What a weekend to celebrate! In so many different ways, the resurrection of Jesus and the life the church community were clearly on display. Saturday night’s Peep Roast was a blast. My kids charred and ate more marshmallow Peeps than should be legal. Standing around a tiny Sterno fire pit roasting sugar-coated Peeps, people found a great way to initiate conversations and connect with each other.

I was so excited to have brought some friends of ours to Easter at Mariners MV. They were overwhelmed by the life, enthusiasm, and sense of family that you helped to create. I could sense the excitement in so many of you who introduced to me the people you had invited. The campus was alive with community and joy.

Over the course of the weekend, from Good Friday to Easter Sunday, nearly 4,000 people made Mariners Mission Viejo their home for Easter. Thanks to all the volunteers who helped to make it all possible.

And now, as we look forward to our next series, CHRISTIAN?, we anticipate more of the same kind of invitational and inclusive energy that helped to make Easter so memorable. During this series, we get to directly address the questions people have about Jesus. People are curious. This is a great series to bring not only people who are investigating the claims of Jesus, but who might also be confused by His followers. Additionally, this next series will serve as far more than a reminder of our faith. For many of us, we’ve unknowingly absorbed a few habits, misconceptions, and labels that might not have been intended for Jesus’ followers. It is going to be a terrific series.

I can’t wait to see you this weekend,

Jeff

As we move toward Good Friday, we come face-to-face with the reality of the cross of Jesus. We confront the disquieting truth of our own sin. We witness the incredibly high cost of our freedom. We wonder how this day could ever come to be known as “Good.” At our Good Friday services, we’ll get a chance to release the captivity of our sin to Jesus, participate in communion, and acknowledge that what was accomplished on the cross was the surprising and ironic victory of God.

The culmination of victory on the cross isn’t only that Jesus died; it is that He also rose again, conquering death itself. In rising from the grave, Jesus embodied the hope that our own lives can be resurrected, begun anew. Easter services at Mission Viejo will be a time to celebrate that new life is possible in Jesus.

If you call Mariners “home” and you’d like to join the over 200 volunteers serving this Easter, there are still 25 spots available. Here’s how to make the most of the Easter services: Bring a friend to join us on Saturday night at 5pm (14th Annual Peep Roast to follow on the patio). Then, come and serve with us on Sunday morning.

I’m looking forward to being together this weekend,

Jeff

Mariners Mission Viejo is such a generous community! We are growing in our understanding that everything from time, to hospitality, to our money, can be given generously. God is on the move in our neighborhoods and it is the generosity of His people that allows us to join Him in His work.

Our own generosity, in all its forms, is an act of gratitude and of worship. We aren’t commanded to give anything out of compulsion or coercion. We’re not tricked into the belief that giving buys us God’s favor. We give because it is an extension of our joy. We give as a reason to celebrate — even when we give sacrificially, to the point of discomfort.

Doug Fields quoted this passage during his message this past weekend, and it has been in my head all week:

“For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life… but with the precious blood of Christ…” – 1 Peter 1:18-19

The question, “How much is my life worth?” can be answered with another question: “How much is someone willing to pay for it?” As Doug Fields spoke in our Fearless Generosity series, I was struck by the notion of how much God so deeply loves us, how much He was willing to give for our sake, how much He values us — how much we’re worth.

It is this picture of God’s generosity, in Jesus, that points us toward Good Friday and Easter. This weekend, we celebrate the triumphal entry of Jesus into the city of Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. I’m looking forward to seeing you there as we wrap up our Fearless Generosity series.