It is the hope of every teaching pastor that people will remember the message content after any given service. While the message last weekend was about the “loopholes” we use to legitimize our secret behaviors, quietly looking for permission to indulge just a little anger, judgment, passion, etc., it was a video (a mother’s day rap) that seemed to garner a disproportionate amount of attention from our people.

Standing on the patio and in the atrium, a number of you were kind enough to remind me to continue working hard at my “day job”. Others of you (mostly grandmothers) seemed to think I have bright future in hip-hop music. For the time being, a lucrative rap career seems to be an unlikely reality.

So, I’m starting a side project… I’m forming a new band — a collaborative effort with other singer-songwriter types. We’ll be debuting our new song this weekend called “You’re the Mom for Me” from our album, Mommy. Mariners MV will be a blast this weekend: Doug Fields is teaching, the patio will be over-the-top for moms, and we’ll have free family pictures at the photo booth.

See you this weekend. Happy Mother’s Day.

Jeff

This past weekend, I made the promise at the beginning of the message that I would leave you with more questions and opportunities for discussion than answers. For so many of you, that wonderfully appeared to be the case. People were chatting about all the implications; the permissions, prohibitions, and abuses of judging and judgmentalism. Many of us have lived under the tyranny of dehumanizing judgment. Others of us have fallen into the easy trap of judging others. In one way or another, our inner tendency to find reasonable justification for the judging other people has created deep wounds.

But, wherever there are wounds, there is opportunity for healing. We have a saying around here that “we are wounded in relationships and healed in relationships”. Each week there are more and more people extending their time at Mariners MV on the patio. We are finding ways on our patio for people to experience this community, this kind of family. Kids are drawing chalk art masterpieces on the walkways. Fathers and sons are challenging each other in checkers. Toddlers are hiding donuts from their mothers. People are initiating conversations that ultimately lead to healing and hope.

Looking forward to being together this weekend,

Jeff