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

I went.

On the elevated stage were six oversized chairs. Plastic bottled waters and mugs rested atop small adjacent end tables. The room was typical of a college meeting hall in many respects: massive fluorescent lighting, rows of padded chairs linked safely together, and it was largely populated by cool-looking people living in the newness of adulthood and the freedom that comes with being a student at a large university. But, unlike the lecture halls I remember as a student, no one attended this gathering because they were compelled by a professor. No one was falling asleep in the midst of the presentation. This stuff mattered to the audience. It mattered to the panelists. UCI, along with a number of other colleges, has been hosting what they refer to as “Conversations on Identities and Culture.”

On the panel were:  a hip-hop artist, an activist, a politician, two scholars, and a music producer. All but one of them, the politician (a Latina woman) were African-American. They spoke about a world in which they lived that I had not ever known. In a lot ways, I felt like a kid sitting a table of grown-ups, listening to a conversation for which I could understand only by an empathic imagination. The activist, Ashley, asked the room: “How many of you have been pulled over more than twenty times in your life?” Hands shot up all around me — young hands — hands of people who hadn’t been driving all that long. Those hands belonged to people who looked different from me. A reality set in.

My world, my experiences, my past, are different than those, not only of the panelists on the stage, but also of the overwhelming majority of the people who joined with me in that room. In each of the speakers, there was an unmistakably passionate longing to see this world made different. There was despair for things hoped for, but not realized. Only, despair was clearly not going to win the day. Instead, what was ultimately expressed came across like a kind of determined or activated hope for a new and better world.

The hip-hop artist who moderated much of the discussion, Jaziri X, closed out his portion of the conversation with these famous words: “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for…” I can live in the empowerment of what is intended in that phrase. At the same time, I’m learning that in order for me to have any part in shaping our world (however Jesus may lead us to do so), I’m going to have to understand more of the personal narratives of the people who live in it, particularly, the people whose own stories are vastly different from my own.

I’m grateful to be a part of a learning community like this one at Mariners MV.

See you Sunday,
Jeff

Join us for our first All Church Movie Night as we gather to watch Finding Dory! We’ll have dinner for $1 (includes pizza, popcorn and a soda)! Be sure to BYO blanket! Invite your friends and family – you won’t want to miss this! More info here.

MOVIE NIGHT
Sun, Oct 30, after 5p service
Worship Center

We have a great opportunity to spend an hour with kids to make the difference of a life time. Come be a tutor at a neighborhood school to make an impact in the classroom or after school. Various days and times available. Contact Mindy for more information, mindy@marinerschurch.org

Mark Twain once said, “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.” Our Orange County version of that witticism is probably that some of our hottest, summer-like days fall smack in the middle of fall.

Shorts and beach weather aside, make no mistake – fall is here – and this weekend we will be celebrating to the fullest:

Friday night, we’re hosting Date Night to give couples an opportunity connect while the kids stay with our Children’s Ministry for fall-themed activities. Kids are invited to wear a costume, although nothing scary or gory, please.

On Sunday, Pumpkin Fest will be taking over the patio with games, photo booth and a pumpkin patch after each of our three services at 9a, 11a, and 5p.

Read on for more information about Date Night and other ways to get connected or visit marinerschurch.org/mv

Join us and hear from Lead Pastor Jeff Maguire and his wife Amanda as they share key values to help us sharpen the tools in our “marriage toolboxes.” Before we send you out to your favorite date spot, we will provide a programmed night of serious fun with meaningful interaction and thought provoking conversation. After your date, you’ll head back to the church to grab the kids.  For more info and register, click here or search “Date Night” on our website.

DATE NIGHT
Fri, Oct 21, 6:30-9:30p, Lobby

We need help to discover our unique dream and to find courage to take our next steps. The Dream Event is your invitation to activate your dream to change the world. Find out more and register here.

THE DREAM EVENT
WITH GUEST SPEAKERS BOB GOFF AND CALEB ANDERSON
Wed, Oct 26, 6-8p
Mariners Church Irvine Community Center

Gather with other HSM parents from the Mariners MV Campus for a night of equipping, sharing about the future of the ministry, and prayer together.  Click here for more info or search “Parent” on our website.

PARENT NIGHT
Thu, Oct 20, 7-8:30p
Meet in the Upper Room
Light snacks and coffee provided

“…The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love”- Galatians 5:6

“We don’t have all the answers.”

If you’ve ever visited a service at Mariners, chances are high that you’ve heard someone mention that phrase before. The apostle, Paul, writes in his letter to a young pastor, named Timothy, that he’s to avoid people who have “an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions.” Timothy, like so many of us is left wondering about what kinds of things are substantive and which are merely a worthless distraction. No more is this apparent than during an election year. And, in the course of most of our lives, there has been no election like the one to which we are presently witnesses. We want answers. In many cases we deserve them. Both sides of the current political debate speak with absolute certainty about their opponents. They speak with a bit less clarity with regard to their own accused indiscretions. Over the past few weeks, we’ve been tuning into the debates — part politics and part reality show caricature.

Between the accusations and the mudslinging, the exposés and the unflattering uncovering, the shame and the name calling, the apologies and near-apologies, the vitriol and the contempt,  it feels like we’ve reached a new plateau of quasi-political discourse. But, as history frequently reminds us, we do have rather short memories. The names on the November ballot are merely the latest-arriving characters in a long history of behavior that ranges from outright vile to just plain bizarre.

These are serious times. The freedom to elect our leaders that Americans enjoy comes at a great cost. So, we ought to vote. As a church, our political agenda is clear: to continue to aim people at pursuing Jesus. To that end, we all ought to pray that it is Jesus and not party allegiances, nor knee-jerk emotionalism which influence how we “live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28), in light of this election.

Whether or not we subscribe to a particular party platform: Democrat or Republican, Green party or Libertarian, Independent or decline-to-state, none of these are the lens through which we view our world. To state it as simply as I’ve ever heard it: “…the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (Galatians 5:6)… THE ONLY THING THAT COUNTS. For people who follow Jesus, we all have the same agenda — that our faith IS expressed in LOVE. In that sense, the only thing up for energetic debate is HOW that is best put into practice — regardless of which  side of the political spectrum on which we may fall. At the heart of all the controversy, the issues, and the political war of words, the burden we bear is to determine which candidate and which policies best puts into practice “the only thing that counts… faith expressing itself through love.” This is our on-going challenge — election year or not.

See you Sunday,

Jeff