A Publication of First Christian Church of North Hollywood A Congregation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Robert M. Bock, Senior Pastor Louise Sloan Goben, Associate Pastor Jennifer Le’au, Interim Director of Children’s Ministries Jeremy Gillett, Director of Youth Ministries Alfredo Gomez & Loydi Rivas Gomez, Pastor, Spanish Speaking Congregation Young Lan Kim & Young Jun Yang, Korean Pastors Volume LXII No. 44 May 2, 2018 Who is this, that even GOD IS FAITHFUL the winds and seas obey him? – 1 CORINTHIANS 10:13 – PAGE 2 MAY 2, 2018 FIRST CHRISTIAN NEWS joyfully continued Sheri’s tradition. Her enthusiasm and creative teaching style is contagious with her young, as well as older, singers. All the children and youth who sang in Sunday’s concert were inspirational and amazing. If you know any children or youth who are not part of Ty’s program, please encourage them to join one of her two choirs. What they will learn and experience could be My doctor calls it “Star-Wars Medicine.” I call it truly life-changing. Music is the International Language. a modern day miracle. I learned in February that the Understanding it and sharing in it broadens one’s hori- aortic valve in my heart had gone from “moderate” to zons immeasurably. It brings a true sense of magic into “severe.” There was no option but heart surgery. After the lives of children and youth as well as adults. getting through the Lenten Season, with all its activities, plans were formalized for surgery at the Heart Institute This Sunday, May 4th, is a special anniversary which of Cedars Medical Center. slips by each year without much notice. Yet, 35 years Then a marvelous opportunity was presented. I ago, a ministry was started on May 6th (1983) which could apply for entrance into a trial for low risk patients has served thousands of people and undoubtedly saved for the TAVR procedure. After a battery of tests and in- hundreds of lives. Our church family was one of the terviews and tons of paper work I was accepted into the founders of the Valley Interfaith Food Pantry, a ministry trial on April 16th and surgery followed on April 19th. started by five congregations, three Christian and two I went into surgery at 3:30 PM, was in ICU before 6:00 Jewish, which is now supported by a coalition of twelve PM and released to go home by my surgeon before Noon congregations and over thirty schools, both public and the following day. That is the future of heart surgery. And private. The ministry has grown to be a model organiza- to me, that is a miracle. tion, a template for other food pantries throughout Los I thank all of you for your many cards, emails, phone Angeles Country. calls, prayers and well wishes. I’m following my doctor’s I offer sincere thanks and congratulations to Luis orders and those of my very talented and personal nurse Oliart, the elected chair of the Pantry board of directors, – Peggy! to all the volunteers from our church family for their hard work and dedicated service and to everyone who My first official outing, with the blessing of my supports this marvelous ministry. Without FCCNH, cardiologist, was to the annual concert of our Children’s and its continual generous support, the Pantry could and Youth choirs. I vividly remember when John Wolf- not be all that it is in fighting hunger, homelessness and ersberger, our former Regional Minister, told me – “If mental illness. you want to grow your church, start a children’s music program.” The next year Sheri Izzard started our children’s While I’ve been recuperating, I keep hearing about choir and our first summer Music Camp. Both were wonderful plans to use the “Reverse Offering” which was huge successes. distributed to those present on the Sunday after Easter. When Sheri retired to Kansas we enlisted the help There are still some envelopes with $20.00 bills in them of another very talented musician who loved children. Ty for anyone wishing to add to their investment principle Parr took the reins of the choir program from Sheri and or for anyone who missed the original opportunity. FIRST CHRISTIAN NEWS MAY 2, 2018 PAGE 3 We will all bring our offerings plus whatever we have made from them on Pentecost Sunday, the birth- day of the church, May 20th. When you bring back the original $20.00 and the “interest” you’ve made, you will For those of you who know someone serving in the armed be given credit for the entire amount on your quarterly forces, as well as people serving in other capacities, we giving statement. want to lift them up in prayer... please let us know when Let your creative thoughts abound and if you need they come home! another $20.00, or if you want an initial $20.00, make Christopher A. Bernstein Joshua Bigbee sure to see me on Sunday. Chris Diaz Thomas Matthews We also want to continue to pray for peace, for wisdom Our local camps are almost ready for registration. for the world’s leaders, and for the people of all war-torn Please see the link below and be ready to save your child’s areas of our world. place now. Once word is on the street, registrations fill up rapidly. If you have any questions please call the church office – 818-763-8218. Registration link: www.fccnh.org/children-youth/camps-fccnh/ Every Sunday is an inspiring day at the corner of Moorpark and Colfax. But some days go beyond inspir- ing. I’m sure this Sunday will be one of those. The Rev. Marilyn Fiddmont will be our guest preacher at both the morning and 5:30 Spirit Song services of worship. Marilyn has a unique way of combing her cutting edge sense of humor and her brilliance with the message of the Gospel. I look forward to conducting the service and shar- ing with Marilyn and our wonderful worship team. I sincerely hope you will join me at one of our services. And elsewhere in this newsletter make sure to see The theme for this year’s Vacation Bible School is the delightful pictures of Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Lego – Let God! and we are indeed using the perennially Hayes at the 45th Daytime Emmy Awards celebration popular Lego building blocks to offer a creative way of last Sunday. Bible Story-Telling. If any of you have Lego blocks or Duplo Blocks for little hands and would like to donate Have a wonderful week. Be well. Be happy. Be safe. them to the Church, we would be thrilled to be able to And always be loving! See you in church. use them with the children this summer. You might be surprised at the creativity of building Pergé! with God. Pastor Bob Pastor Louise PAGE 4 MAY 2, 2018 FIRST CHRISTIAN NEWS …pray without ceasing… will invite others into making a concrete connection to – 1 Thessalonians 5:17 our Creator. Paul admonished his little congregation in Thes- There are many things our congregation has salonica to “…pray without ceasing.” We bear witness dedicated itself to through the years; sharing the Gospel in our community to the power of those prayers, and message, serving our community in a variety of ways, celebrate God’s gracious love and witness to the world. I creating an open space for people to worship and be invite you to come see the beauty of those prayers as we received, celebrating an open Communion Table, and fill our patio with this witness to the world. undergirding all the work we do with prayer. I think most of you are aware of the regular meetings of our Prayer Pastor Louise Group – every Monday morning and Tuesday evening. And while I admit to not knowing the complete history of this wonderful ministry, I do know it has been a vital part of this congregation since the 1940’s. It was begun because of death of an infant of a church family. The people knew that this family desperately needed prayer and support. Sixty-plus years later this Prayer Group continues to keep us lifted and held in the most difficult of circum- stances, as well as celebrate with us in our joys and life changes. Many of us have come to rely on this deeply committed gathering of those who practice “the power of prayer.” It has made a genuine difference in our lives and in the lives of others we have entrusted into their steadfast commitment. Since we are so very aware of the importance of prayer, it seems like a natural endeavor to encourage our community to connect with God, (or their Higher Power, however that is conceived by others) to pray for one another and our nation, its leaders, and our world. It seems to me we can always use the Wisdom that comes from a source greater than ourselves. The last two Sundays, we have invited people to write their prayers on pieces of fabric that we are making into “prayer flags.” These flags will be strung in our patio, near the Peace Pole that was established several years ago. This is such a festive reminder that prayer/connection to God is an essential witness to our faith, and hopefully FIRST CHRISTIAN NEWS MAY 2, 2018 PAGE 5 Living thE Questions “Call to Covenant” Mondays • 7:00 pm in the Annex May 7 • Incarnation: Divinely Human May 14 • Prayer: Intimacy with God May 21 • Compassion: The Heart of Jesus’ Ministry May 28 • Memorial Day; NO MEETING June 4 • Creative Transformation June 11 • Embracing Mystery ..