And I was stunned, and all this week, as the oil has crept nearer and onto our own state’s shores, my carefully balanced compromise of prayer, anger, cynicism and hopeful dependence on BP, the MMS, Congress and Barak Obama to step up and fix everything has been crumbling under those ten words, the image of a Brown Pelican, a Christ, being crucified so that we might rise up and have life through him.
Riviera Church has been a member of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians since its inception in 1997. Cov Net is a national Presbyterian advocacy organization, made up of congregations and individuals who are committed to “a church as generous and just as God’s grace” and more particularly in these years, to the full inclusion of [...]
February 24, 2010 Laurie Kraus, Pastor Riviera Presbyterian Church 5275 Sunset Drive Miami, FL 33143 Dear Laurie, We had some very exciting news over the weekend, and I want to share it with you and the Riviera session and congregation. On Saturday, the Presbytery of John Knox (at the intersection of Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota) [...]
October 4, 2009 World Wide Communion Sunday Psalm 133; Revelation 21:1-5 My friend Bruce traveled with a clergy group to Israel a few months ago, and told me this story about his group’s visit to the holy city of Sefad, in the hills near the Galilee. Sefad is a city of mysticism and artistic vision; [...]
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Laurie Ann Kraus Genesis 32:9-15, 22-32; 33:1-11 Self-Validation: Spiritual Antibody #3 For how many of you in this room is your best always good enough? Think about that’¦and listen: It is the final hour of a pastors’ retreat. We have reached a conclusion of baptismal name-calling. Pastors one-by-one are invited to sit in the center [...]
Mark 9:14-37 An Unclenched Moment: Relaxation and Self-Regulation Gentle me, Holy One, Into an unclenched moment, a deep breath, a letting go of heavy experiences, of shriveling anxieties, of dead certainties, that, softened by the silence, surrounded by the light and open to the mystery, I may be found by wholeness, upheld by the unfathomable, [...]
11:00 AM worship Luncheon: 12:30 p.m. (suggested $5.00 donation) Concert and Rededication: 1:15 p.m. PLEASE RSVP by Sept. 30, 2009 Email: rivierachurch@bellsouth.net phone: 305-666-8586 web: www.RivieraChurch.org A clergy friend of mine stopped by the church recently and asked for a tour of our restored and renovated sanctuary. Like everyone who has known Riviera church for [...]
September 13, 2009 Ordinary Time Mark 8:22-38 We had been warned, but we did it anyway: we rented a car in England. I’m a good driver, and I thought I had what I needed. A decent enough map. A clear destination. A companion on the journey—map reader and spotter. After the first two miles of [...]
September 6, 2009 Mark 7:24-37 We are the generation that stands between the fires:. . . It is our task to make from fire not an all-consuming blaze but the light in which we see each other fully. All of us different, all of us bearing One Spark. We light these fires to see more [...]