2017 Lenten Meditations for by Grace You Are Saved Through Faith, and This Is Not Your Own Doing; It Is the Gift of God

First Christian Church of North Hollywood Elders’ 2017 LENTEN MEDITATIONS For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God... Ephesians 2:8-9 This collection of Lenten Meditations is a gift to you from the Elders of First Christian Church of North Hollywood EDITOR’S NOTE: Lent is a season of 40 days plus 7 Sundays from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. day 1 of 40 days 1 MARCH 2017—ASH WEDNESDAY Pastor Bob Bock Dear Church Family and Friends, For well over three decades the Elders of our church family have been preparing Meditation Books for the Holy Seasons of Advent and Lent. Most of the meditations are written by the Elders personally. Some, however, are favorite passages of literature or poetry which are meaningful to the Elder. For several years the Elders have extended invitations to members of our church staff to contribute meditations to the book. These staff members have been honored to add their thoughts to those of our distinguished group of Elders. The theme the Elders have chosen this year is “By the Grace of God.” How many times have you heard someone use that expression? It was even the title of a video by Katy Perry who, as the music goes on, felt she had the determination to continue living “By the Grace of God” (because there was no other way.) It is an expression so often used yet seldom, perhaps, examined for its deeper meaning. God’s Grace is always with us, yet so often we continue to make the same mistakes simply because we do not recognize that Grace as present. God’s Grace can save us from any situation, any problem, any crisis and anything. We need only recognize it and ask for it. I invite you to read and enjoy these meditations on this very thought-provoking theme. My practice is to read the book through in its entirety in one sitting. Then, as the Season continues, read the assigned meditation each day. I am sure that as the Season progresses you will find yourself lifted and renewed spiritually by these meditations. Happy Reading, Robert M. Bock Senior Pastor day 2 of 40 days 2 MARCH 2017 Richard Follett By the Grace of God (An Acrostic for Lent 2017) B eside us—neither ahead of nor above us! We have come to realize Y ou, O Christ, desire to live beside us. 1 T hose early followers testified that they were on The Way. H elp us, as You walk beside us on our Way, to E ncompass all of Your followers with Your love, even those on a different Way. G rant us, O Christ, Your graciousness to R each beyond our own theological bubbles A nd to find You, God, and the Holy Spirit in 2 C ommunity with Each Other and with humanity E ven when our friends’ Way differs from ours. O Christ, may we no longer grieve You as we 3 F orget over and over that You come lovingly to everyone masked as they perceive You. G race—the gift You demonstrate—can never be hoarded, O nly shown, only shared lest it sour into judgment. Let Your gracious 4 “D o unto others as you would have them do unto you” be real in our lives. __________________ 1Acts 9.2 and 19.23 2See Fr. Richard Rohr with Mike Morrell, The Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation (2106). 3See the writings of Joseph Campbell 4Luke 6.31 day 3 of 40 days 3 MARCH 2017 Aliza Ramos Have you considered giving up something for Lent? If you’re like most people, you will probably try one of the top ten sacrifices Twitter users made in 2016: 1. Chocolate 2. Social networking 3. Alcohol 4. Twitter 5. School 6. Swearing 7. Soda 8. Sweets 9. Coffee 10. Fast food If you’re unconventional, you may want to try one of these creative sacrifices offered by the Life Teen blog: • Give up all beverages except water • Give up the snooze button on your alarm • Give up your pillow • Give up warm water in the shower • Give up your bed, sleep on the floor • Give up escalators and elevators, use stairs • Give up sweets, use your cravings as a reminder to say a prayer for someone you know • Give up your unlimited selection of songs, listen only to Christian music • Give up your phone during the day to be more present to the people around you • Pick up a pen, make a list of forty people who have touched your life and, each day, write a letter to someone on your list to say thank you If you’re an overachiever, consider this suggestion by William B. Bradshaw on The Huffington Post blog: “I propose giving up the practice of focusing on the faults of other people and, instead, looking for their good qualities.” Throughout His ministry, Jesus encountered people who focused on finding His faults. Seeking to condemn, they closed their hearts to the goodness of His presence. In so doing, they missed the Messiah in their midst and crucified their long-awaited Savior. May your Lenten journey lead you to open your heart to the goodness of God, and open your eyes to the goodness in all people. May you inspire others to do the same. day 4 of 40 days 4 MARCH 2017 Morgan Stoddard By the grace of God, we are so fortunate to share a truly remarkable church in which to celebrate both the New Year and the new Lenten season. The Lenten season goes back to the time of the Apostles. Lent is derived from an old English word which means lengthen. The Lenten season is to be observed for forty days. The number of forty days has a long Biblical history: the forty-day fast of Moses, Elijah, and Jesus’ forty days in the desert. The traditions of Lent included prayer, fasting, almsgiving (charity), repen- tance, and various methods of self-denial. This special time of our Christian calendar is an important segment of our lives to self-examine our own beliefs and strengthen our own faith. The ultimate sacrifice of God’s love is celebrated in the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday. By our sacrifice during the Lenten season, we have the opportunity to express our faith through giving, sharing, and expressing our love for one another while nurturing and fulfilling our spiritual lives. I wish all of you and your families the very best of the Lenten season and, by the grace of God, the hope and promise that Easter brings to all of us. May God bless you and keep you always. 1st sunday of 7 sundays 5 MARCH 2017 Barbara Campbell By the grace of God… I am here My family is healthy I have people who love me I have a job where, sometimes, I get to do good work I have friends who model personal grace and show me the way I have a home I have my Church I have faith I have hope… joy… sorrow… And…. gratitude. day 5 of 40 days 6 MARCH 2017 Pastor Louise Sloan Goben “Let anyone with ears to hear, listen.” (Matthew 13:9) Galen and I recently listened to a Podcast of “On Being with Krista Tippett.” The segment featured Gordon Hempton, an expert in “acoustic ecology” or “soundscape.” This is the understanding of human beings and their relationship to their environment mediated through sound. By and large, we tend to be visual in our orientation to living as we are constantly in the presence of signs, video screens of different types, reading books or email, being aware of our environment using visual cues. That hasn’t always been the case, according to Hempton. There was a time when there were no books to be read, since they didn’t exist. Most people didn’t read or write—only the very educated. There were few signs and no billboards. So people negotiated their environment using sound! How to know of an approaching storm? You may hear the sound of the wind shifting or of distant thunder coming from miles away. Perhaps you could also hear the sound of a person’s footsteps approaching from yards away—or even the sound of an unfriendly animal. Silence conveyed important information. Why have all the birds stopped chirping? There is very little silence in our modern world. If you live in the city, you may hear the birds sing- ing, and you will also hear the constant drone of traffic, or of a plane flying overhead. We tune out the sounds we don’t need. Even in wilderness areas there are few places that are devoid of human made noise. So how are we to hear God when there is so much “noise” all around us? It requires us to tune out all the extraneous noise that constantly fills our lives—our “shoulds” and “oughts” and our “remember to do’s” and all we need to accomplish for today. Jesus reminds his disciples often to “listen.” This is art that we have come to neglect in our everyday living. Tune out, to the best of your ability, the voice inside your head. Tune out the noise of the traffic or the TV. Listen to your soul. Listen for God, for God is still speaking to us. Listen to a word of grace or strength, or of comfort or of peace.

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