The River Church Community

FROM BRAD:

Dear River friends,
 
It felt a little strange, but I did it.  I planted the seeds of wild flowers in an abandoned plot of ground near my neighbor’s house.  I did it as a spiritual discipline . . . a prayer that the blessing of Jesus would be made known to my neighbor.  But, as importantly, it was (and is) a prayer for my own heart . . . that God would renew in me His passion for those who live apart from the excellence of his grace. 
 
Lent is a season for examination.  It’s a season of humble acknowledgment that there are limbs that have withered and that the soil has become hard and must be plowed again.  For it is into well-prepared hearts that the power of Easter comes. 
 
My honest confession is that my love for my neighbor is lukewarm, at best.  Sometimes, I simply irritated with him.  The deep truth of Lent is that I do not have the resources to be more loving than I am.  If I am to bear sweeter fruit, it will be because God brings to death my self-centeredness . . . and raises up the image of Jesus within me.  This is the  prayer I offer each time I pass by that little plot of ground.
 
If you identify with my confession, if your heart has grown lukewarm (or even cold) for those who live their lives blind to the grace of Jesus,  I invite you to join me in humble confession that something within us has withered.  Moreover, I invite you to join me in praying that God would renew in us His heart of deep, abiding love for the lost.


Brad Wong,
Lead Pastor

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FROM DAVE:

Hello River!

DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME NEXT SUNDAY!  Remember to set your clocks forward 1 hour!

Mark is preparing for our final scheduled Peacemaking Training coming up in two weeks.  You won't want to miss this as we are delving into the delicate art of mediation.

The Men's breakfast is coming up this Saturday!  See more info below.

Kyle and the students kicked off their own Peacemaking Bible studies last week with a great discussion on the "Slippery Slope of Conflict".  They are also kicking off a yummy See's candy fundraiser - be on the lookout for chocolate bunnies!

Our Lent retreat this past weekend provided a bunch of folks some restful time to soak in the parable of the four soils.  We enjoyed great weather, spiritual direction, contemplative time, and yummy food.

Lots of new content on the website.  Check out new Kids' Community content here including new overview materials, descriptions of the Sunday morning communities, a description of Godly Play, and quotes from the kids.

Tony has put up a page describing the Quarterly Missional Tradition (Loving San Jose), and there is a new page describing our friends in the International Friendship Group.

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ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM SUNDAY 3/1:

All Church Family Service and Loving San Jose

• On Sunday March 29, our recurring traditions of our quarterly Family Services and quarterly "Loving San Jose" engagements are coming together!  Jill Bekaert our Kids' Community Director and Tony Traback our Mission Mobilization pastor have planned many family-friendly ways to engage with our city so that we can all participate together.  Sign-ups are available after service and you can contact for more information.

Peacemaking Training

• Having touched upon working through conflict and dialoguing about values differences, our March training will focus on how to serve as a mediator between two parties who are in conflict.
• Saturday, March 14th from 9 to 2 pm at Ministry Center
• RSVP here

BudgetWatchers

• Book study on Matt Bell’s book – Money, Purpose, Joy
• We will explore how our finances reflect and affect our values as well as provide some practical help on issues like budgeting, saving, and debt elimination.
• Contact for more information
  

Men’s Breakfast

• Saturday, March 7th from 9:30 to 11:30 am
• David will be talking about what it means to be “Fit for the Kingdom”
• Sign up here