Join us for the annual Peep Roast Saturday following the 5p service on April 4. Questions? Kim, kalexander@marinerschurch.org

Our next baptism is coming up! If you are interested, be sure to attend the Baptism Class on Sun, March 29 at 12:45p in the Upper Room. Ages 8 and up are welcome to be baptized. RSVP Kim, kalexander@marinerschurch.org

Sun, Apr 12, 9 & 11a, Worship Center

Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!” – John 12:17-19

I remember when my friend, Jacob Grosz, got a Nintendo Entertainment System. He was the first of all us. Everyone had an Atari 2600. But, everyone wanted a Nintendo. Nintendo broke the mold. There were new sounds. The colors were more vibrant. The controller had two buttons — not a paltry single button like the fake-wood-paneled-Atari. There were video games that could be paused (Of course, games couldn’t be saved, however. It was all to common to hear of some kid, moments before rescuing a princess, or slaying a dragon, or destroying the enemy base whose mom would inadvertently shut off a paused video game during some kind of clean up, resetting it to the beginning… level 1. Untold hours of meticulously advancing the game pausing only to visit the bathroom and perhaps, eat…  lost in a single moment…  a solitary depression of the power button). To have a Nintendo was to rewrite a childhood. Jake had a Nintendo. Everyone knew it. It was too big a secret to be kept hidden.

There was something… bigger than a secret… news…  that traveled with some of the faithful Jewish pilgrims who had made their way to Jerusalem during the Passover festival. It was a story, an unbelievable one. Apparently, a teacher who came from the first century equivalent of a trailer park, had managed to raise someone from the dead. This was news that couldn’t be hidden. Jesus, the one who had brought his own friend back to life, was the one whom they were certain would make all their political and social dreams come to fruition. They tossed palm branches under his feet. They shouted praises of acclamation. They called him king. They shouted “hosanna” (rescue). The Pharisees observed the phenomenon of his following. They said something, then that they can’t possibly have fathomed: “…the whole world has gone after him.” These religious elites proclaim a truth out of desperation that they wish weren’t true. The man, heralded as king, didn’t act like their version, their impression of a coming king. He associated with the common people. He included people who were shunned elsewhere. He violated all the holiness and purity codes that kept people from each other. He taught with uncommon authority. He challenged the power brokers and proclaimed an inverted kingdom of power.

In truth, neither the crowds, energized by the news of his miraculous power nor, the Pharisees, enraged by the size of his following, got what they were looking for. For the crowds, he didn’t give them a military conquest of Rome. For the Pharisees, by their own admission, Jesus was the much anticipated king over Israel and the whole world. And yet, beneath all of their own agendas and intentions, there lingered a story about the man who could give life to those who were dead. That is a triumph of epic proportions. This weekend, Doug Fields will take us into the heart of Palm Sunday — the day of Jesus’ triumphal entry.

See you Sunday,
Jeff

So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God
 has joined together, let no one separate.” – Matthew 19:6

Last weekend, I learned the value of getting one night away with Amanda. We went to the widely traveled tourist hotspot of West Covina along with the rest of the Mariners MV staff. We went to a marriage conference. We got a hotel room which included a complimentary breakfast buffet. Incidentally, we ate our money’s worth of that buffet. I found out just how many pieces of breakfast meat is one too many. There were no kids. No whining. No spilled chocolate milk. No “he pulled my hair.” It was quiet. It was beautiful.

I’d never been to something like it before. Sure, I’d been to a number of conferences. But, I’d never been to one dedicated to my own marriage. What I learned, beyond all the helpful and insightful tips about communication and mutual support from Doug Fields and Jim Burns, was that we needed the time together. It wasn’t Hawaii. It wasn’t Paris. It wasn’t a trip to Napa. Though all those things are awesome places to visit, we didn’t need those things. We needed us.

I’m looking forward to next year’s conference. But, even more specifically, I’m looking forward to our next time away to be together.

This week we’ll continue our series: PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS. I’m excited about what God is doing in our midst.

See you Sunday,
Jeff

Get your shine on as you jump the night away in your boldest and brightest colors! Don’t forget to invite your friends! Dinner will be served. Registration closes on Monday, March 22. To register, click here.

Fri, Mar 27, 4:30-7:30p, Big Air Trampoline Park, Laguna Hills, CA, $20

But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved. – Hebrews 10:38

 

Often our feelings and emotions are mistakenly substituted for faith. Pleasurable emotions and deep, satisfying experiences are part of the Christian life, but they are not the essence of it. –
Streams in the Desert

“I’m not feelin’ it.” I’ve used that expression to describe everything from carne asada to music. It is to say, there is something about [whatever it is] that I can’t connect with emotionally (Yes, there have been burritos that have had an emotional impact on my life. They are few and far between. But, I’m certain, I’m different because of them.). It’s as if, with everything — even the most mundane — that inherent worth is directly proportional to emotional outcomes. The way we talk about anything: Coldplay’s last live show, Apple smart-watches, sedans, or Nikes  — all of it evokes an emotional response. When something lacks that emotional connection, we’re quick to disregard it.

What happens, then, when God doesn’t feel the need to make us “feel?” We tend to have an expectation that God can sustain us so long as following Him can be connected to a powerful emotional experience. Sometimes we wonder, in those instances where we don’t have such an encounter with God, if He’s really there. In that moment, God’s very existence seems to hinge our ability to employ our psycho-experiential radar effectively.

And yet, what if, in those moments God intends to grow us in a decidedly uncomfortable, yet necessary way? He’ll take us on a journey that is absent of emotional euphoria. In so doing, God begins to separate Himself from all other consumable things to which we attach emotional value. He’s more interested in growing us than coddling us. He seems to be far more concerned with who we are becoming rather than what merely pacifies our need for attention. It’s in this portion of the faith-journey — a time the early church fathers called “The Dark Night of the Soul” — that 
many people decide that faith is no longer for them. It lacks the ever-present jubilance of other seasons. But, the long-term journey of faith is just that: long. The long view of faith is far more than a few brief moments of ebullient sentimentality. It is to be transformed by God into something we could not become without Him.

This Sunday, Doug Fields will pick up where we left off this past weekend, continuing in our series: THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS. It will be a great opportunity to bring your friends and neighbors as Doug always delivers powerful truths in a compelling and humorous way. It’s going to be great!

See you Sunday,

Jeff

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