a lot of time celebrating and remembering Mary’s role at Christmas. What about Joseph?

Joseph’s role was simple but powerful. He was supposed to accept responsibility for one of God’s children who was not his own child. Read more →