The Art of Marriage^® is a new one-and-a-half day video event which fits the bill we’re looking for to help our couples and our community.  We know February gets busy so we’ll be hosting this event here in March.  The Art of Marriage consists of six video sessions and an accompanying manual that provides couples with projects to help apply the principles taught during each session. The Art of Marriage brings together some of the most respected and influential pastors and experts on marriage and family all in one setting. It also brings a fresh approach to a video event by weaving together some of the following elements to help couples fully experience God’s design for marriage:

• engaging stories
• real-life testimonies
• man-on-the-street interviews
• humorous vignettes

In six one hour sessions marriage of any stage in life will encounter timeless truth about marriage as these truths are presented in a whole new way.  You will leave with real help and real hope for today and tomorrow.  This could well be the weekend of 2012 for you to experience a fresh start and new beginning in your marriage.  We’ll be working on the possibility of providing child-care so all of our young couples can come. If you would like to volunteer to help us put on this event contact Debbie in the office.   This will be a fantastic life changing event to which you’ll want to invite some friends.  Save the dates of Friday and Saturday, March 16^th and 17^th.   Friday from 7 to 9:30pm and Saturday from 9am to 4pm.  Cost per couple will be around $45 and will include lunch.  The price of a lube, oil and filter job for your car.  If we can do it for less we will. Plan to invest in this marriage tune-up so your marriage will last longer than any of your cars. Look for the video trailer clip during our announcements on Sunday mornings and for schedule information on our web site.  Walk the Valentine talk!  God loves you and he calls us to love one another, especially our spouse.  See you at The Art of Marriage weekend or before!

Over the next four to six weeks, you will be seeing some gradual changes to the website as we enhance specific ministry areas, including Students, Hillside Christian Preschool and Children Ministries pages. Included in this gradual change is making available on the site our current newsletters for the church and students. Be sure to check out the tabbed link titled “Current Newsletters” and follow the drop down options to see either church-wide information, students info, or the students’ calendar page.

So get dressed up in your classy outfits.   We hope to have a magician for entertainment.

We are also planning on having a photo station.

You must pay your $10 by Feb. 5th.

We are planning on going bowling afterwards so bring some extra cash.

H.U.G.E. Men’s Forum is designed to launch each man’s spiritual journey to a renewed focus for a new year!

This cooperative spiritual growth event is a partnership with local churches here in Marysville and is open for all men. Join us each evening for a time of fellowship, praise and worship, teaching, and small group discussions directed specifically to men, by men.

It takes place from 6:45 – 9pm for five Tuesdays, beginning January 10 and ending February 7. These life-changing nights engage men of faith through energizing worship, empowering messages by local pastors, and enlightening breakout sessions with other men. Messages and discussions revolve around the concepts found in John Ortberg’s If You Want To Walk On Water You Have To Get Out Of The Boat.

For additional info, visit the H.U.G.E. Men website at www.hugemenofgod.org

Maybe, we could look at Jesus for a minute.  He was on the go but never in a hurry.  You never hear him saying to the disciples “hurry up we’re going to be late.”  He got his mission done and made time to go to services, pray and serve!  On top of that, he took time off and encouraged his disciples to “come away and rest awhile.”  Jesus had a keen sense of when to stay and when to go, of service and solitude, of work and play.  And yet, his ministry never stopped.  Or was his life his ministry?  Life is ministry, it is service to God done through the varied facets of our life, and it never stops!  There is always more to be done than minutes in the day.  The reasons for our hectic schedules, the things that seem to define our life, are varied from personal and vocational issues to internal and external pressures.  So what can you do?

First of all “Keep it simple”.  Reflect every day, throughout the day, with this important spiritual formation question, “Where do I see God today?”  Take time to slow down, listen and reflect.  This is prayer.  This is growth.  Stop. Remember.  Reflect. Secondly, use what you’ve got. Do not compare your spiritual life to other people.  Laugh. Don’t take yourself so seriously! The joy of the Lord can be found in laughter. Love your family and your friends; make them priorities. Thirdly, be realistic.  Consider your situation and do what you can with the time and resources you have.  I encourage you to use the book The Story, attend Sunday services, and a group or the Legacy Wednesday dinner/discussion group.  Also, live holistically.  Go on a vacation or take a mini-break (even for a day), go for a walk, read a good book, enjoy a hobby, take care of yourself physically.

Say “I will” do this in 2012. Commit to seeking God in life which will more often than not be hectic. Listen for God’s voice and find peace in the midst of the whirlwind.  Job, even in the midst of problem-stricken life, found that was where God spoke to him. I think you just might discover this dynamic of God as well.  I wish you a great New Year and success in the things that let you “take hold of the life that is really life!”  (1 Timothy 6:19)  See you at Sunday services and at Legacy Wednesday dinner/discussion group as we continue in The Story.

This is a wonderful season of joy, peace, love, hope and generosity.  As the end of the year approaches, I want to express my deep gratitude for your faithfulness in giving to your church in your time, talent and treasure.  I also want to encourage you to participate in our Christmas Offering 2011.  Let me quickly tell you what this offering is for.  As we entered December our operations fund has a deficit we want to make up. This has been a wonderful year in many ways in spite of the economy.  However, given the economic recession our country is undergoing we realized 2011 was going to be a difficult year in giving.    Early in the year we reduced our original budget and have scaled back in many areas.  We’ve strived to be both wise and prudent and cut back as much as possible while continuing to do our ministry programs.  At the same time we wanted 2011 to be a year of growth, recognizing that our struggling economy provides a great time for people to meet Jesus, for couples to grow in hope, and for families to work together.  So 2011 has been a year of pruning and of asking God where he wants us to focus our energy and attention.

We are operating below our projected budget but we have a deficit we would like to get rid of so we can finish the year in the black.  As a church we rely on everyone who attends for our financial base.  We depend on the Lord as he moves through you.  Would you put your church on your Christmas list?  By years end would you consider giving a special gift?   Will you join us in making the goal to raise $31,000 to erase our deficit for 2011?   My hope is that you will give, not out of a sense of obligation, but rather out of gratitude to God.  In addition, if everyone who calls MFMC their home church would consider a gift of an additional $25 or more per month in the next year we would make our budget and build a surplus in 2012. Would you step up your giving and tithing in 2012, starting in January?

Thank you for your faithfulness in creating environments to develop passion for Christ, His call, His community and his causes here at MFMC and beyond though your continued generosity.  Just like many of you, I am so thankful and feel so blessed to be a part of a church full of people deeply committed to bringing God’s beauty and presence to the world around us.

Merry Christmas and a Joyous New Year!

Pastor Vic Rodriguez

Family Service @ 6 pm

Our kid friendly, family oriented service will provide child care for younger children. Nursery volunteers are needed.  If you could help, please indicate on the Connection Card.

Candlelight Service @ 9 pm

This service has become a favorite for many as the choir, dramatic readings, and a devotional prepare hearts and minds for Christmas.

Christmas Worship @ 10 am

Christmas falls on Sunday this year and we celebrate it with one combined service. Featuring familiar and contemporary arrangements of Christmas carols, a special Christmas focus for kids downstairs in Kidz’ Zone, and a message from Pastor Vic, makes for a great way to celebrate Christmas morning!

How many days until Christmas?  Kids know.  Christmas day will come soon enough so let’s focus on the Advent season for just a few moments.  Advent is the season of waiting: of promise and patience, of presence and absence, of fullness and emptiness.   Advent is a month long Christmas Eve.  In Advent, we can get impatient not just about the coming big day, but with ourselves, history, and God – we live for right now.  Yes, we believe “Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again,” but right now we wonder what this coming of Christ means.  We struggle with economic concerns, the uncertainty of where our nation or the world will be tomorrow or when our children and grandchildren grow up. Advent is filled with hope, but not certainty. If God is omnipresent, God is frustratingly subtle.  God often seems barely recognizable in our world.  Christmas Day will come but we live in Christmas Eve.

Perhaps, the divine absence is the reflection of our responses to God’s advances to us and the world. We can easily assume God is absent when our actions have, in fact, limited God’s presence in our lives and communities. Still, we hope for greater inspiration and energy and this hope opens the door for new revelations of God’s love.

Psalm 80, an Advent reading presents this same contrast of presence and absence, and desperate hope for divine revelation in power and love. “Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.”   We need restoration and God must be part of the process of renewal. We need healing and only God can give us the energy to find wholeness. Our cry of help may open the door to a greater influx of divine possibility and energy in our lives and communities. Psalm 80 assumes that our cries make a difference to God. God hears our pleas and prayers and they create a field of force that opens the door to God’s presence in health-giving ways. They do not change the character of the liberating and restorative God but make God’s presence more real and energetic. God needs us to answer the knock, to open the door, and to seek and to ask. The dynamic and interdependent divine-human call and response bring spontaneity and vitality to both God and the world.  God is growing in our lives, despite the external circumstances and deferred fulfillment.  We must awaken to God’s movements intimated in our personal and corporate activities. Christ has come, “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done.”

Cosmologists suggest that in a de-centered universe, every place is the center. Theologians assert that divine omnipresence means that God is wholly here in this present place and time. Accordingly, if no one knows the moment of Christ’s coming, then every moment is a call to transformation. Every moment, whether at dinner table, working on your laptop, answering e-mail, or praying at church meeting, is a moment of encountering divine possibility. No need to look into the future, for God is fully present in the here and now. Possibilities for transformation are ever-present for those who seek to be awake to the divine. Any moment can be transforming and transfiguring: theophanies abound!

In the midst of waiting for a Christmas Day revelation that is beyond our understanding and exceeds our imagination, we have much to do. We daily are called to stay awake and choose to be people of a future which we can’t fully fathom.  We look to a future of holy relationships, healed persons, and transformed ecology and economy.  In this time of Advent, our perpetual Christmas Eve, we can be citizens of the emerging realm and rule of God right now. We don’t need angelic visitors to know what time it is.  It is always God’s time and the advent of life-transforming possibility. Open to possibility, we can sing “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” with the lively expectant spirit of “Joy to the World” for God is here!

Our MFMC pastors and staff wish you and yours a very Joyous Christmas and a Blessed New Year!

See you Sunday, 

Pastor Vic

Opportunities for friendship, spiritual growth and a energized focus are available as new groups are starting to form. Look at some of the options listed below!Men’s Breakfast:

Join us on the 2nd Saturday of each month at 8 am.  Not only will we enjoy a manly breakfast, and great discussions regarding cars, jobs, technology and politics, but a glimpse into God’s word.

Discipleship Group

This ladies Discipleship group will begin on Thursday, September 15th at 7:00 pm and will meet at Cindy Rodriguez’s home.  They will be discussing “The Story”.   Fall meeting schedule is Sept. 15 & 29, Oct. 13 & 27, and Nov. 10th.  Please see Cindy if you have any questions.

Precepts

We will be starting a 13 week study called “The Holy Spirit Unleashed in You”, study of Acts.  There are two study days and times that you can choose from; Tuesday evenings 7:00 pm beginning Sept. 13 – December 13, or Thursday mornings at 9:15 am beginning Sept. 15 – December 15.  Please see Fae Bradley in the foyer to pick up your book and/or if you have any questions.

Wednesday Bible Study

This ladies Bible study will begin on Wednesday, Sept. 14th at 9:30 am at Kathy Nyland’s home.  We will be studying a Beth Moore series titled “Faithful, Abundant, True.”  If you have any questions please contact Kathy Nyland at (360)657-4061.