The Riverside Gathering Posts

You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land. Why then have you broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit? Turn again, O God of hosts; look down from heaven, and see; have regard for this vine, the stock that your right hand planted. [Psalm 80:7-9, 12, 14-15, NRSV]. The Psalm that we number 80, from which this week’s Psalter reading is extracted, Psalm 80-7-15 [Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost, RCL, Year A], is in the form of a communal lament. The noted…

He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?” [Exodus 17:7, NRSV] In my younger days, I struggled with a teleological issue regarding the exodus of the Israelites from their captivity in Egypt: If YHWH’s intent was to lead them to a land of milk and honey—to a land of promise and plenty—why did YHWH require that they wander around in the desert for 40 years? Why not just make a beeline for Zion? Why postpone the inevitable fulfillment? Then, still a number of years ago, as I read and reread the exodus narrative, while at…

… When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, “Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.” When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, “These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.” But he replied to one of…

Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times” [Matt. 18:21-22]. As we come to the Gospel reading appointed for this upcoming Sunday, Matthew 18:21-35 [the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, RCL, Year A], we find that we are in the midst of the fourth of five discourses of Jesus. This week’s reading centers on mercy and forgiveness. Jesus has been talking about forgiveness. Almost so, almost immediately, Peter—he’s so much like many of us, isn’t he?—wants to know the…

Son of man, I have made a watchman for the people of Israel, so hear the word that I speak and give them warning from me [Ezekiel 33:7, New International Version, a portion of the alternate OT reading appointed for this upcoming Sunday, the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, RCL, Year A]. I vividly remember an “encounter” that Todd—my twin—Jeff—two years our junior—and I had with our father when I was about 10 (at 16-years-old, Terry was exempt from this unpleasantness). I don’t remember specifically how we had misbehaved, only that we had. I suspect that whatever our transgression, it was not that transgression’s first appearance. In any event, our father…

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it [Matthew 16:24-25, a portion of the Gospel reading assigned for the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, RCL, Year A]. The 29-year-old drove west along U.S. Hwy. 74. He was in no hurry; he’d allowed two hours for the trip from Gastonia that took just over one. Forest City lay 10 miles behind him. He had about 10 more miles before he’d reach Columbus, the…

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is? [Matthew 16:13, NIV]. One of the core questions of Christianity is found within the important Gospel lesson appointed for this upcoming Sunday [Matthew 16:13-20, the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, RCL, Year A]. That central question is actually the final of three questions offered to the small band of disciples who have been following Jesus primarily in Galilee, as he heals, empowers, and teaches those who have eyes to see and ears to hear [Mt. 13:9-16]. He has brought his merry band of men (and not a few women)…

He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table” [Matthew 15:24-27, NRSV]. I am reminded of a short discussion that Todd (for the several of you who don’t know him, Todd is my identical twin brother) and I had in our living room with a close friend when the three of us were about 10 or 11 years old.…

And they said to each other, “Here comes that dream-master! And so now, let us kill him and fling him into one of the pits and we can say, a vicious beast has devoured him, and we shall see what will come of his dreams” [Genesis 37: 19-20, The Hebrew Bible, tr. by Robert Alter]. The wife looked at her husband, whose serial infidelity had surfaced once again. Too weary to continue the struggle—she’d fought for their union on several prior, similar occasions—she looked at him through the tears in her eyes and asked, “How did we get to this?” The man thought it odd that a police car had…

He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it [Genesis 28:11-12]. I had “the dream” again the other night. I’ve had it off and on for at least 40 years. I’m scheduled either to preach at an unfamiliar church or to give the keynote at a gathering of attorneys and insurance…