We LOVE our bookstore and need some of YOU to help us run it! We’re looking for volunteers who love people and would like to help them purchase some of the items at our bookstore! We will train you on what you need to know – we just need people who are willing to jump in!
Contact Jaclyn if you would like to help out.
Help kids shop and wrap gifts for their families, as they “spend” their hard-earned homework points. For many families, these gifts will be the only ones they’ll receive this Christmas. More info and sign up online.
Saturday, December 14, 9:30-11:45a
Boys & Girls Club of SJC
Unplug from the craziness of life for a weekend, and come hang out in the mountains with HSM!
Find out more here and register.
Feb 14-17, $250, $225 before Jan. 1
Thousand Pines
TREE LIGHTING! That’s right! Our annual tree lighting is back and better than ever this Friday night. God designed us for relationship with Him and others, and we’re taking that seriously as a church family as we look for ways to know and love our neighbors. Tree lighting is a great opportunity to invite friends and neighbors to see and experience the freedom and joy of the Gospel through one another as we laugh, sing, and ring in the Christmas season together.
This weekend will be amazing as we continue to hear God and respond together in this season of Celebrating Different. We need these weekend experiences now more then ever as we combat the gravity of materialism in this season, choosing to put on display the generosity that God has designed for each of us. Let’s continue to demonstrate the Church as the Hope of the world, allowing God to lead and fearlessly following Him into all He’s called and created us to be. I can’t wait to see and meet your friends and neighbors this weekend.
Peace…
Kyle
Thank you so much for your participation in Celebrate Different. Your generosity was amazing, and you are making a difference in the lives of people in our community. We had a great Thanksgiving service where we got to hear stories of all the different ways people are thankful. This weekend we will continue our series in Luke, making our way to the Birth of Jesus.
On Sunday evening we will have our 1st Annual Tree Lighting. It will be a fun time of celebration, games, singing, and snow for the kids. Please mark your calendar with the times of our Christmas Eve Service (3 & 5p). It will be a celebration you won’t want to miss. As always, everything we do is designed not only to be a blessing to our church, but also to be an opportunity for you to invite your friends.
Blessings,
Jeff
Celebration is a nearly universal longing. We hope for days of celebration when we’re in the midst of defeat. Little girls plan the celebration of their wedding day decades before their first committed relationship. Young athletes long for that end-of-season pizza party celebrating their team’s final gathering (While their parents celebrate the end of a seemingly endless stretch of shuttling kids back and forth to practices and games). When people reach the end of their lives, we gather for a memorial — a celebration of life. We were made to celebrate, to find joy, to discover our connection to each other in the shared experience of victory, memory, relief, and freedom.
We say often at Mariners MV that “Christians should be the ones to throw the best parties.” We’re in the season of so-called parties. Often, we’re dragged to them as dutiful spouses. We wear the name tags and play the games. We attend. We eat desserts. We smile. We forget the names of our spouses’ co-workers (every year). But, that’s hardly a celebration. It’s a work “function,” a “get-together.”
This Sunday night, is a celebration. We’ll sing… loudly and poorly. We’ll laugh… loudly. We’ll warm ourselves with cups of chili. We’ll eat cookies. We’ll light a Christmas tree. We’ll even throw real snow at each other. We will CELEBRATE. This is the best party of the season. Time and time again, people talk about the tree lighting as the thing that really initiates the Christmas season for them. Don’t miss it. Invite your friends. Dress warm. Sing loudly.
Looking forward to this Sunday (night),
– Jeff
P.S. FOR THOSE OF YOU WITH SMART PHONES
We’re going to conduct an incredibly cool synchronized light show with our phones during
the Tree Lighting. To make this happen, you’ll need to download a free app called “WHAM CITY LIGHTS.” It simply allows your phone to “talk” to the other phones in the room for synch-ing purposes. We’ll remind you on Sunday night. But, downloading ahead of
time will help to make the whole event go a bit more smoothly.
iPhone
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wham-city-lights/id580034697?mt=8
Android
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.whamcitylights&hl=en
It’s beginning to look a little like Christmas! And the fun is just beginning.
I’m praying for you and your loved ones. I’m praying for peace, for passion, and for a sense that God is near.
See you Sunday. And don’t forget, people who care are people who SHARE!
Caleb
Listen to past messages here.
Kick off the Christmas season at our annual Tree Lighting featuring joyful celebrations, a Tree Lighting, hot cider and cocoa, and so much more. This year, Crystal Lewis joins the fun – you won’t want to miss it!
Friday, December 6, Irvine Campus
5:30p Festivities begin
7p Program begins in the Worship Center
Festivities and family fun begins on the patio at 5p with a sled run, chili bar, hot cocoa, photo booth, and VIP student lounge. Program begins at 6p in the Worship Center. Bring some friends – you won’t want to miss it.
Sunday, December 8, free, Mission Viejo Campus
Interested in bringing your favorite pot of homemade chili? Contact Kim Or, help with the photo booth, snow play or fill in where needed.
Join us as we kick off the Christmas season! There will be hot cocoa, real snow, a gingerbread house contest, Christmas carols, and much, much, more! Be sure to invite your whole family and bring your friends! Contact Jaclyn for more information.
Sunday, December 8, snow & fun begins at 4:30p with program at 5:30p
Donate to our night of fun!
Box of graham crackers (need 10)
16 oz. tub of icing (need 30)
Candy (ex: Gumdrops, Red Hots, Candy Canes, Peppermint Rounds, M&M’S, Marshmallows, Life Savors, Skittles)
Empty pint-size & rinsed out milk cartons (need 30)
Hot chocolate packets (need 100)
Hot cider packets (need 100)
Donate towards cost of SNOW! (need $400)
Drop off to church offices by Fri, Dec 6, 5p
Also if you would like to help out Sunday Dec 8 after church, we will be setting up the front lawn and transforming the area for the Tree Lighting! Contact Jaclyn for more information!