Last Sunday, as we celebrated the beginning of summer with a boatload of pancakes, I got to thinking about this season. As people begin their “official” summer, plans start to unfold, the slow pace of summer seems to pick up. Kids have summer camps. Sports teams begin to start their summer workouts. We make travel plans and start worrying about the fall. We get a little over body-conscious about having to be at pool parties with our neighbors. In all of it we can lose the great gift that we hoped summer would be — rest.

As we looked at the story of Moses and the exodus out of Egypt last Sunday, we got a glimpse of the way our highly sophisticated and instantly gratified world can enfold us into its systems and ways of living. Perhaps, we connect most with the notion that the world’s success is predicated on our fear of stillness and resting. Maybe, the most revolutionary thing we could do in any worship service is the brief pause we give ourselves from all the things clamoring for our attention and energy. In our staff meeting this week we talked about how difficult it is to be still long enough to hear from God. As we all looked at our summer calendars, we were struck by the idea that rest is something we have to, somewhat ironically, fight for. There is so much to be done — great things God has called us to do: Our Uganda team will spend another week working on the front lines of poverty in HIV/AIDS relief with our partner church in the Ugandan countryside. I leave on Sunday afternoon with a Mariners team headed to Nairobi, Kenya. Our children’s ministry is looking forward to hosting our VBS (church day-camp) at the Ocean Hills campus. Junior High and High School ministry are thinking about their summer camps…

All of it is so good. And, very little of it is restful.

How will you carve out the time (which may already be committed to a number of really good things) to be with the ones you love, to connect with God who loves you, and to restore your own beleaguered soul this summer?

I look forward to seeing you this Sunday,

Jeff

Prepare lunches every Sunday during the 11a service in MCMV kitchen. Kids invited to decorate “Jesus Loves You” lunch bags! Questions?

Last weekend, in honoring dads on Father’s Day, we looked at the quintessential father-figure in the Bible: Abraham. What is so incredibly shocking to us isn’t that Abraham would even consider the sacrifice of his own son, Isaac on an altar, it’s that every one of us is all-too-willing to sacrifice the things God has entrusted to us on any number of other altars: career, need for attention, fear of being alone, unhealthy relationships, or addictions. It is on God’s altar, with our whole lives directed toward Him, that he provides. The god’s of all other altars make promises about providing, and all of them leave us empty, disappointed, and deceived. Father’s day was a beautiful picture of surrender and release; of prayer and vulnerability; worship and freedom — it was an opportunity to make courageous decisions about our own altars.

The true beauty of the church isn’t the bricks and mortar of its four walls (or in our case, five walls). It’s always expressed in the community of the people who follow Jesus. It’s in the community of people who, as the Bible describes them, are the “radiant bride of Christ…the church”. It has been such a great joy of mine to meet your invited friends each week — the ones who are finding their way into the church. They, like all of us, are looking for a group of people who are committed both to each other and to an authentic, uncomplicated relationship with God. The more we enfold people into our lives: acting and living as neighbors and friends together, the more our church community becomes attractive and unified. This next week will be a great week to invite a friend to join you as we continue in our “THE BIBLE” series.

NOTE: Be sure to come hungry for a pancake breakfast on the patio.

See you this Sunday at 9 and 11,

Jeff