Applying God’s Word to your money… This ten-week class will show you how to get rid of debt, manage your money, spend and save wisely, and more! Register here or search “FPU” on our website. For questions contact Tim, tkeller@marinerschurch.org
Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University
Wed, Apr 13-Jun 15, 6:30-8:30p
Upper Room, $99, registration required.
I woke up this morning in a tiny cabin so cold my own breath was plainly visible around me. The interior air was a stifling 39 degrees. I slept fully-clothed, wearing a sweatshirt, pants, and socks with a sleeping bag pulled tightly around me. Any exposed skin ached in the early morning hours. My head screamed for a cup of coffee as an emerging headache made its unrelenting demands for its daily sunrise caffeine therapy. In the tiny room packed with four bunk beds and a futon, there were supposed to be three others in “it” with us.
Somehow, those brave sons of ours — those formerly intrepid “others” committed to sleeping in the cold lower room of a poorly heated cabin as a right of manhood — those young men managed to find their way to warmer spaces in the cold of night. At 9:30 in the evening we had reached an agreement. It was a sacred man-pact. It was understood that we’d take one for the proverbial team. All the boys would free up the best beds in the warmer recesses of the cabin for other people. It was the intent of two dads to create a learning moment for our sons. We’d help our boys learn how to serve other people choosing something less desirable for the sake of some others.
Of course, I suppose being both a pastor and a dad, I’m prone to make too many things a learning moment. I’m often circling the wagons, telling everyone to take a knee for an aphorism or a nugget of fatherly wisdom that ought to span the generations. As a father (and someday a grandfather), I want to parent my kids into a future in which they have courageous, compassionate, and daring hearts. I want to point them toward Jesus. I want to meet them in mercy and understanding when they miss that target in the same way I want to be understood when I miss it. I want them to choose wisdom without legalism. I want them to discover that love is better than being correct, (no matter how often I get these two confused). I long for them to know both the fullness of truth and the fullness of grace. I want them to know I love them. I want them to understand that having more, newer, and better stuff will only leave them wanting more. I want them to be around caring adults who can pour into them.
Over the next two Sundays, we’ll hear from two adults who cared about me in my adolescence. This Sunday, Scott Rachels, my junior high pastor will teach, kicking off our new series: THINGS I WISH JESUS NEVER SAID. Then, in the following week, Doug Fields will teach specifically to parents. There are so many people in our community , like me, longing for answers and direction on this particular subject. Doug will be supplying our Mariners MV community with a free resource for the people you invite — a best-selling parenting book. So, over the next few weeks invite parents to hear from people who have “been there” — who know what it’s like to try to build into kids what we hope they’ll become.
See you soon,
Jeff
If you have a heart for the elderly and like to have fun, join us as we hang out with seniors residing at Atria del Sol. We’ll play games, share stories or just hang out and visit with them. Children are welcome! Search “Elderly” on our website, click here for more info. Contact Maher with questions, msalhani@marinerschurch.org
ELDERLY MINISTRY
Mon, Apr 4, 6:30-7:30p
MANCATION: April Fools Edition
Apr 1, 5p – Apr 2, 10:30a, $10, O’Neill Regional Park
We will sleep very little, play games, have riddles, cook our own food, build a campfire, roast ‘smores and lots more! Click here to register, search “Mancation” on our website.
GIRLCATION: Blanket Fort Glamping
Apr 1, 7p – Apr 2, 10a, $10, Upper Room
Glam-camping in the most epic blanket fort designed by YOU! A night of girlie fun and bonding (and probably not much sleeping, let’s be real). Dinner, snacks and breakfast provided! Search “Girlcation” on our website or click here to register.
Contact Hilary with questions, hmccullough@marinerschurch.org
CHILD DEDICATION CLASS
Sun, Apr 3, 12:45-1:30p, Mariners Mission Viejo
Child dedication gives families the opportunity to make a commitment before the church to raise their child in a Christ-centered home. If you would like to have your child dedicated, you must attend this class to participate in our Child Dedications on Sun, Apr 10, during services. More info here or search “dedications” on our website.
CHILDREN’S BAPTISM CLASS
Sun, Apr 3, 12:45-1:30p, Mariners Mission Viejo
Port Mariners Kids is having a Kids Baptism. Come and celebrate as a family, your child’s decision to be baptized! Join us on Sun, Apr 10 from 2-3:30p for worship, baptisms and ice cream sundaes! If your child is in 2nd-5th grade and would like to be baptized, he/she will need to attend the mandatory baptism class. More info here or search “baptism” on our website.
She reached into her backpack, past the dogeared pages of homework and yet-to-be-completed crayon masterpieces. When she found the creased postcard sized paper adorned in bright colors, she held it aloft parading it around with glee as only a 9 year old could do. Outlined on the paper were the details of a birthday party to be held in a few weeks. Foremost among the details: rollerskating.
Her excitement was unmistakable. Her smile, unrelenting. We inquired about our daughter’s plans to attend. She looked at us as if any notion of not going to the party was as absurd as asking her to hold her breath for a week. It was, after all, her friend who invited her. It was something she wanted to do. So, plans to attend were unstoppably set in motion.
I failed to realize that part of these plans not only included a gift to be purchased, transportation logistics to and from the event, but also what particular outfit ought to be worn. Evidently, this last piece of party attendance is among the most time consuming and labor intensive. How we look while skating in the all-skate direction (counter clockwise for the uninitiated) and lip syncing top 40 hits is as critical to the party as cake and ice cream.
So she went. She had the time of her life with her best friends. She looked the part. And, in review, it occurred to me that the appeal of the event was as much about the anticipation stemming from the invitation as anything else. The mere fact of being invited created something within my daughter — something good and undeniable. The invitation alone gave her a sense of being connected to someone and to their most important day. Those invited were a part of an in-group made special by merely receiving an invitation. Even those who couldn’t attend could still count themselves as part of that inner circle of valued friends because they too, received a brightly colored roller skate card from a classmate.
If ever there was a time to invite anyone to anything, it’s this week. While we won’t feature rollerskating as part of our celebration of Easter (Sat. 5pm, Sun. 9am and 11am), and top 40 hits will be noticeably absent from the solemn commemoration of Good Friday service (Fri. 7pm), the events surrounding Jesus’ death and resurrection are wrapped in a mystery and a power that are worthy of an invitation. People are often longing for something they can’t name directly. People want what they see in Jesus, but are unclear in how to access it. This week, consider who you’ll invite to Easter services, remembering that the invitation alone communicates a deep level of care and inclusiveness.
Happy Easter,
Jeff
Celebrate how Jesus conquered death and made it possible for us to have a future and a new life. More info here or search “Easter” on our website.
Saturday, March 26, 5p (with Peep Roast to follow!)
Sunday, March 27, 9 & 11a
A time to consider the weight of our sin and the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross. More info here.
GOOD FRIDAY SERVICE
Friday, March 25, 7p, Worship Center
Mariners Church Mission Viejo
Child dedication gives families the opportunity to make a commitment before the church to raise their child in a Christ-centered home. If you would like to have your child dedicated, you must attend this class to participate in our Child Dedications on Sun, Apr 10, during services. More info here or search “dedications” on our website. Contact Susan with questions, shulse@marinerschurch.org
CHILD DEDICATION CLASS
Sun, Apr 3, 12:45-1:30p, Mission Viejo Campus
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…
– 1 TIMOTHY 1:15
There are a lot of reasonable justifications for the way I’m playfully mocked by my friends and family. Among the most abundant sources of material for their ridicule is my frequent attempts at finding MacGyver-like solutions to my everyday problems. I’ve “repaired” a toilet with a hair rubber band and a paper clip. I once built my own high-definition television antenna out of some old coat hangers and some spare parts. While it did look a lot like some kind of medieval torture device, it worked… Sort of. I made a car cell phone holder out of a large black binder clip. I don’t mind showing that one off.
In all of my tinkering, my aim, though seldom achieved, is to find the simplest solution to the problem ahead of me. Amanda, the wiser of the two of us, is quick to point out that the simplest solution usually costs around $4.99 in one of the bargain bins at TJ Maxx. But, where’s the fun in that? I’d rather spend four hours on any given afternoon and $32.86 in parts purchased at Home Depot than to concede to the power of “the Maxx.”
When I look closely at the Bible, I’m amazed how complicated I can make it. Admittedly, it is full of things that are indeed confusing. However, the biblical authors occasionally — as if they are struck with an acute awareness of their audience — attempt to make clear in the simplest of terms, some of the things onto which we ought to hold dearly. The apostle Paul gives us such a handle in his letter to his young apprentice, Timothy. Signaling to his audience that such an idea is ahead of them, he boils it down: “Here is a trustworthy saying…” Then, he continues, “…Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”
In our sophisticated and thoroughly post-modern world the idea of Jesus “saving sinners” is a kind of passé notion, abandoned in the dusty fields of the tent revivals of the late 19th century. It almost seems as though we’re more apt to overly complicate this sentiment than to embrace it. The reason Jesus came — the essence of his ministry, his death, and his resurrection was a rescue. It was then, and it is now, the culmination of God’s work to bring people to the fullness of the life they were intended — to pull them from the experience of being stuck and liberate them to a whole, full, and abundant life. The idea of being “saved” is so much more than merely avoiding something undesirable after death. It is about the participation in God’s kingdom kind of life now and forevermore.
It means that old secrets and present shame are addressed with tenderness and compassion, ultimately left behind in the newness of a resurrection-life. It means that oppressed people can be unshackled from their oppressors, their addictions, and their fears. It means that our hard-wired need to find an object worthy of our worship is rightly directed to the one thing worthy of our hearts.
So, as we approach Palm Sunday and next week, Good Friday and Easter Sunday, consider who it is that may need to hear about the simplicity of God’s rescue mission. Are there neighbors who have given up on the church, who are maybe afraid of it (us)? Are there family members who have come to believe that Jesus most likely came to rescue people who didn’t need his help at all? Are there some people who are longing for a pathway out of a life that they can’t seem to find? Invite them to join you. This weekend, Doug Fields will be teaching — aiming our hearts toward Jesus this Easter.
See you soon,
Jeff