UPDATE 10/16/15: DUE TO A CONFLICT, VISION NIGHT IS BEING RESCHEDULED. WE WILL NOT MEET ON SUN, NOV 15. STAY TUNED FOR THE NEW DATE FOR VISION NIGHT.
Join us for VISION NIGHT as we connect with one another, celebrate what God has recently done in our church community and hear from Pastor Jeff Maguire as he shares the vision for our upcoming year! For more info, contact Kasaundra, kdomen@marinerschurch.org
In just three days, we’ll build 1-2 homes for families in need alongside our church partner, Lo Mejor Del Trigo. Friday and Saturday will be spent building and we’ll depart after attending church in Mexico on Sunday morning to return in the afternoon. Sign up online or get more info.
October 23-25, $180/adult, $80/child
And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ. – 2 Thessalonians 3:5
I got busted last week. It happened while I was driving my daughter in my car. I don’t remember exactly what I was doing, but I do know whatever it was, it necessitated my steering the car with my left knee… Look, no hands. My daughter, keen in observation, asked: “Why are you driving without your hands?” In re-thinking the moment, of course it was stupid. It’s stupid whenever I do it. Admittedly, my hands are rarely at “10 and 2.” Nevertheless, I certainly don’t want any of my kids (when they eventually start driving) to try and control a car by their knees. But, that’s what I was doing.
Maybe, I was adjusting the radio… with both hands, I guess. Maybe, I was clipping my nails (I have been known to do such a thing. I’m not proud of it. But, I have nail clippers in my car. I do my best to catch the nail clippings in my lap so that upon exiting, all the nails will be deposited onto the street and not in the car). Maybe, I was unwrapping a burrito. Maybe, rich in irony, I was unwinding the hands-free ear buds that attach to my phone so I could talk unimpeded. In any event, my hands were not directing the car. The car, a 1994 Suburban, is no sub-compact. It’s big and heavy. It requires the focused and skilled hands of an aware driver.
Our hearts aren’t much different, I suppose. Most of the time, I’m content to direct my own heart by the whimsy of my desire or the hubris of my own best judgment. But, while an unguided heart can get me a short distance, it marks a significant risk — one greater than I realize. Paul says it this way: the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God. In other words, my heart is in need of being directed by God to God. This is more than mere obedience. It’s about surrender. It’s about our hearts’ greatest need — our utmost desire and destination: love. God’s invitation to us is not simply that we avoid wrongdoing. God’s invitation is to direct us into love — the love of God.
Each week (either on Thursday night or on Sunday morning) we give people a chance to be guided into God’s loving presence. We’ll do it by laughing, singing, praying, embracing each other, learning, and even in mourning together. Who are the people in your life longing for a depth of love they can’t quite name? Maybe, God will use the words of your invitation to help give voice to that gentle and compassionate direction of God upon their hearts. As we continue in our series, TRANSFORmeD, we’ll revisit the idea that love — the love of Jesus — is what initiates the work of transforming us. Love, after all, is that thing toward which we’re all driving, whether or not we know it.
See you soon,
Jeff
There are more than 4 million registered Syrian refugees in other nations, more than 7 million displaced within Syria and more than 3 million internally displaced Iraqis. As a church, we are called to respond as we always do through partnerships and collaborative efforts. Find out more. Visit Disaster Response on our website and learn how Mariners Church is responding and how you can help.
Help us shape the future of our Mexico Outreach Ministry! We’re building our team of leaders, planners, coordinators and more. If you’re interested, please join us.
MEXICO NEXT STEPS INTEREST MEETING
Sun, Oct 11, 12:45-1:30p, 2nd Grade Classroom
Leave your to-do list at home and surround yourself in God’s creation with a community of women pursuing Christ. Speaker, Sheri Rose Shepherd, has a refreshing way of bringing the Word to life and renewing the eternal hope in our hearts. For more info and to register, click here.
Fri-Sun, Oct 16-18, Forest Home
Come ready for a fun night connecting with other families from Mariners, costume contests and bowling. Costume contest categories include: Best Theme, Funniest, and Most Creative. Get details and register online.
Saturday, October 10, 6-8p, $10/bowler
Saddleback Lanes 25402 Marguerite Parkway Mission Viejo, CA 92692
TEACHING STUDENTS TO HEAR GOD’S VOICE AND OBEY
We do Life Groups because we believe it’s the best way for students to begin their discipleship journey. Life Groups provide a safe place for students to share, question and discuss without fear of judgment or rejection, resulting in a deeper relationship with Jesus and each other. Groups are grade and gender specific, taking place in host homes all over Orange County. Ratios are kept at or below 8 students to every 1 leader. For more info and to sign up, click here.
JHM Life Groups
Wednesday nights starting Oct 7, 7-8:30p, $20, in homes
So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir. GALATIANS 4:8
I confessed this week to a buddy: “My patience has no off-ramp.” There’s no gradual erosion of my patience. My patience just ends, like Thelma and Louise in a car over a cliff. I struggle to find a reason why this is so. Maybe, it stems from some kind of deeply embedded psychological wound. Maybe, it’s my diet. Maybe, it’s the weather (I’m certain there’s some correlation. I’m still waiting for MIT to release a study on the effects of humidity on patience). But, when my patience runs out, the proverbial “switch” is flipped. I’m done. I have nothing left. Not surprisingly, I don’t
typically do well in these circumstances. I say things I regret. I do things I wish I could undo.
I start to believe, at times, an unnerving truth — that this wild, untameable, impatient one is who I am. Impatient outbursts are the outcomes of my truest self. It is as if the most central part of my identity is my own lack of restraint. I live out of that seemingly intractable reality. I’m the one who punts the soccer balls of unruly first graders for not listening while I’m giving instructions to the eternally significant pee-wee soccer drill, “Sharks-and-Minnows” (I actually did this. It was awful. I mentioned it in last week’s message). That truth begins to take over everything else. It becomes who I am.
Yet, the Bible doesn’t seem to echo that particular belief about myself. It says something different. It says to me that I am not the sum total of my errors or my impulses. I am not just a collection of electrical and chemical signals. I am no accident. I am not the unwanted tag-along to a distant and swiftly moving morally upright gathering of Sunday people.
Instead, the apostle Paul writes: you (me, anyone who belongs to Jesus) are his child. No longer am I a ward of the state. No longer known am I known as the unflattering convergence of all things undesirable, I’m someone’s kid.
Years ago, a friend of mine, Roy Schenkenberger wrote a song about this very thing. You can listen to it here. In it, he sings:
“Invited home for dinner: every saint and every sinner:
WE ARE NOT ORPHANS ANYMORE
Sought after and pursued, we are made clean we are made new.
WE ARE NOT ORPHANS ANYMORE.
Forgotten and alone, the one who’s wandered far from home
WE ARE NOT ORPHANS ANYMORE
To the tired and confused, the ones with nothing left to lose
WE ARE NOT ORPHANS ANYMORE”
Children are not guests in their own home. Kids can take freely from the refrigerator (provided it’s not immediately before dinner). Children invite their friends over. They eat Otter pops. They make messes. They have responsibilities. But, they’re always family. This Sunday, we’ll talk about this piece of our identity that we often neglect. It will be a great opportunity to bring the “forgotten and alone” or the “tired and confused” — anyone needing to hear that God desires them to be a part of his family that, in Jesus, “we are not orphans anymore.” We’ll celebrate communion together — affirming that Jesus has prepared a seat at the table for us.
See you Sunday,
Jeff
