The River Church Sermons

Have you ever felt alone in a crowd? I have. We live in a hyper-connected space, and even have thousands of mini-notifications all day long. But do you long for deep, soul-nourishing, life-infusing connection? We want something, or someone, who can fill us with courage and direction along the trailhead that beckons us beyond ourselves [check out James' sermon from last week - so good!]. We have ju...

Early in the 2001 adaptation of The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, the lovable hobbit Sam Gamgee sparks a memorable exchange. Sam: “This is it.” Frodo: “What?” Sam: “If I take one more step, I'll be the farthest away from home I've ever been.” Frodo: “Come on, Sam. Remember what Bilbo used to say: ‘It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if yo...

Imagine for a moment that only 2% of the population of the South Bay consisted of followers of Jesus. Imagine that almost all of your friends, coworkers, and neighbors didn't really know the story of Jesus, and for them "Christianity" was an outdated, cold, rigid, lifeless philosophy and institution. Now imagine that you wanted to bring the life-imparting, joy-saturating reality of Jesus to this h...

Our new series is entitled Belonging Co. We plan to look at what Jesus said about his own relationship with God as he spent some very personal time with his disciples before the cross and his departure from this earth. It is some of the most revealing and intimate thoughts and learnings we get from Jesus. It's all about belonging to God. Jesus pressed in on what it looks like to have an intimate r...

This weekend we are in the Old Testament again. Last week we looked at Job and his pain and suffering. We learned God's presence shatters pain. This week we'll be focusing on Isaiah the prophet's message in chapter 40, "Comfort, O Comfort my people, says your God." And oh how they needed comfort, and so do we. We could all use a little comfort. Isaiah, the prophet for Israel, was born into an infl...

Easter 2018 9am Service - Todd Wendorff by The River Church of the South Bay

Easter 2018 6am Sunrise Service - Bill MacPhee by The River Church of the South Bay

Pain, Presence, Comfort, and......JOY. We've come to the end, but notice it starts with pain. It will lead to joy if we give it permission. Servais Pinckaers wrote a book, The Pursuit of Happiness. I've been reading it these last few weeks. It's a commentary on the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:1-12, our text for this weekend. He says, "The voice of suffering is a strange voice. It silences all others,...

Rainer Maria Rilke wrote a poem about a trial that feels like being trapped in a massive rock, "like a vine of ore alone, encased." She can't see the path or any distance. "Everything is close and everything is closing in on me." Then she ends with, "Since I still don't know enough about pain, this terrible darkness makes me small. If it's you, though- Press down hard on me, break in that I may kn...

The storm that caused the waves to crash against the side of the disciple's boat that ominous night was not the thing to be feared most. It was the one in the boat with the disciples that was even more terrifying than the storm. The times I have encountered storms in my life, I have focused more on the storm than Jesus, the one in the boat with me. I am afraid I have it all wrong. CS lewis said so...

This weekend we conclude our rich and delightful journey through Paul's heartfelt letter to the Jesus followers in Ephesus. He keeps reminding them, and us, that we all are doing better than we think. His final words take us into a dark place, exposing a very real enemy, whose one intent is to destroy the beauty God has restored with His love. This evil is a defeated enemy, and we have been given...

"Who." That may be the most important pronoun in life. We can so quickly lose track of ourselves in the "what" of our lives, lifestyles, projects and play. Our text from Ephesians this week is filled to the brim with the "what" of the Jesus-following lifestyle, but right smack in the middle, Paul comes up for air and reminds the Ephesians (and us today) about the all-important "WHO's": Who we are,...

Happy Birthday to The River Church of the South Bay! A group of faithful, adventurous souls gathered at the home of Steve and Ceci Watts on February 7, 2007, and committed to one another that they would start something new and fresh, spurred on by Isaiah 43:19 ... “Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness,...

Are you a Christian? Do you count yourself as part of Christ's body, adopted into God's family, and marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit? If so, then do you think one or a number of your friends or family members prayed for you to become a Christian? Who do you think it was? Maybe you've heard a lot of Christian language, but it hasn't quite landed. You're still checking things out, wondering w...

Paul’s excited letter to the Ephesians is overwhelmingly hopeful: you are doing better than you think. Ok, maybe your resolutions for 2018 are not doing so good, and bad news fills your social media feeds, and paying your Christmas credit card bill creates anxiety. But God’s initiative through the cross of Christ is creating a beautifully new and exhilarating narrative of good news for you and me....

It has been 9 long months of waiting and anticipating the arrival of our baby boy and Tara and I cannot wait to celebrate the arrival of our son in a couple weeks. We are dreaming of walks down the Esplanade and greeting strangers with a smiling baby (babies always smile right?) We are proud of our boy and want everyone to meet him, so they can share in our joy of what we have created. In our pass...

Let's get metaphorical:What if you're seeing Van Gogh's Starry Night in black and white? What if you're listening to Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata with a blender on? What if you've mistaken the parking lot tram for the amusement park? What if there's more...like, so much more? Sometime in the middle of the first century Paul of Tarsus carefully, passionately, powerfully, eloquently, and urgently pe...

My family just celebrated my dad's 90th birthday up in Seattle. Though the weather was cold and rainy, my father was alive and vital, sharp and witty [even if his legs aren't strong anymore]. He has been an amazing mentor to me, and has passed on his wisdom to countless students through his academic career and church leadership. We loved hearing him recount stories of life, marriage, work, friends...

Merry Christmas! We're still celebrating the greatest gift of all - Jesus, Immanuel, God with us, who makes all things new. Jesus is God's fully human child, who came into the world so that you and I might also become God's children, adopted into the divine family. Let's celebrate together this Sunday with singing, scripture reading, and communion eating! See you at the beach or the Norris, Matt E...

Christmas Eve 2017 by The River Church of the South Bay

The birth of Jesus could not have been more common - an animal feeding trough as incubator. The news of his arrival could not have been revealed to more simple people - shepherds, keeping watch over their flocks at night. Yet angels peal back the curtains of heaven declaring what God thinks of this unique delivery. It is called "good news," the evangel, the gospel. Author Luke intentionally sets J...

It’s a glorious season! Emmanuel, our God is with us now. This changes everything. Everything! Mary, resident of backwater Nazareth, probably 12 or 13 years old, was absolutely not ready for the completely insane announcement from the angel Gabriel. Seriously, she was the most unlikely candidate for God’s decision to birth himself into our salvation history and redeem the world. She was a young gi...

It’s a Glorious Season! And its all about Christ’s glory. I found this old hymn in Magnificat reader says, “O Christ, thou Sun of angels, watch o’er us from heaven above; Fain would our eyes behold thee, Fain would our hearts still love. True Light shines forth! Let darkness far from our souls be thrust. That peace to all flow richly who thee their Savior trust.” I like the part about Jesus thrust...

As we will wrap up our study of Acts for the year, I am struck by the powerful impact that this new band of Jesus followers had on their culture. Clearly Christianity was still in the minority. Few comparatively had given their lives over to this Jesus messiah figure. They rubbed their fellow Jews the wrong way. Herod was on their tail. It was the moment of truth. It could have all come crumbling...

Change is usually hard … difficult change is often good change. Ask the caterpillar and butterfly. One is stuck in the weeds and the other gets to soar. I get stuck in the weeds a lot, but long to soar. God is relentlessly determined that his bride, the church would shine in such a way that every person would know the refreshing love and forgiveness found only in Jesus. God will polish and buff ou...