A Publication of First Christian Church of North Hollywood A Congregation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Rev. Dr. Robert M. Bock, Senior Pastor Louise Sloan Goben, Associate Pastor Jennifer Le’au, Director of Children’s Ministries Jeremy Gillett, Director of Youth Ministries Alfredo Gomez & Loydi Rivas Gomez, Pastors, Spanish Speaking Congregation Volume LXIII No. 71 November 4, 2020 JOIN US FOR WORSHIP EACH SUNDAY - PLUS GROUPS, STUDIES, FAMILY GAME NIGHTS AND MORE — WWW.FCCNH.ORG PAGE 2 NOVEMBER 4, 2020 FIRST CHRISTIAN NEWS years, been the FCCNH representative in planning the Thanksgiving Eve Interfaith Service of Worship. As a doctoral student at Claremont School of Theology at Willamette, working on her Doctor of Ministry degree, Louise is writing her major project about the Food Pan- It is with mixed emotions that I share with you that try and various similar ministries throughout our larger Pastor Louise has announced her retirement effective community. January 3, 2021. This is sad news for me and for the One of Louise’s greatest gifts is teaching. Through rest of the staff. She is a valued member of our staff and the years her Monday and Tuesday Bible study classes of the worship team. During the recent pandemic she have been extremely popular with many students, both has brought many creative ideas to our online worship/ from the church family and the community. She is a tech team. Certified Practitioner and Instructor for the Healing From a personal point of view I’m going to greatly Touch Spiritual Ministry and has brought various forms miss working with Louise. I have known her and her of meditation to our Wednesday evening Service of family since she was in high school. I have had the plea- Prayer and Meditation. For the last several years Louise sure of sharing in her wedding as well as in her ordi- has been an instructor of World Religions in the Encore nation service and have enjoyed working with her in Program at Pierce College. growing the programs of FCCNH. Yesterday, Novem- In announcing her retirement Louise noted the ex- ber 2nd, was her 27th anniversary of joining our staff. tra time the pandemic has allowed her to spend with In 1993, Louise left the pastoral/preaching ministry her family and the quality time she has been able to to become our Minister of Christian Education. After spend with her son Neill. She looks forward to offering several years of directing the ministry of our church supply preaching throughout our Region, continuing school, initiating our LOGOS program and bringing her teaching at Pierce College, completing her Doctoral other creative ideas to children’s ministries, she moved program and spending more quality time with family. into the role of Associate Minister. Through the years While we will greatly miss Louise as part of our staff, we she has been a regular participant in Sunday morning are very happy for her as she makes this life-changing worship. Several years ago she assumed the leadership transition. After we are able to return to our campus for of the SpiritSong service on Sunday evening and has worship and other occasions, we will have an appropri- enjoyed working with the musicians and worship team ate celebration recognizing her many contributions to of that service. the life of FCCNH for the past 27 years. Louise has been a great advocate for our Interfaith Pergé! Food Pantry and during the pandemic has volunteered Pastor Bob every Friday working at the Pantry. She has represent- ed FCCNH on the Pantry Board and has, for many FIRST CHRISTIAN NEWS NOVEMBER 4, 2020 PAGE 3 PRAYER IS ALWAYS THERE For those of you who know someone serving in the Prayer has always been a fundamental part of the armed forces, as well as people serving in other capac- glue binding us together as a church family. Unfortu- ities, we want to lift them up in prayer... please let us nately, the current realities of our worldwide health cri- know when they come home! sis mean that we cannot physically gather together for Chris Diaz • Joshua Bigbee • Steven Zaun either worship or prayer in the church that is “home” We also want to continue to pray for peace, for wisdom to so many of us. for the world’s leaders, and for the people of all war-torn We in the Monday morning and Tuesday evening areas of our world. Prayer Groups want to reassure you that, despite tem- porarily suspending our weekly gatherings in the Chap- el, individual prayers from and for you have continued all along. As part of our covenant, we both corporately lift prayers when we are together, and lift them in our I greet you in the Wonderful Magnificent name of individual daily prayers throughout the week. our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I have decided to dedicate the month of November WAYS YOUR PRAYERS CAN REACH US as a Christian fellowship youth fun month. Each Friday Via direct email to one of our leaders: in the month of November the youth will meet on • Janet Bruce ([email protected]) Zoom for some fun interactive activities starting at 4pm Eunice Cox ([email protected]) (PT) . Irion DeRouen ([email protected]) The first event (11-6-20) will be a combined middle • Via e-mail via the church website: www.fccnh.org. > school and high school gaming experience. Our featured Worship > Prayer Requests) or click here: game will be....”Among Us”! For contextual purposes, www.fccnh.org/worship/prayer-requests/ “Among Us” is an online multiplayer social deduction • Via phone call to the church office: 818-763-8218 game. The game takes place in a space-themed setting • If you are at the church, via prayer cards that are avail- where players each take on one of two roles, most being able at the Prayer Cabinet outside the Chapel. Fill Crewmates, and a predetermined number being Impostors. one out and put it in the cabinet slot or drop it off in The goal for the Crewmates is to identify the Impostors, the church office. eliminate them, and complete tasks around the map; the Impostors’ goal is to covertly sabotage and eliminate the Unless urgent, Janet will compile prayers submit- Crewmates before they complete all their tasks. ted on Saturday and Sunday and for the weekly list. I can’t wait to see our youth Friday! Midweek prayers will be sent out as received. We will With Love, continue to hold you close to our hearts throughout the Jeremy Gillett, Director of Youth Ministries coming days and weeks. Did you know FCCNH has a Facebook page? Please check it out and Like us on Facebook. It is a great way to keep up with what is going on in the life of the church. www.facebook.com/pages/First-Christian-Church-of-North-Hollywood/111570318857728 PAGE 4 NOVEMBER 4, 2020 FIRST CHRISTIAN NEWS “Just A Thought ...” by Rev. Louise Sloan Goben Brothers and sisters, we want that in the end, God is the arbiter of this, and not me… you to know about those who or anyone else, for that matter. have died. We don’t want you to It is a human trait to divide people into the in- be sad like other people— group and the out-group. In Paul’s correspondence to the church in Thessaloniki, he tries to reassure the con- those who have no hope. gregation that those who have died before the expected - 1 THESSALONIANS 4:13 return of Christ are fine. They are in the hands of God. Paul writes, “…we do not want you to be uninformed, Yesterday, we hosted an observance of All Saints brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that Day in the church parking lot. It was a different expe- you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.” rience as a team of volunteers worked together to set up (4:13) The message of Christ is that all those who have tables outdoors and light luminarias at dusk. On these died and all those who are living “will be with the Lord luminarias we wrote the names of loved ones from the forever.” church and other notable people who have died. Once John of Patmos describes a vision of heaven in it was dark out, the display was lovely. There are photos which he sees 144,000 gathered around the throne of in the newsletter of the event. God, praising God and the Lamb. (Rev. 7:4) This num- It is interesting to me that historically the Church ber is symbolic, and it represents a great multitude of has divided this observance into two days – All Saints those praising God. So many, they cannot be counted! Day and All Souls Day. All Saints is considered a Feast They represent the 12 tribes of Israel (i.e., the Jews) and Day of the church, which obligates worshipers to at- 12 representing the disciples of Jesus (or, the Gentiles), tend Mass. Prayers are offered for those who the church times 1,000. 12 x 12 x 1,000 = 144,000. The whole believes are in heaven. All Souls Day is observed for known world is worshiping at the throne of God. people who have died, and whose presence in heaven If God is understood to be the one that unites us, may be up for debate. This is not to say that these souls why do we believers still insist on dividing the world are bad people, but perhaps they were simply not in the into “us” and “them?” good graces of the church at the time they died.