At the beginning of every Advent, the first Sunday’s reading is a text from the gospel describing what is commonly known as the “Last Days” or the “Second Coming.” These texts are a type of literature known as “apocalyptic,” which is hidden language, used in times of crisis or catastrophe, to offer a secret message of hope to beleaguered believers. From the greek “apo” (un) and “kalypto” (cover); “apocalyptic” moments and texts serve to uncover the presence of God hidden in the midst of crisis or in seasons of darkness. In popular imagination, “Apocalpytic” predicts the catastrophic end of time, when the world will come to an end. In traditional Christian theology, these readings and their location represent our awareness that telling the story of the advent or coming of Christ at Christmas is not mere remembrance, but also, holy anticipation: a prayerful way of looking forward and acknowledging that our life belongs to God and, as we live faithfully, we practice and anticipate God’s redemptive work being incarnate in the world—not just once, long ago: but now and in the unknown future as well.

More personally, I invite you to consider these texts as an invitation to “uncover” what is hidden, hard, or shaky in your own world. Maybe there is distress about the economy, violence, or political unrest here or abroad.

Maybe your shakiness is centered around a troubled relationship or an illness in your family or friend. Maybe this is a time of spiritual silence or darkness for you personally…a season in which prayer doesn’t work as it once did, or God seems absent or silent. Maybe there is anger, or fear or anxiety in you or one you love. When we find the courage to speak about and acknowledge these unsettled and unsettling places, we open up, and make room in our inner being for hope, and the possibility of a sacred touch. This is what theology means by the word “Incarnation”—which describes both how the Divine One was, once and long ago embodied in Jesus of Nazareth, a man…and how our own human selves are met where we are—whether in distress or gladness and changed by the interplay of divine hope and human experience.

We move through the Advent Season: beginning from our own and the world’s places of darkness and brokenness into a consideration of Voices of transformation and turning, represented by the stories of John the Baptist. Who are the people in your work and world who challenge your best self? Whose are the voices in public discourse that inspire our attention toward a more perfect union; who invite our practices of justice and mercy and kindness to be revitalized, for the common good? What needs to change in me? In our communities of faith? In our nation and world, so that we might move out of places of danger and wilderness into newness of life?

Advent culminates in the powerful example of Mary of Nazareth, a girl of no means, no power, and little prestige…who accepted the invitation of a Holy Mystery, and who allowed what could have been a season of personal apocalypse— an unexpected and unsanctioned pregnancy— to be a moment for spiritual transformation; a chance for the Holy Spirit to birth God’s Presence into the life of a young girl and a particular moment of history. She could have said no. Instead, she said “yes.” This Christmas season; what place in your life needs the “yes” of reverent attention, patient illumination, a dose of hopeful imagination?

May the blessing of Christ Light fill you and yours, this holy season and always. Laurie

During the summer season, vacations and other activities may take you away from our regular worship at RPC.  Please remember that our ministry and mission never take a vacation.  There are a few ways you can make your Faith Commitment if you are away fromRiviera during the summer months.

1. Write a check and mail it to Riviera Presbyterian Church, 5275 Sunset Drive Miami, FL 33143.  Please label it “Offering or Pledge”
2. Electronic Bill Pay – setup a payment using the “electronic bill pay” feature of your bank’s online service.  The church will be in receipt of a paper check by mail if you are unable to attend Sunday service.

Please bring contributions for the food pantry, every Sunday someone will come through the congregation during the offering collecting contributions (food and/or money) for the food pantry.

2011 – 2012 Planning Calendars are now available.  $7 each.  Please call the church office to reserve your copy or pick up a form on the back table in the sanctuary.  We only have 1 copy left.  First Come First Served.

Volunteers are needed for Nursery duty for the month of July and August.  We need two persons per Sunday.  Sign up sheets are on the back table.

If you would like to hear your favorite hymn during a worship service this summer, please send us an email atrivierachurch@bellsouth.net or sign up on the clipboard in the sanctuary.

Please note that there will not be any Wednesday Bible Study during the month of July.

While Laurie is in Kenya pastoral care will be provided by Stephen Sapp, Jacqueline Rhoades and Deacons.  Please contact church office for phone numbers if needed.

New Date for Cabaret: Mark your calendars, update your Smart Phone – Cabaret has a new date: Sunday, September 25 and 6:00p.m.

Lectionary for Sunday, July 17: Genesis 2 and 3 selected texts; Romans 5:12-21

Sunday July 17th Sermon Title: “Lessons from Genesis 1:  The Ruined Garden” by Rev. Dr. Stephen Sapp  - Response by Tracey Schoenblatt

What are a few of your favorite things? Sunday, August 14th at 5:00 p.m. we will be having a Sound of Music sing-a-long in the sanctuary.  Please bring snacks and finger food to share. Suggested donation $5 per person or $15 per family group.  Come in costume if you wish and be prepared to sing – a- long with Maria and the Von Trapp children.

This month, as many of us enjoy seasons of respite from school and work, or times of vacation with family and friends, eleven folks from Riviera will journey to Kenya, for our partnership visit with the Kiawaithangi Academy in Nyeri. To help focus our group’s spiritual reflection during the work trip, I have prepared a journal with pictures, scripture readings, poems, prayers, and questions for reflection.

The journal invites our travelers into this time of purposeful action and re­flection by using the labyrinth picture below. Those of you who wish to pray alongside us may pick up a journal copy from the table in the sanctuary, or from the church office. And we do invite you all to pray alongside our work trip participants, and our partners in Kenya!

But my preparation for this trip has invited me to consider, why don’t we prepare as thoughtfully, as prayerfully, and as intention­ally for vacation as we do for other seasons and events in our lives?

I don’t know about you, but my vacation preparation usually involves hectic working ahead at the office to make sure my responsibilities are covered in my absence, and nothing critical left undone…late night frantic packing, plant watering, refrigerator emptying, coupled with an email search for plane reservations, and to see whether someone remembered to make the rental car reservation. I am so last minute on many trips that once I was towel­drying my hair on my way out to the taxi for an international flight! By the time we leave for vacation, we are generally stressed, snippy, and frazzled.

And I wonder—how much more enjoyable, relaxing, and restorative might our vacations be, if we took the time to prepare spiritually and emotionally for the blessing of rest? What if we used a tool like the labyrinth to help us center ourselves for a transition from work and school into a season of rest and re­creation? What if we were as thoughtful about planning a day off as we were about planning a wedding, a graduation, an anniversary, a special dinner party? What if we gave ourselves, and our loved ones, the blessing of lavishing intentional care on ourselves during a season of rest? Maybe you are not getting a week away, but only a few days, or weekends… even more reason to enter fully in the precious moments of respite!

This summer, as you go about your lives of work, or camp, or take time for play, I invite you to use the questions below, and the images of our laby­rinth, to indulge in a little “spiritual play” around intentionality in rest and re­creation.

With love and gratitude,

Laurie

On March 13, the 1st Sunday of Lent, you will notice an addition to our sanctuary setting.

Our seating will remain in its normal front-facing configuration. But in the center of the room, in the midst of our congregational seating, a simple table will be placed, representing the sacred space we are symbolically opening in our lives for practicing a more continual awareness of the presence of God during the forty day Lenten season. God is in our intentional spirituality, and in our communal worship. God is in our workplace, and our homes. God is in our praise, and in our secret fears and failures. God is in the ordinary, as in the holy. Indeed, everything is holy, everything belongs to God.

During Lent, we will work to increase our awareness of God’s everywhere-presence in each of our own lives, exploring the theme: Altars in the World: spiritual practices in everyday life. Our sermon series themes will be drawn from conversations with Barbara Brown Taylor’s book “An Altar in the World: a Geography of Faith” We invite you to consider not “giving something up” for Lent this year; but rather, adding something to your own “Altar in the World” by joining us in worship each Sunday and after worship for adult learning around Spiritual Practices for Everyday Lives.

March 9 through April 17, Palm/Passion Sunday

Ash Wednesday Service, 3/9 7:00 p.m Taize and imposition of ashes

During the Sundays of Lent the preaching themes will be supplemented by adult learning following the service each Sunday, focusing on spiritual practices in our daily lives (Soup and bread will be served)

During the weeks of Lent, we will also share “Moveable Feasts” at homes in our faith community; as well as three Saturday morning opportunities to practice like St. Francis did, building our life together through labor and fellowship, as we build our prayer garden together.

The Practice of Encountering Others: gathering in community for friendship and prayer

Dinner/Moveable Feast Dates and Hosts:

1. Home of Chuck and Bonnie Hannemann (south) Saturday, March 19, at 6 p.m.
2. Church, Bible study and lunch, Wednesday, March 23 12:00 p.m. (noon)
3. Home of Belinda Vidal and Valerie Deville, March 29th, at 7:00 pm
4. Home of Doreen Ruggerio (north) Saturday April 2, 6:00 p.m.
5. Home of Pamela Armour (central) Sunday April 10, in the afternoon following worship
6. Home of Henry and Sandy Barrow (central) Sunday, April 17, 5:00 p.m.

Please call the church office or sign up for a dinner in the back of the sanctuary.

Lent 1, March 13 The Practice of Making Room in our Lives: emptiness

Text: Philippians 2 and Matthew 4
with Diane Shoaf, spiritual director and pastor, preaching & teaching
Adult Learning: the practice of centering prayer

Lent 2, March 20 The Practice of Walking on the Earth: groundedness

Text: Genesis 2 Laurie Kraus, preaching
Adult
Learning: lectio divina: listening with the heart

Saturday, March 26 8:30 to 11

The Practice of Carrying Water: physical labor
we gather for light breakfast, conversation and work in the prayer garden
John German and Laurie Kraus, hosts

Lent 3, March 27 The Practice of Getting Lost: wilderness

Text: Exodus 17: 1-7 symbol: water/baptism
Adult Learning: Labyrinth walking prayers—wandering in prayer

Saturday, April 2, 8:30 to 11

The Practice of Carrying Water: physical labor
We gather for light breakfast, conversation and work in the prayer garden

Lent 4, April 3 The Practice of Wearing Skin: incarnation

Text: Ezekiel 37:1-14
1^st Sunday Lunch
Adult Learning: Praying in Color … drawing our prayers to God

Saturday, April 9, 8:30 to 11

The Practice of Carrying Water: physical labor
We gather for light breakfast, conversation and work in the prayer garden

Lent 5, April 10 The Practice of Paying Attention: reverence

Lenten Cantata by the Choir, communion
Adult Learning: “those who sing, pray twice” exploring praying through simple sung chants and breath prayers

Passion/Palm Sunday, April 17

The Practice of Feeling: breakthrough
Text:
Passion Narrative in Matthew
Adult Learning: Sleeping with Bread: Holding
What Gives You Life (the Daily Examen)

HOLY WEEK OBSERVANCE

Maundy Thursday April 21, 7:30 Service of Shadows and Communion

Good Friday April 22 7:30 pm Taize and Prayer in the Garden

Easter Day, Sunday April 24 The Celebration of the Resurrection

“Supposing he was the Gardener?”
This Lent, make some space in your soul:
Join us, work with us, gather and eat with us, learn and explore with us….

Just a few reminders about Youth Sunday School during this Holiday Season:

There is no Sunday School on Sunday, December 26, 2010
There is no Sunday School on Sunday, January 2, 2011

There will be no child-care with Josefina on Sunday, December 26, 2010 – we encourage all families to come and have your child participate in the service.

There will be child-care with Josefina on Sunday, January 2, 2011

Also, in January we will kick-off the 2011 Year with a few new things:

On Sunday, January 9, 2011, the Children and Youth of the Church will present their “2 Cents a Meal” offering during the “Bless the Beast and the Children” service. Hope you all have been collecting your pennies during each meal. If you’ve forgotten, it is not too late to start. Every little bit helps!

As we begin to prepare for the new 2012 Confirmation Class, the Youth Sunday School will now have a new combined class for the Youth in Middle School and the Upper Elementary School Grades. The new class will be involved in service projects, fund raisers and other activities to help lay the spiritual foundation for formal Confirmation Classes that will begin in the Fall of 2011. The new combined class will have its first Sunday School class on Sunday, January 16, 2011 (location TBD).

There will still be a class for the Pre-School and Kindergarten Children and a separate class for the Early Elementary School Kids. Don’t forget we are always looking for people to help teach or participate with the Children and Youth!

We are encouraging all Youth to participate in Communion Service the first Sunday of every month by remaining in service rather than attending Sunday School, if Parents feel that it is appropriate.

Stay tuned – children’s choir “Joyful Noise” being slated in February by Warren Broome and Friends.

Have a Wonderful Christmas and a Very Happy New Year!

Our Advent theme, “Incarnations” will explore the ways God’s presence is becoming visible to us in our own lives, in our communities, and in other religious traditions with which we are in conversation, since all of the world’s major religious traditions can contribute together to adding compassion, love, and peace to our troubled world.

Join us for any and all of these special events during the Advent Season here at Riviera

SUNDAYS: Worship each week at 11 am, followed by an interactive adult learning gathering at noon, with refreshments, considering “Incarnations: the ways and means of God’s engagements with the human family.”
Nov 28: Buddhism and Hinduism in dialogue with Christianity
Dec 5: Judaism in dialogue
Dec 12: Islam in dialogue
Dec 19: Christianity and incarnation in the 21st Century

MARK YOUR CALENDAR NOW:

Dec. 4 Color and Light Art Show and Gift Sale (9 am to 4:30 pm): Celebrating the beautiful, colorful and diverse fabric of people in South Florida, Riviera Church invites you to visit, see and meet these important local artists.

Dec. 4–5 Alternative Gift Sale (9 am to 4:30 pm): SERRV fair-trade world market and African hand crafts to benefit the Church’s education mission in Kenya.

Dec. 12 A Christmas Musical Festival: (11 am) “This Child, This King,” a Christmas cantata.

Dec. 12 A Christmas Family Feast with Caroling (5 pm) Come to the Church Fellowship Hall, bring a side dish or dessert to share.

Dec. 21 “Blue Christmas:” (7 pm) A quiet evening of jazz/blues music, readings and prayers for people who experience sadness or are remembering a loss during this season of family joy. Following the service, the church’s labyrinth will be open for walking and prayer in the sanctuary.

Dec. 24 Family Christmas Eve Candlelight Service (6 pm) A service of lessons and carols.

Dec. 26 Christmas Sunday (11 am) Join us for a celebrative, intergenerational and interactive worship service—with costumes, caroling and storytelling.

Jan. 9 The Sunday of Epiphany (11 am) “And the Friendly Beasts…” A service for ALL the family in which we welcome our pets into worship for the “blessing of the beasts.” Following the service there will be a potluck lunch in the courtyard for everyone… with kibble and bits for our friends.

The service is at 7:00 p.m, in the Riviera sanctuary, and will feature a broad range of music from the choirs of our various traditions. The service meditation will be led by clergy from the participating congregations, who each will share briefly their reflection on why we believe in interreligious community and dialogue.

In the wake of bruising arguments over the establishment of an Islamic Community Center near the Ground Zero site in New York City, arguments that laid bare the painful cost of neglecting to tend our interfaith relationships, the clergy of Coral Gables are thankful for the strong friendships that bind our congregations together, and are committed to nurturing deeper connections of service and holy conversation to enrich the well-being of our entire community and working for tikkun olam, the wholeness and repair of the world.

Riviera Presbyterian Church, 5275 Sunset Drive, Miami FL 33143