About a week-or-so ago, a woman sent us an email requesting prayer for an emergency health situation. Her email was rife with desperation. She was in a moment that was far bigger than she was prepared to handle. She needed something. She needed someone.

The email got forwarded to our prayer team and on to our associate elders. People began praying. Then, people starting trying to figure out ways they could support the family during their time of need. A conversation began about which people, on which days could bring the family a meal. Others began working out solutions to mow lawns that would otherwise go unattended. Some started figuring out when they would make the hospital visit to pray bedside with the family.

This is the church acting like the church.

This is the kind of community to which you belong.

In deep pain and panic, we feel the most vulnerable and the most alone. It’s in those situations where we experience the most profound thirst, not for the explanations as to why things have happened in the way they have. Rather, we come face-to-face with the thirst for relationships — a personal awareness that we’re not alone in whatever it is we face.

While we can’t address every need, in every moment, we can always aim to live more and more in this reality of the church body: a loving community of people seeking ways to address the needs of the needy in our neighborhoods in the name of Jesus.

Honored to be the pastor of such a church,

Jeff

We love our volunteers and serving at church is one of the best ways to get connected into the community here at Mariners Mission Viejo. Come and learn what it might look like to use the gifts God has given you to serve the church. Lunch will be provided. RSVP to Kim.

Sun, Sep 29, 12:45p
Upper Room, free

For college football fans, this is the time of the year where they start sizing up the strength of their teams. Most schools have played two to three games. Armchair quarterbacks are in the process of determining the assets and liabilities of their team. But, college football fans also keep an eye on that “other” team – the crosstown rival.

While Los Angeles has a number of colleges, when it comes to football, you’re one or the other. There can be no middle. You can only love one, not both. I went to one of those colleges; where they teach you to despise the other.

But, I’m supposed to live beyond that kind of pettiness. Right?

This past week, I had dinner at some friends’ house. They’re fans of that other school. When we walked into the kitchen to serve ourselves the dinner on the counter in front of us, we were confronted with a choice. There were two stacks of paper plates upon which we would place our food. One was emblazoned with the other logo and its hideous colors. Another stack was a beaming citadel, by comparison, of unmarked (untarnished) plain paper plates.

I chose the latter. I was the only one eating on the plain plates. The host noticed. I was embarrassed. I owned it. I didn’t pretend like I couldn’t find the other plates. But, I just couldn’t allow my food to be “dirtied” by placing it atop that profane logo. I’m shallow. I know. (To my credit, however, one year on his birthday, I walked into a store and bought our host a nice golf shirt in those colors, with that logo.)

In the first century, as we talked about this past weekend, there were essentially two broad categories of things, people, and places: sacred and profane. Jesus frequently challenged the notion of what was sacred and what was profane. He saw His ministry as one primarily focused those who fell into the profane category. He moved toward them. And, His critics killed Him for it.

But, that was what Jesus meant by being a neighbor. That’s why being a neighbor (in the manner Jesus intended it) is so difficult. It’s also the reason why being  that kind of neighbor can change the world. Last week, we asked the questions: “Where does my love for my neighbor get to stop? Where’s the reasonable upper limit on loving someone else?” So, what does that look like for you?

See you this Sunday,
Jeff

I’m somewhat haunted by the words in the middle of the message outline from last week: AWARENESS REQUIRES ACTION. In the moment we’re aware of an earthquake we act as we’ve been taught. We crawl under a desk (mine happens to be made of large pane of glass, however) and cover our necks and wait until we’re certain the shaking has subsided. But, the point of Doug Fields’ message this past weekend was about an awareness of our neighbors. Specifically, it was about an awareness of the neighbors that live within our own home. To an even greater degree, the awareness to which we were being called wasn’t merely to identify the people who are our neighbors within our homes. Rather, it was about loving them according to the definition given to us in Jesus:

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” (1 John 3:16)

Why is it that the people I’m called to love with the greatest and most sacrificial love are the ones who often wind up getting only my leftovers? Amanda and I had a weighty conversation about the way we love our kids–about how we manage to treat them in a less-than-neighborly way from time-to-time. We talked about our own desire to love each other more intentionally. But, beyond all the conversation, hangs those words:

AWARENESS REQUIRES ACTION.

What will you do, specifically, to love, with greater sacrifice, the neighbors in your own home? This week we’ll continue in our NEIGHBORGOOD series and we’ll look at the quintessential neighbor story in the Bible.

See you this Sunday,
Jeff

NOTE: If you’re looking for the best way to get connected in the Mariners community, ROOTED is your best bet. This weekend is the final weekend to sign up for the Fall session of ROOTED.

Join us for the upcoming 2013 Fall Kick-Off Celebration! We are inviting all of our Life Groups together for a fun and festive time as we prepare to launch the MV fall session. Contact Mike with questions or visit our website.

Wednesday, Sep 18, 6-8p
Childcare available for a nominal fee

Meet and connect with other parents who have students in junior high or high school, and learn about opportunities coming up this
year for parents! A light lunch will be provided, and a movie & pizza will be provided (in the Children’s Theater) for your students while you attend the meeting.

Sun, October 6
1 – 2p, Upper Room

Questions?  Contact Hilary