The River Church Community

[Brad is on sabbatical until mid-July.  In his absence, Mark Phifer-Houseman, our Pastor of Leadership Development will be sharing some thoughts in this space]

Dear River Family,

I must confess that our Holy Week celebrations filled me with many polarizing emotions as I celebrated our Passover Seder, Good Friday, and Easter services — I went from joy to fear and revulsion, from love and awe to doubt and unbelief. When Holy Week scares you, confronts you with your sin and unbelief, and fills you with joy, almost at the same moment, you know you are approaching the worship experience that God must have intended. Jesus enters Jerusalem as a King, having raised Lazarus and riding the high point of popularity on Palm Sunday, only to be crucified within a week at the hands of Imperial Rome, through the corrupt justice of the High Priest’s circle, by the betrayal of one of his closest followers, to be abandoned by all but the closest women to him, then for the Father to raise his broken and mutilated body from the dead in power to the utter disbelief of all his followers — this is the “mystery of faith” as the early Christian worshippers called it. Thanks to Angela Aviles, Brad, Jamie Wolf, Kay Maitz, Krista-Dawn, Teruo Utsumi and all the volunteers, musicians, and those who shared their story who made this journey of faith possible for us, our guests, and our seeking friends again this year.

We have served, worshiped, feasted, cleaned up the Easter baskets, and are ready to get back to “normal” life. But, the season of Christ’s resurrection appearances goes on for 40 days according to the Scriptures. And, in the earliest Christian worship calendars, the next 6 Sundays are Easter Sundays. That’s good news for me and good news for all of us. Like the first disciples, I need time to soak in what Jesus’ resurrection means. I don’t know what “normal” life looks like on this side of the Cross and the empty tomb. Who is this I am worshiping who breaks my heart, reveals to me my folly, sin, and weakness, only to return in a way I cannot understand or grasp to speak “Shalom” to me? How can there be Shalom when I see my sin, when I am angry with God and others, when Jesus isn’t with me as he was before? He comes in a resurrected physical body with nail and spear holes. He walks through walls and “beams” in and out of our lives at will. I can’t recognize him even when he’s right next to me unless he opens my eyes. This is a freaky faith we are part of. We need time to meditate on resurrection so that our definition of “normal” life can truly be Christian.  We understand birth, growth, energetic faith, action, service, and progress. Many of us also have experienced pain, skepticism, disillusionment, decay, grief, and death. But for most of us, death and resurrection are not the ways of “normal” life.

How can Jesus’ resurrection shape our souls and our expectations? How can it shape our community at the River? These are the questions we will be facing for the coming six weeks before Pentecost. We will be meditating on Jesus’ post resurrection encounters on the six Sundays between now and Pentecost. The events of Holy week had so broken the disciples faith and their categories of who Jesus was, that each of the resurrection encounters with Jesus finds the disciples broken in faith only to be confronted by Jesus in the very center of their brokenness: Thomas with his doubt, Peter with his shame, the women with their grief and feelings of abandonment, the two on the road to Emmaus with their disillusionment. Even the apostle Paul, the one who didn’t experience the grief of Good Friday, does not escape the experience of death and resurrection, but has his own experiences of death and darkness along with resurrection in his encounters with the resurrected Lord Jesus.

I would encourage you to invite seekers and Christians who have “broken faith” to our Sunday morning gatherings in this season of Easter. We will be dealing with the fundamental issues of unbelief and disappointment with God along with Jesus’ work in restoring our faith. These are messages that have a universal appeal to anyone who has experienced life on earth and who needs to see the power of resurrection.

Peace,
Mark Phifer-Houseman

Hello River,

Brad is en route to China on the first leg of his sabbatical.  He will be visiting Ned and Dorcas Tozun and their work with d.Light as well as a friend of The River who works with China Partners.

Tony, Baker, and Chris have landed in Liberia and are doing well.  He writes:  "The signs of war are less extreme than a few years ago, Baker tells me.  But the bombed out buildings are common and the bullet holes are everywhere.  The poverty is some of the worst I have seen.  Yet, in the midst of all this, the people are joyful.  Even when telling war stories of horror, they see the good hand of God...if only my faith were so strong."

Many staff are helping out with the Washington Neighborhood Bible Camp this week.  For the third year in a row, Washington Elementary school has graciously allowed us to use their cafeteria to host a Bible camp for kids during their spring break.  Angie and Brett Bymaster are spearheading the effort and all sorts of River people are volunteering in different ways.

Angela, Krista-Dawn and Mark are working on our next sermon series on "When Faith is Broken."  This is an excellent series to invite friends who are disappointed or disillusioned in their faith life.  Click here to read about the kick-off message this Sunday.

Spring break for many students this week!  Kyle and the students are making the most of it.

And our very own Josephine Chandra was featured in an NPR All Things Considered piece about creative job-hunting.  Check it out!

Dave

Closing Announcements from Easter Sunday, April 12, 2009:

• Men's book club began this past Monday.  It's not too late to join.  More information here.

• Women's Retreat THIS Friday & Saturday.  More information here.

• Our next Welcome Dessert is at the home of Tom and Judy Tsao.  For more information and to register, go here!