Riverside Presbyterian Church

Exodus 34:29-35Luke 9:28-432 Corinthians 3:12-18It's important to read all three scripture readings for Sunday to see how they use the metaphor of veiled faces. In the Exodus account, Moses, after talking to God on Mt. Sinai, veils his face because it shone too brightly with God's glory for the people to come close. In Luke's story Jesus goes up on the mountain (like Moses) and his face and even clothes shine brightly as he is transfigured by God's glory. In the Corinthians passage, Paul, previously a fundamentalist Jew who tried to keep every law perfectly, offers the Corinthian church great hope. Even though they cannot keep the law of Moses the presence of Christ in their lives removes all the veils of deceit, hostility, ignorance, racism, self righteousness and hypocrisy we conjure up to hide behind. He reminds them that now with unveiled faces their own face is being transformed from one degree to another into the face of Christ. One day at a time your face becomes more Christ like as you strive to live

Luke 4: (16-20) 21-30"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me. God has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor...."These Isaian words were read in the synagogue in Nazareth by Jesus. They express wondrous promises, an expansive messianic agenda, timeless hope. In their original setting, this utterance of "Isaiah" (chapter 61) advocated for a particular socio-political program over against competing views in post-exhilic Jerusalem. It so happened that not everyone involved in rebuilding Jerusalem and Jewish society agreed with the wording of this platform.Jesus was not neutral about the prophetic vision. Or perhaps the passage of time had eroded the controversial edges of Isaiah. In any case, according to Luke's gospel Jesus adopted the vision of Isaiah as his own mission statement, saying "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."S

Psalm 150Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty firmament! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his surpassing greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with clanging cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that breathes praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! It’s the last Psalm, the last word the Biblical choral director/musician wants to leave at the end of the book. “Praise the Lord!” Every phrase in the song is an imperative ending in an exclamation point! There’s no arguing what he means. Praise God for all it’s worth and with all you have; trumpets, lutes, and harps, tambourine and even dancing; praise God with strings and pipes and cymbals, even loud clashing cymbals. In fact “let everything that breathes” - every living thing - praise God! What a way to end it. All things singing, dancing, and play

The Wedding at Cana - On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ Now standing there were six stone water-jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, ‘Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.’ So they took it. 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 th

The final words of the great church hymn Love Divine, All Loves Excelling read: "lost in wonder, love, and praise."Today, losing wonder rather than getting lost in wonder is the norm. Through a re-reading of Scripture's creation accounts, Dr. Brown will explore ways to retrieve the sense of wonder that sustains faith in God and wisdom in life.William P. Brown is an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and Professor of Old Testament Literature, Language, and Exegesis at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA. Bill has also taught at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond and at Emory University. He is the author of several books and numerous essays on biblical interpretation and theology, including The Seven Pillars of Creation: The Bible, Science, and the Ecology of Wonder (Oxford University), Seeing the Psalms: A Theology of Metaphor (WJK), Ecclesiastes (WJK), as well as editor of Engaging Biblical Authority (WJK). Bill is an avid Sunday School teacher and a founding member of Earth Cove

On our sign outside we say, "All Welcome." However, "Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Community", made it more specific. So, instead of my usual devotional on this coming Sunday's scripture I thought I would share this email I got from someone that will lighten you up about who is actually welcome in the Lord's house."We extend a special welcome to those who are single, married, divorced, gay, filthy rich, dirt poor, yo no habla Ingles. We extend a special welcome to those who are crying new-borns, skinny as a rail or could afford to lose a few pounds.We welcome you if you can sing like Andrea Bocelli or like our pastor who can't carry a note in a bucket. You're welcome here if you're "just browsing," just woke up or just got out of jail. We don't care if you're more Catholic than the Pope, or haven't been in church since little Joey's Baptism.We extend a special welcome to those who are over 60 but not grown up yet, and to teenagers who are growing up too fast. We welcome soccer moms, NASCAR dads, starving artis