The Riverside Gathering Posts

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; …. [Matthew 2:1-3, a portion of the Gospel reading for the Epiphany of our Lord, RCL, Year C]. You’ve heard my story before. My name is Melchior. Long ago, I was a Zoroastrian priest from Persia. Because my colleagues and I liked to study and write (and…

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, that he might redeem them who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons [Galatians 4:4-5, Douay-Rheims Bible (1750), ed./tr. by bishop Richard Challoner]. As I have mentioned within these weekly meditations on several occasions, I’m part of an active Bible Study that meets each Wednesday at 11 a.m., via Zoom. I haven’t cleared this with the group, but if anyone outside the Carolina Arbors community is interested in joining us online, I think we can accommodate you. In any event, we’re currently in Matthew…

Introductory note Our Dad, unlike his two brothers-in-law, was not a story-teller. And yet, one of my most vivid memories about him is how at some moment during the weeks just before Christmas—year after year after year—he would turn to us and say, “Boys, did I ever tell you about that Christmas in Sioux City?” We’d laugh, and as Mother smiled and looked at us, one of us would say, “Dad, you tell that same story every Christmas.” Over the years, the story became interactive. Since we knew the story so well, if he omitted a detail while telling it, we’d interject a comment here and there to supplement Dad’s…

First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them” (although the law required them to be made). Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. And it is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all [Hebrews 10:8-10]. The Lectionary committee showed particular skill in joining the readings for this upcoming Sunday, the Fourth Sunday of Advent (RCL, Year C). For example, the Psalter reading, Psalm 80:1-7, with its descriptive metaphors and…

Rejoice in the Lord always; I will say it again, Rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God [Philippians 4:4-6]. Waiting can be quite difficult for many, if not most of us. When I want to draw upon my strongest feelings about waiting, I reflect back to my freshman and sophomore years at Wake Forest, now more than 50 years ago. Then, before the completion of I-85 and the rest of the interstate highway system, it took me almost six hours to drive from Wake…

“By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace” [Luke 1:78-79]. In Luke 1:68-79, the first of two Gospel readings appointed for this upcoming Sunday, the second Sunday of Advent RCL, Year C, Yahweh—God of the Impossible—is at it again. And yet, if we didn’t already know important parts of the story, we might think that nothing truly special is going on. To be sure, if we read the verses that precede this week’s lesson, we’d see that a…

Then he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near …. Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth [Luke 21:29-31, 34-35]. Having some soon-to-expire—thank you very much, pandemic—“Marriott time” at our…

“What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him” [John 18:38]. This upcoming Sunday, many of our congregations will observe a special annual liturgical event: the Feast of Christ the King. The observance was initiated by Pope Pius XI in 1925; its “Roman” origins being sufficient to banish it from some important segments of American Protestantism, notwithstanding the day’s important theological points. Pius XI sought to warn the church against the rampant secularism that he saw in “modern” society. He wrote that he feared all too many so-called Christians had chosen to…

Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching [Hebrews 10:23-25]. Earlier this year, our Carolina Arbors Bible Study spent four months—March through early July—moving through Hebrews. It’s a New Testament epistle that generally gets short shrift in many of our congregations. One of the first things we learned is that the “Letter to the Hebrews” isn’t much like the other…

And the women said to Naomi, “Blessed is the LORD, Who has not deprived you of a redeemer today, and let his name be proclaimed in Israel” [Ruth 4:14]. As I mentioned last week, as we journey toward the end of the church year, the Revised Common Lectionary provides us with two OT readings from the often overlooked book of Ruth. Last week, we looked at the familiar “Whither thou goest” passage [Ruth 1:16, KJV]. We observed that Ruth clung to Naomi and determined to accompany her back to Naomi’s hometown of Bethlehem in spite of the fact that Ruth—a Moabite—might not be welcomed there. This week the Lectionary appoints…