Come be a part of the Kids Christmas Choir! This choir is for children who are currently in kindergarten-5th grade. For more info or to register click here or search “choir” on are website.

KIDS CHRISTMAS CHOIR
Sun, Dec 11, 9&11a, and 5p services
Mandatory rehearsal Dec 7

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.  PSALM 100:4

It was Abraham Lincoln who established Thanksgiving Day as a national holiday in October 1863. He determined our country would set aside this special day in order to give “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”

This proclamation came in the midst of the Civil War. There was discord throughout the nation and a prevailing sense of division that seemed beyond resolution. Yet the directive was clear: that we should be active, intentional and faithful in giving thanks to God.

We invite you to join us tonight at 6:30 p.m. as we gather as a church family for our Thanksgiving Eve service. Come as we give praise and glory to our loving and constant God.

Join us for our annual Thanksgiving Eve Service to celebrate together what God has done. Hear from our community as we share how we have seen God work in our lives.

THANKSGIVING EVE SERVICE
Wed, Nov 23, 6:30p
Childcare provided for ages newborn-pre K

“Enter His courts with Thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.”
– Psalm 100: 4-5

With Thanksgiving just one week away, this is a great time for us to remember God’s faithfulness and enter His courts with thanksgiving and praise! However, what if you don’t feel like it? How do you enter a time set aside for Thanksgiving when you have just lost a loved one or your job or your marriage? Surely you cannot be expected to give thanks, can you?

My husband comes from a very large family – five boys and two girls. In a blink, we had 19 nieces and nephews and our four children grew up with a lot of fun cousins to play with. Needless to say, Thanksgiving with his family is a very fun, loud event. Early on, we decided to start a “Circle of Thanksgiving” tradition where we all went around this very large family circle expressing what we were thankful for.

At first it was all about the kids as we smiled and giggled through the sweetness of the kids sharing, “I’m thankful for my mommy and daddy” or “I’m thankful for my brother.” As the kids got older, we knew that we needed to model thankfulness from our perspective as adults.

If I’m being honest, at times it was really hard to do.

We felt great hurt and pain as several brothers went through divorces. We wept together as a sister battled leukemia. We cried together as one brother lost everything and filed for bankruptcy. We mourned together as we said goodbye to their dad and our children’s grandfather.

And yet, there was something very right and pure about finding reasons to be thankful even amidst all the pain. We were thankful that we had each other. We were thankful that God promised to walk through this pain with us. We were thankful that we love and serve a God who wants us to bring our sorrow to Him. There was something so healing and freeing about sharing that pain openly and honestly with each other. Being thankful helps set our hearts and minds and souls towards the Lord. There is power in expressing this gratefulness out loud or writing it down and seeing the words on a page as evidence of God’s faithfulness.

One of my favorite traditions is attending Mariners Mission Viejo’s Thanksgiving Eve service because it provides a time for us as a church family to speak out our gratitude and aim our hearts towards thanksgiving and praise as the holiday season begins. Please join me on Wednesday, November 23 at 6:30 p.m. for this special time of keeping our eyes focused on Him, the true giver of all great things!

Susan Hulse
Children’s Ministry Pastor

Grab your friends and join us for Women’s Dessert Night as we enjoy dessert together and hear an inspirational message from God’s Word! More info and register here or contact Trisha with questions, trishawuich@gmail.com

WOMEN’S DESSERT NIGHT
Thu, Nov 17, 7-8:30p, Lobby

This past weekend the call went out to “Celebrate Differently” in order to stand in the gap for the poor, the marginalized and those that have no advocates in our community. It was beautiful to see our church respond with such excitement and fervor. The patio was full of families gathered around Christmas trees (yes, in the first week of November) choosing how to serve our community.

The response on last Sunday’s launch weekend was larger than all six weeks of the campaign in previous years. We had more people than ever choose to serve – a 40% increase – by picking serve opportunities through our “Serve Tree.” Your financial generosity and commitment to our outreach efforts has also been amazing, and I’m quickly beginning to understand that in order to build a great church, we must have the foresight to help build a great city. This six week “Celebrate Differently” Outreach campaign has come at an interesting time in our country. At a time when our nation is divided down the middle, how are we to respond as the church? It is easy to get caught up in the emotions of either side, but I’m reminded of the Sunday message from a couple of weeks ago where Nehemiah tells the Israelites to go and celebrate in the truth that “the joy of the LORD is your strength.” The people had started to mourn and grieve after listening to the Word of God for six hours straight because they were sad that their identity as the children of God had been taken from them for so long. But Nehemiah would not let them stay in their grief, they had great reason to celebrate. And so do we.

It is because “the joy of the LORD is our strength,” that we will continue to Celebrate Differently. Over the next five weeks, we have an opportunity to make an incredible impact in a variety of ways in our community. I’m excited to see how God will bring transformation to our lives and the lives of those we serve.

See you on Sunday,
MaherOnFire

HSM is heading to Saddleback Lanes for a night of hanging out at Del Taco and then Cosmic Bowl! You don’t have school the next day, so it’s the perfect way to start the long weekend. More info and register here.

COSMIC BOWL AND DEL TACO
Thu, Nov 10, 7:30-10p, $10 for bowling & shoes
Bring $$ for food at Del Taco depending on your appetite!
Drop off and pick up students at Saddleback Lanes

I can already feel it. Things are about to get moving at a pace we’re ill-equipped to handle. We’re already growing tired of our pumpkin spice obsession, longing to exchange its orange hues and fall tones with hints of nutmeg for peppermint flavors adorned in green and red. Already. It’s here. The low-level anxiety of what we can’t avoid causes in us a uneasiness we aren’t quite ready to take on this early in the season.

But, before we get to that state, before that predictable moon-sized marketing asteroid locks into its gravitational collision course, streaking through the outer atmosphere, and crashing into our laps with thunderous explosions and bright, blinding lights, we’ll need to consider something for the sake of our humanity. Because we could lose it — our humanity, that is. For so many of us, we feel like we’re barely keeping things together. We wonder how that became OUR job. The pressure is immense. The tasks are many — almost all of them are worth our time, effort, and energy. We take on so many critical things. We do good work. We try hard. We expect a lot from ourselves. We feel that pressure.

But, what if all the things we’re doing for the sake of other people, can potentially cause us lose sight of those people? This Sunday, we’ll step headlong into one of our DNA standard bearers at Mariners MV. We’ll talk about our church in our communities. We’ll give a picture of how, in the early stages of peppermint, inflatable snowmen, and temporary exterior lighting, we can maintain our humanness. We call it “Celebrate Differently.” Every year, I forget how much I need it. It’s a great weekend to bring friends who wonder about the kind of stuff we do here: locally and globally. We’ll give you a chance jump in, step up, and go big in a number of really practical ways. Don’t miss it.

See you Sunday,

Jeff

Junior high students – you are invited to an epic night of games, friends, and rad giveaways. Wear your costumes for our annual Costume Contest. Bring your friends and be ready for a great time! Find out more and sign up or search “Sugarfest” on our website.

JHM SUGARFEST
Fri, Nov 4, 7-9:30p
Wear your costumes for our annual Costume Contest

Prepare for the challenges of the modern world. Study how God provides the powerful armor needed to live as Christian men in a hostile world. More info here or search “men” on our website.

MEN’S BIBLE STUDY: Putting on the Full Armor of God
Thursdays through Nov 17
7-8a, Upper Room OR 7-8:30p, Children’s Theatre