Category Archives: Mission Viejo

Mission Viejo

A Note From Jeff Maguire

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MessageFrom-MV

I’ve already run for dear life straight to the arms of God.
PSALM 11:1 (Day 12 of the Daily Message)

This past weekend we talked about living in the reality of being God’s “dearly loved children.” Most of us understand the idea of being children. We were once kids. Some of us have kids. But, for a lot of us, it seems, we’ve got no real concept of what it means to be “dearly loved.” Consequently, most of how we view what God intends for our relationship with Him centers around our ability to be good, do good, and generally try not to ask for too much. But, that’s not how dearly loved children live.

I had a number of conversations with people after church last weekend (as did the Mariners staff) about this idea. So many of us have broken relationships with our own dads. Because our first and most lasting impression of who God is, stems from the relationship with our own fathers, a lot of us are in need of repair. We’re longing to be understood and heard. We’re longing to live in the reality of being God’s loved children. It turns out, that is the critical component in all of our other relationships. Being deeply loved enables us to deeply love.

It is my prayer that you would know this kind of love. It is my hope that you wouldn’t settle for bland religious moralism. There are far too many people masking deep loneliness in wonderful and admirable veneers of career, beauty, parenting, goodness, and hard work. This week, consider that you are God’s dearly loved child; that in Jesus we don’t have to live as orphans, we can be known and loved the way we were intended to be.

I’m looking forward to this weekend as Doug Fields continues in our series on relationships called Beautiful Mess. Continue to be the great invitational and inclusive community that we are by bringing people who, like us, are a “beautiful mess.”

-Jeff

P.S.: For those of you who were here this past Sunday…
I mailed the picture to my dad.

Huntington Beach, Irvine, Mission Viejo, Ocean Hills

Have You Experienced Rooted?

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Rooted is a 10-week journey that has changed thousands of lives at Mariners Church. 

Rooted provides the opportunity to connect with God, the church community and your purpose in unexpected, life-changing ways. The experience redefines how people live life and view their relationship with God and others, giving context to what it means to be a part of something bigger.  You will begin to see God in new ways, allowing you to experience a different way of life: community, authenticity and generosity.

WHAT TO EXPECT…

Continue reading Have You Experienced Rooted? →

Mission Viejo

A Note From Jeff Maguire

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MessageFrom-MV

I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous, your handmade sky-jewelry, Moon and stars mounted in their settings. Then I look at my micro-self and wonder, Why do you bother with us?
PSALM 8:3-4 (MSG)

Somehow, in all of what God has made (and is presently sustaining), he BOTHERS with us — with me. We live in a world where we are constantly being reminded that we are mostly bothersome. Even more honestly, we’ve become trained that other people are mostly bothersome to us. Somehow the God-given dignity inherent in all people loses its primacy the moment we get a little annoyed. This is the reason flight attendants, restaurant servers, families slowly pushing a double-jogger stroller on a sidewalk, and inattentive drivers lose their “human being credentials” when we get annoyed… bothered. They are an obstacle to our real, true, full experience of life.

Yet, God chooses to “bother” Himself with us. If there is anyone capable of causing annoyance, it’s us. We are perpetually needy. We are always unsatisfied. We live under the belief that we need and deserve more. But, God chose us. He still chooses us everyday. He willingly chooses to listen to us. He chooses to continue to give gifts. And, when the rest of His majestic creation continues to treat us like we’re somehow in the way of their full experience of life, He welcomes us in His presence, treating us as though we were “a little lower than the angels” PSALM 8:5 (NIV).

This Sunday, we’ll begin our series on relationships called “Beautiful Mess”. All those people we love (and someday hope to love) — the ones that drive us crazy — they’re the ones who help to create both the beauty and the mess of being together. It is my hope, that at least in some small way, that reality — that God finds us worthy enough to bother himself with us, will sink in. Because, it is in the experience of being deeply loved that we are able to love deeply, transforming the mess (however messy it is) into beauty.  Be sure to include someone in need of relational hope or help.

Looking forward to being together this Sunday,
Jeff

Mission Viejo

A Note From Jeff Maguire

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MessageFrom-MV

We spent New Year’s Eve at a neighborhood party of families like our own. All the parents hovered over a table of hors d’oeuvres, eating pot stickers and potato skins, tiny chimichangas and hot wings, all the while remaining unswerving in our commitment to make 2014 the year we eat only “jicama and tofu.” Our kids jumped in a rented bounce house in the dark, periodically reminding the rest of us that it may not have been the safest unsupervised decision (one kid got a visit from the tooth fairy on New Year’s Eve as a result of a collision).

But, it IS the new year. Now, the New Year’s resolution mania is gaining momentum. Even in the face of incredibly dismal success rates (one study reported that only 8% of people are successful in achieving their resolution goals), people still make them. People want a chance to start over, to make things new, to improve. Over and over again, studies indicate that people with clear plans, achievable goals, and accountability see monumental increases in chances for success.

So, consider this very unsurprising resolution from the pastor: read the Bible. I know you nearly fainted from the shock of that idea — a pastor… the Bible. Reading the Bible won’t give you “sculpted” abs, it won’t help you come into money, and it won’t grow back any hair you lost in 2013. But, it will rightly orient your heart toward God. If the notion of reading the entire Bible is too daunting, start with reading a portion of it. If you’re following along in the Daily Message (available at the Global Bookstore), read the entire daily read or just one part of it. If you’ve never read the Bible, read a little. If you’ve read a little, read a little more. For the mobile tech savvy, download the free YouVersion Bible app and start this reading plan called “Discipleship Journal’s Book-at-a-Time Reading Plan” (it follows the same breakdown as the Mariners Daily Message Bible). You can do it. We can do it.

Yesterday, on Day 1 of the plan, we read this: “…You thrill to God’s Word, you chew on Scripture day and night. You’re a tree replanted in Eden, bearing fresh fruit every month, Never dropping a leaf, always in blossom.” Psalm 1:2-3 [MSG]

Might that be our experience of living in God’s Word during 2014.

See you this Sunday,
-Jeff

Mission Viejo, Women

Esther: It’s Tough Being a Woman by Beth Moore

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Join us as we explore and learn from Esther-a profile in courage. Beth Moore provides a very personal examination of this great story of threat and deliverance and shows how applicable the story of Esther is to our lives today.

Thursday mornings 1/16 – 4/3
9:30AM – 11:30AM, MCMV Children’s Theater
$20 (Materials Only) or
$65 (Materials and Parking)
Childcare available for additional fee

Register for study and childcare online.

Contact Sunny with questions.

Mission Viejo

A Note From Jeff Maguire

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MessageFrom-MV

By now, the hysteria of Christmas is beginning to wind down (we hope, anyways). We’re wearing the news clothes and playing with all the new toys. Some of us are faced with the challenge of  returning that new sweater vest with the Elvis/Santa emblazoned on the chest to a mall full of people looking to find one more deal in after-Christmas sales all the while avoiding the potential hurt feelings of people who were convinced the sweater was a sure-fire hit. The refrigerator is full of left-overs and, somewhere on the horizon, our “normal” lives are starting to take shape.

But, that’s where all the real meaning of Christmas comes to bear on our lives: when television stations are no longer airing the endless loop of the burning yule log and radio stations’ “sounds of the season” simply means “our normal broadcast of easy listening hits.”  That’s where all the implications of Jesus at Christmas become real. Because, it’s in our normal lives: the going to work, solving problems, mowing the lawn, and handling the stuff of life where being someone who follows Jesus, matters. No longer is life about getting ready for Christmas. Instead, it’s about living in it — about living with Him.

Therein lies the challenge. What does it mean to Christmas when the world relegates Jesus to little more than a seasonal decoration and a kind of Disney-mystical wizard responsible for something called “Christmas magic?”

So… Merry Christmas,
Jeff

Huntington Beach, Irvine, Mission Viejo, Ocean Hills, Outreach

What’s Your Celebrate Different Story?

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celebrate christmas differently

As a church, we have been celebrating differently this holiday season, and we’re amazed at your creativity! Thank YOU for your generous participation in Celebrate Different and for making a difference in our communities! Please share with us how you chose to Give, Serve, and Love differently this Thanksgiving and Christmas by leaving a comment at celebratedifferent.org/love