Steven Kurtz's Podcast

Like the American Civil Rights Movement, the early Jesus Movement produced songs.  Luke incorporates them in his Gospel: songs are sung by Mary, the Angels, Zechariah and Hannah.  Mary's song, the Magnificat, is a pastiche of lines and echoes of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) structured according to Hannah's song - the mother of Samuel, which is found in Hanna's Song, 1 Samuel 2:1-10.  Together they look at the stories in the Hebrew Bible, but they do so through the lens of Jesus' teaching.

Video will be at the YouTube channel of the Central Presbyterian Church, Fort Smith, AR after the Sunday

service, under the Traditional Services playlist.

Text is here.

What if the next right thing we need to do is hard?  What makes it hard?  Reflections on Luke 3:1-6

Text is here

Video will be available at the YouTube channel of the Central Presbyterian Church, Fort Smith, AR, after the Sunday Service. Click on the Tradtional Services playlist.

There are practices that make a difference.   We don't have to go down the rabbit hole of pessimism.  This reflection on Luke 21:25-36 is about how to not go crazy with everything that is happening around us.

The text is here.

Video will be available here at the YouTube channel of the Central Presbyterian Church, Fort Smith, AR. after the Sunday service on the Traditional Services playlist.

Jesus' main t theme was that the Kingdom of God was a present reality.  How does that effect our relationship with modern politics?  That is what I explore in this reflection on John 18:33-37.

Text is at my blog site.

Video will be available after the Sunday service at the YouTube channel of the Central Presbyterian Church, Fort Smith, AR under the Traditional Services playlist.

3 Times Peter denied Jesus, but his redemption story is that 3 Times he asnswered affirmatively to Jesus' question, "Do you love me?"  After his redemption, Jesus 3 times commissions him to shepherd his people.  That's the church's commission too; how have we done?  What are we doing in this time of great transition?  These reflections are about those quesitons.

The text is at my blogsite

Video will be available after the service at the YouTube channel of the Central Presbyterian Church, Fort Smith, AR. under the Tradtitional Services playlist

What makes life meaningful?  Honor?  Wealth?  Not according to Jesus.  This is an example story, but not a story of a good example (a widow making a great sacrifice out of deep religous devotion) rather a bad example story, of wealthy pepole fleecing vulnerable poor people under the guise of religion.

Text is at my blog site.

The future is uncertain, humans are mortal.  Why are we here?  Why not despair?  There are options.  The spiritual formation process presents us with some alternatives.   This is a reflection on Jesus understanding of those alternatives.

Text is at my blogsite. 

Video may be here, at the YouTube channel of the Central Presbyterian Church in Fort Smith, AR,  if we can get the camera to work. We've had lots of issues.  Look for the Traditional Services playlist, after Sunday morning.

Jesus asked, "What do you want me to do for you?" -- Twice, to people who were blind -- some metaphorically blind, one literally blind.  Following Jesus involves having our blindness cured so we see things as they are -- even if they are painful to see -- and then joining him in doing something about them.

Text is here.

Video will be available at the YouTube channel of the Central Presbyterian Church (after the Sunday service) on the Traditional Services playlist.

Ego is a constant problem for all of us personally.  It is also a group problem when it becomes the quest to dominate, whether by institutions (including the church, but all institutions too) or systems, or cultural practices (racism, sexism, etc.).  It was a huge problem that Jesus had to deal with among his inner circle too, which is what this story is all about, in Mark 10:35-45

The text is at my blog site.

Video will be available at the YouTube channel of the Central Presbyterian Church in Fort Smith, AR. after the Sunday service under the Traditional Services playlist.

For years the church seemed like its goal was to squash pleasure (think of the Puritans, for example).  But is that the way Jesus lived?  The story of the wedding at Cana in which Jesus turned water into wine is a parable illustrating the fact that enjoying life, feasting, celebrating with family and friends, is God's concern for us. But it goes deeper.  The water was in purification jars: there is deeper sub-text here about how Jesus liberates us from purity concerns.  The tet is in John 2:1-11

Video is available at the YouTube channel of the Central Presbyterian Church of Fort Smith, AR (after the Sunday service). Look for the Tradtional Services playlist. There are other playlists there too that might interest you.

The text is at my blog site.