The Riverside Gathering Posts

When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, He said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.” (Luke 21:5–6; Gospel reading Luke 21:5–19, RCL Year C) You stand there admiring me. Beautiful stone, you say. Gifts dedicated to God. Look at the craftsmanship. Look at the permanence. I’ve been here a long time. Long enough to know that permanence is what you call a thing until it falls. I was here when the widow came— remember her?— dropping two coins in…

”O that my words were written down! O that they were inscribed in a book!O that with an iron pen and with lead they were engraved on a rock forever!”– Job 19:23-24, a portion of the Alternate OT reading appointed for this upcoming Sunday, the Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost The Longing for Record/Witness Job’s cry cuts through the centuries with startling immediacy. As most of us recall, by chapter 19, Job has been stripped of everything. Not just his possessions, his children, his health—but also his identity. His good name is destroyed. His ties to family and friends have dissolved. His body is “dis-integrating,” being taken apart, reduced to bones…

Luke 19:1-10 – Zacchaeus, the short tax collector who climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus. Yes, I’m short. Can we get that out of the way? Short and rich and despised— The triple crown of Jericho’s outcasts. I took taxes for Rome. More than taxes, actually. Let’s be honest—I took whatever I could, Called it “fees” and “surcharges,” Built my beautiful house on other people’s bread. The righteous crossed the street when they saw me coming. Parents used my name to frighten children: “Eat your dinner or Zacchaeus will get you!” As if I were some kind of monster. Maybe I was. Maybe when you squeeze people for Rome’s…

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector [Luke 18:9-10, a portion of the the Gospel lesson appointed for this upcoming Sunday, the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, RCL, Year C (Luke 18:9-14)]. We’ve likely heard the parable contained in this week’s Gospel lesson many times. In fact, we’ve maybe heard it too many times. In it, the Pharisee and the tax collector go up to the Temple to pray, and we know—before Jesus even finishes the story—how it’s going to…

Genesis 32:22–31 I’ve been waiting by this river. Watching him send everything across— the flocks, the wives, the children, all the wealth he bargained for. Everything he owns goes ahead to meet the brother he betrayed. He thinks he’s being clever, sending gifts in waves to soften Esau’s anger. He thinks he’s buying safety with his sheep. But I see what he doesn’t see yet— he’s been stripping himself down, sending away every shield, every distraction, until finally, there’s nothing left between him and what he fears most. He thinks he knows what’s coming. Twenty years he’s rehearsed it— what he’ll say to Esau, how he’ll bow, how he’ll beg,…

Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” — Luke 17:15–18 Jesus speaks these words—part of the Gospel reading (Luke 17:11–19) assigned for this upcoming Sunday, the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost, RCL Year C—with a peculiar edge. Not quite anger—more like astonished disappointment. Ten men healed. One returns. And Jesus doesn’t speak to the Samaritan…

The righteous live by their faithfulness — Habakkuk 2:4b The Present Grief On August 27, during a morning mass attended by students at a parochial school adjacent to Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, a 29-year-old shooter killed two children and wounded others as they prayed. On September 10, Charlie Kirk was assassinated at Utah Valley University. Last Sunday, a man attacked a Mormon church in Michigan, killing four, wounding others, and bombing the building itself. We watch the news footage—shattered glass, police tape, grieving families—and the questions rise unbidden: How long, O Lord? Where were you? Why didn’t you stop this? We’ve become almost numb to such headlines, haven’t we?…

Alas for those who are at ease in Zion, and for those who feel secure on Mount Samaria. Alas for those who lie on beds of ivory, and lounge on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock, and calves from the stall; who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp, and like David improvise on instruments of music; who drink wine from bowls, and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph! Therefore they shall now be the first to go into exile, and the revelry of the loungers shall pass away (Amos 6:1a, 4–7). After wrestling last week with…

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity [1 Timothy 2:1-2]. What happens when the pursuit of peace collides with the demands of godliness? After four weeks with the prophet Jeremiah and last week’s meditation on Jesus’s parable of the lost sheep (and the lost coin), I turn to the epistle reading from First Timothy [1 Timothy 2:1-7, the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, RCL, Year C]. One of the three so-called Pastoral Epistles, this letter addresses young church…

“Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?” – Luke 15:4 [part of the Gospel reading for this upcoming Sunday, the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, RCL, Year C]. Jesus posed this question to Pharisees and scribes who were grumbling about his dinner companions—tax collectors and sinners who had drawn near to hear him teach. The religious leaders found his table fellowship scandalous, his choice of company questionable. So Jesus told them a story. As was His practice, He began with a question—essentially, “Which one of…