Running Through Advent
Hope and Peace and...
Hello!
I’m running through Advent.
I don’t just mean that these four weeks leading us towards Christmas are racing by (though they are). I mean that I am literally running, almost every day, through the season of Advent. And in true “Rev. Jim Runs” style, I am making weekly videos all about the season of Advent.
Yes, you can watch the latest one in a bit (just keep scrolling!). But before we get to that, I want to talk about why I am running through Advent. Or specifically, why I make videos about faith and spirituality while I am out running.
As you’ve heard me say time and time again, one of the greatest invitations is to find God in all things. Yes, we can find God in the holy mountain top moments, the beautiful and sacred, the architecture of the Nave and the transcendence of a cathedral. And we can find God in the ordinary and mundane, the divine in the daily and the Christ in the common.
And it is this second one that compels me to make these videos, to not only experience a run as holy ground but to use this space to invite others to share the experience with me, running vicariously through the video and implicitly empowering your daily rhythms to be saturated with something sacred.
Because this is what digital ministry is all about: encountering God in the midst of our ordinary and everyday lives. We don’t have to go anywhere special to find God but we can open our eyes to find God always and already here.
Which is why I am running through Advent.
Week one was all about love (and the Pixar movie Wall-E). Week two is about peace (and billionaires and global conflict). I’m already working on week three (joy!) and week four will follow (love!).
But for now, join me for on a run as we continue through this second week of Advent.
Rev. Jim Keat
Minister of Digital Worship & Education
P.S. Be sure you have three candles ready this Sunday. We’ll be invited to light them in our homes during the Advent Candle Lighting this Sunday!
Meet Melody!
What is your name?
My name is Melody Ruffin Ward. (center in the photo above)
Where are you from?
Akron, Ohio
How long have you been a part of Riverside?
I have been a part of Riverside for one year.
What first brought you to Riverside and what keeps you at Riverside?
Years ago I visited and was struck by the feeling I had when I was there and I wanted to experience it again . Many years later, as a part of the San Francisco faith and Justice program, my husband and I visited and I knew I wanted to be involved with a church like Riverside.
Describe one meaningful experience you have had with Riverside online.
The warmth of Rev. Jim Keat and virtual coffee hour. Also when I had a chance to read scripture before loosing my voice due to ALS.
Let’s get to know one another! Fill out this form to answer a few questions that I can share so we can all get to know each other. What are you waiting for?!
Advent Reflections: Waiting with Hope, Joy, and Peace
Each year, the Advent wreath helps us mark this journey — its candles representing Hope, Peace, Joy, Love, and finally, on Christmas, the Christ candle itself. This year, we’d like to take time together to reflect more deeply on these themes.
You are warmly invited to join us for a Zoom discussion group on three Saturdays during Advent — December 13 and 20 at 8:30 am ET. For an hour each week, we’ll explore thoughtful readings on Advent’s themes: hope and anticipation, joy and lament, peace and faith.
This group will be led by Stephen Durham, and if you know Stephen then you know that any group he facilitates is one that you want to be a part of.
Click here for more information, including the link to join on Zoom and the link to download the readings and more information for each session. I know this is an Advent series that you won’t want to miss!
The Word Made Fresh
In this week’s episode of The Word Made Fresh, Rev. Jim Keat sits down with Rev. Tim Dalton, who is preaching a rare sermon doubleheader on Isaiah 55—one sermon for Space for Grace on Wednesday and another for Sunday worship at Riverside. We explore Isaiah 55 at the end of the Babylonian exile, that pivotal moment where a shattered people are being invited to imagine a new future and a wider circle of belonging. Isaiah’s invitation—“Come, all who thirst”—opens up a conversation about God’s generosity, communal responsibility, and the widening vision that Jesus later carries forward.
But we also talk about the very real human side of Advent: how joy shows up in the jumble of grief, stress, longing, and life’s messiness. Tim shares how joy can be an act of resistance, something carved out in the midst of chaos rather than discovered on the other side of it. We reflect on the tension between sorrow and joy during the holiday season, the pastoral realities of grief, and the possibility that joy can still find us when we slow down long enough to notice. It’s an Advent conversation about being honest, being present, and finding joy—not in spite of life, but right in the middle of it.
Want to watch Rev. Tim preach at Space for Grace? Here you go!
Mark Your Calendar
What a week! So many ways to connect and engage. See you online!
Saturday, December 13 at 8:30 am ET: Advent Reflection (Hope and Anticipation)
Sunday, December 14 at 9:00 am ET: Fresh Start
Sunday, December 14 at 9:30 am ET: Open Bible Study with Rev. Jim Keat
Sunday, December 14 at 10:30 am ET: Sunday Morning Worship
Sunday, November 14 (after worship): Virtual Coffee Hour
Wednesday, December 17 at 12:30 pm ET: Midweek Bible Study (Genesis 317-41)
Wow, what a week! So many ways to connect and engage. Hope to see you online!
In Case You Missed It
You made it!
Another week and another “scroll the very end of the email” award for you. Way to go! If you made it all the way here, send me an email or leave a comment and say “bananas.” It will be our secret code. (Also, we go through so many bananas in our house! Between smoothies in the morning for the grownups and a perpetual “one more snack” from the kids before beds, they are probably the most common food in our kitchen!)