The Riverside Gathering Posts

And now, too, said the LORD, turn back to Me with all your heart, in fasting and weeping and mourning, and rend your heart, not your garments, and turn back to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in kindness and relenting over evil [Joel 2:12-13, THE HEBREW BIBLE, tr. by Robert Alter, a portion of the OT reading appointed for Ash Wednesday, RCL, Year C]. The Revised Common Lectionary’s OT reading for Ash Wednesday is always the same: Joel 2:1-2, 12-17. Although its use on Ash Wednesday enjoys a long tradition, that use is not without contextual issues. For example, the…

And when Moses came down from the Mount Sinai, he held the two tables of the testimony, and he knew not that his face was horned from the conversation of the Lord [Exodus 34:29, Vulgate Bible, English translation, emphasis added]. Moses came down from Mountain Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God [Exodus 34-29, NRSV, emphasis added]. As many of you know, Michelangelo’s statue of Moses, housed in St. Peter’s Basilica, has an unusual “feature.” I’ve never been to Rome, so…

And Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me, pray,” and they came close, and he said, “I am Joseph your brother whom you sold into Egypt. And now, do not be pained and do not be incensed with yourselves that you sold me down here, because for sustenance God has sent me before you [Genesis 45:4-5, The Hebrew Bible, tr. by Robert Alter]. One of the longest stories in the Hebrew Bible is that of Joseph, the favored son of Jacob, the son whose father gave him the “technicolor” coat, the son who told his brothers that he dreamed that they would one day bow down to him,…

Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God …. But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort [Luke 6:20b, 24, NIV]. Jesus’ extended “Sermon on the Mount,” transcribed for us by St. Matthew (see chs. 5-7) takes place—rather obviously—on a “mountainside,” with Jesus assuming the rabbinical, seated position [Matthew 5:1]. St. Luke’s extended recounting of Jesus’ sermon [Luke 6:20-49], a portion of which—Luke 6:17-26—is the Gospel reading appointed for the Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany [RCL, Year C], takes place after Jesus went down from the mountainside and stood in the plain [Luke 6:17, KJV]. Hence, the sermon in…

When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” [Luke 5:6-8]. During our recent Wednesday Bible Study sessions, my Carolina Arbors friends and I have been discussing, among other things, how the Synoptic Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—are remarkably consistent and yet, if one moves through the text slowly, with a discernible…

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things [1 Corinthians 13:4-7]. A few days ago, I was on treacherous ground. I’m not speaking about the dusting of snow that Durham had received. I’m referring instead to the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas, the 13th century philosopher/theologian. Knowing that the Lectionary appointed the First Corinthians 13:1-13 text as the Epistle reading for this Sunday, the…

All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked [Luke 4:22] I remember well the delivery of my first sermon. It was May 1987. I’d been “posted” as a 36-year-old “field ed” intern at Saxapahaw UMC (Chatham County, NC) for the summer that followed my first year at Duke Div School. Nowadays, Saxapahaw is a chic little village, with trendy shops and cafes, catering to those who want to live in nearby Chapel Hill, but who can’t afford the zip code. Back in ’87, however, it was a sleepy little town on the Haw River, struggling…

When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now” [John 2:9-10, NRSV, a portion of the Gospel reading for the Second Sunday after the Epiphany, RCL, Year C]. A joke circulated during my Divinity School days. No doubt it was first repeated decades before my study there (1986-89), and no doubt the riddle is still chuckled over…

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…