Let heaven and earth praise him - fccnh.org

Volume LXIII No. 76 December 9, 2020

A Publication of First Christian Church of North HollywoodA Congregation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Rev. Dr. Robert M. Bock, Senior PastorLouise Sloan Goben, Associate PastorJennifer Le’au, Director of Children’s MinistriesJeremy Gillett, Director of Youth MinistriesAlfredo Gomez & Loydi Rivas Gomez, Pastors, Spanish Speaking Congregation

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Let heavenand earth praise him ...

— P S A L M 3 9 : 3 4

December 9, 2020 First christian news

I greet you in the Wonderful Magnificent name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

As we journey through our Christmas season into the new year, I have some fun interactive events I’d like our youth to participate in. For the Joy of our Christmas Season is here to stay!

On December 20th at 4pm PST (Via Zoom)

Before we celebrate Christmas Day with our families, I’d like us to join in a virtual gift exchange with one another. This is an easy but effective way to celebrate with each other.

Each gift is to be no more than $25 (including mailing fees). I’m asking each youth who would like to participate to send me their name, address, and three things which interest them. I will select a fellow youth participant to share the information with and they’ll mail that youth a gift. On December 20th at 4pm PST we’ll meet on Zoom and open our gifts with one another. I believe this will help embody the spirit

of our traditional Christmas events (Youth sleepover, Operation Santa Claus, and end of the year Christmas Party). An example of the information I am requesting, if you’re looking to participate, is as follows:

Jane Doe1111 North Upper StreetChapel Hill, NC 87545

Interests:Art • Skateboarding •Fashion

Please confirm your participation by Friday to ensure we have time to do some brief yet safe shopping and mailing.

December 27 at 4pm PST (Via Zoom)

Following a beautiful family Christmas, I’d like us to get together via Zoom and have a Chopped experience with dessert ingredients. Our goal is to create a dessert dish, present our dishes to one another, and finally eat our creations together. I’ll provide us a time limit in which we’ll all create our dishes while everyone is live on Zoom. Following the end of the preparation time, we’ll reconvene and explain our dishes. As seen on the

Watch for Pastor Bob’s nightly letters this week.

CONTINUED —

First christian news December 9, 2020

We also want to continue to pray for peace, for wisdom for the world’s leaders, and for the people of all war-torn areas of our world.

For those of you who know someone serving in the armed forces, as well as people serving in other capacities, we want to lift them up in prayer... please let us know when they come home!

Chris Diaz • Joshua Bigbee • Steven Zaun

TV show “Chopped”, we’ll be graded on presentation, creativity, and taste (be sure to have a taste-tester next to you).

Please confirm your participation for this event and the ingredient list will be sent to you.

I can’t wait to see everyone’s dish.See you soon,Jeremy Gillett

Director of Youth Ministries

continued


according to the Virginian-Pilot, but not always in December, and they don’t always come so close to one an-other. Though they still will be hundreds of millions of miles apart, it’s the closest the two planets have come in more than 800 years.

To those of us on Earth, that’s close enough that they’ ll appear as one bright star of wonder, perhaps even one worth singing about. “You’d have to go all the way back to just before dawn on March 4, 1226, to see a closer alignment between these objects visible in the night sky,” Rice University astronomer Patrick Hartigan said in a statement.

Going back even farther, astronomers have floated the idea that a similar conjunction of planets could be a scientific explanation for the star of Bethlehem in the Christmas story.

According to the Gospel of Matthew, Magi, or wise men, came to Jerusalem after Jesus’ birth, asking, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

After consulting the chief priests and teachers of the law, the sitting king pointed the Magi to Bethlehem, ac-cording to the words of the prophets: “But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.”

There, they found the child Jesus with his mother Mary, the star resting over their house.

“What was the Star of Bethlehem?” is one of the questions the Vatican Observatory always is asked around Christmastime, write Vatican astronomers Brother Guy Consolmagno and the Rev. Paul Mueller in their 2014

CONTINUED ON OPPOSITE PAGE —

I read this article this morning, for the Religion News Service. It is fun, and I would like to share it with you this week.

A star, a star will dance in the night on Dec. 21.Actually, it won’t be a star, but the so-called “great

conjunction” of two planets — Jupiter and Saturn — cre-ating something similar to what some astronomers suggest the wise men may have seen in the biblical account of the birth of Jesus.

Jupiter and Saturn align about every 20 years,

“Just A Thought ...” by Rev. Louise Sloan Goben


Operation Santa ClausOperation Santa Claus, , our annual our annual toy giveaway to underprivileged kids, toy giveaway to underprivileged kids, will be a bit different this year due towill be a bit different this year due to

COVID-19. Because of the virus, no toys will COVID-19. Because of the virus, no toys will be given out. Instead, we will buy Target gift be given out. Instead, we will buy Target gift cards, swab them with alcohol and pass them cards, swab them with alcohol and pass them out to youthful passengers inside cars that will out to youthful passengers inside cars that will line up and drive through our parking lot. To line up and drive through our parking lot. To that end, any gift card worth around $20 will be that end, any gift card worth around $20 will be most welcome. The safest way to do that would most welcome. The safest way to do that would be to send them to the church office. Another be to send them to the church office. Another way to donate would be to send a check with way to donate would be to send a check with the words Operation Santa Claus in the memo the words Operation Santa Claus in the memo line. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get back into line. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get back into regular operation by Christmas 2021regular operation by Christmas 2021. . If you If you have any questions about our limited 2020 have any questions about our limited 2020 operation, call Ken Wilson 818.903.0850.operation, call Ken Wilson 818.903.0850.

O P E R AT I O N

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book “Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial?”“Nowadays most attempts at giving a possible scien-

tific explanation for the Star of Bethlehem involve looking for interesting or unusual conjunctions of the planets,” Consolmagno writes.

It’s possible that what the wise men saw was the con-junction of Jupiter and Venus on June 17, 2 BCE, accord-ing to John Mosely, program supervisor for the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. “In any case, knowing that a truly interesting astronomical event occurred around the time of the Nativity can add to our sense of wonder during the traditional Christmas season,” Mosely writes in his 1987 book, “The Christmas Star.”

The event may well be greeted with joy, even for many who don’t believe in the Christmas story: It comes on the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, after which nights grow shorter and daylight begins to return in the Northern Hemisphere.

At the end of 2020, the Virginian-Pilot writes, it’s a “ light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.”

Look Heavenward on December 21st, the longest

night of the year.

Pastor Louise

————————————————————

Emily McFarland Miller. Do You See What I See? Planetary Alignment to Create a “Christmas Star.’ Religion News Service. 12.8.20. ReligionNews.com.

“Just A Thought ...”continued


6:30PM TUESDAYSVIA ZOOM

EMAIL JASON PETERSON [email protected]

TO JOIN IN ON THE FUN

FAMILY GAME NIGHTSUNDAYS . 4PM ON ZOOM!

Fun and prizes for the winnersto join in the fun, email

Jason Peterson [email protected]

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Join us for our Weekly Service ofHealing & Meditation

Wednesdays@ 7:00 pm

For details on joining this service, please email [email protected].


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

A Note to the Church Family from Your Prayer GroupsA Note to the Church Family from Your Prayer GroupsPrayer has always been a fundamental part of the glue binding us together as a church family. Unfortunately, the current realities of our worldwide health crisis mean that we cannot physically gather together for either worship or prayer in the church that is “home” to so many of us.

We in the Monday morning and Tuesday evening Prayer Groups want to reassure you that, despite temporarily suspending our weekly gatherings in the Chapel, 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 individual daily prayers throughout the week.

There Are Several Ways Your Prayers Can Reach UsThere Are Several Ways Your Prayers Can Reach Us• Via direct email to one of our leaders: Janet Bruce ([email protected]) • Eunice Cox ([email protected]) • Irion DeRouen ([email protected]) • Via e-mail via the church website: www.fccnh.org/worship/prayer-requests/• Via phone call to the church office: 818-763-8218• If you are at the church, via prayer cards that are available at the Prayer Cabinet outside the Chapel. Fill one out and put it in the cabinet slot or drop it off in the church office.

Unless urgent, Janet will compile prayers submitted on Saturday and Sunday and for the weekly list. Midweek prayers will be sent out as received. We will continue to hold you close to our hearts throughout the coming days and weeks.

PRAYERPRAYERis (still) always thereis (still) always there


WOMEN to WOMEN Online Women’s Group

Meets Fridays via Zoom • 8:00 pm

Hosted by: Sheryl Fitzpatrick, Jenny Harris

Trudie Kirkland, and Diane O’Brien

For Zoom info email:

[email protected]

(ALL CAPS - Case sensitive)


zoom bible studyTOPIC: Bible Study with Rev. Louise Sloan Goben ([email protected])

TIME: Tuesdays at 10:00am (PT)

JOIN ZOOM MEETING AT:

www.us04web.zoom.us/j/495908947?pwd=UWFKWUNlcjVzZS9GcldLa09qZ3ZuZz09MEETING ID: 495 908 947

PASSWORD: 014283

ONE TAP MOBILE: 16699006833,,495908947# US (San Jose)

BY LOCATION: 1-301-715-8592 US • 1-253-215-8782 US

www.us04web.zoom.us/u/fcjzafdUow


NORTH HOLLYWOOD INTERFAITH FOOD PANTRY

Dear Pantry Supporters,Thank you for your ongoing support! keep your generous contributions coming. The NH Interfaith Food Pantry fed over 36,000 clients last month; that is a huge number, and it couldn’t have been done without all of your support!

HELP TRANSPORTING NEEDEDSign up at: www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0a4ba5a82fa5fa7-transporting

We are having a hard time getting peanut butter from our wholesale distributor. PEANUT BUTTER IS OUR CURRENT NEED. Drop off at the church office, during distribution hours Monday and Friday or order for delivery on Amazon at:www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3M15OOOZO59FV/ref=nav_wishlist_lists_2?_encoding=UTF8&type=wishlist

Coming soon is a new movie supporting our work in the community! We are looking for a Public Relations person to further our outreach!

Thank you!Rae Eiklor, FCCNH Food Pantry Liaison

For Zoom info contact: [email protected]

Interested?

WEEKLY MEN’S GROUPMEETS SATURDAYS • 8:00 AM


CHURCH STAFF

Robert M. Bock Senior PastorLouise Sloan Goben Associate PastorAlfredo Gomez Pastor, Spanish Speaking CongregationJennifer Le’au Director of Children’s MinistriesJeremy Gillett Director of Youth MinistriesTyana Parr Director of Children’s/Youth ChoirsDavid Rigsby Music Director/OrganistChristine Karasseferian Director of FinanceChris CarsonChurch AdministratorGabriela Dorantes Administrative AssistantGlenda Morgan Brown Administrative AssistantTerri Burton Church PublicationsMichele Amundsen Wedding Director Elmer Maldonado Building & Grounds SuperintendentMiriam MancillaDirector of Christian Nursery SchoolGreg Kirkland Media Director

VOLUNTEER STAFFJacob Beam, Craig Brooks, Tom Louie, Susan Marble, Jeff McFadden, Denise Ovaldson, Tiffany TappSound Technicians

Luis Oliart Security

IN MEMORIAMEarle Immel Minister of Music Emeritus

Merle E. Fish, Jr. Minister Emeritus

BY WAY OF REPORTWeek of Sunday, December 6, 2020________

Total General Offering $7,147.00 Disciples Mission Fund Christmas $500.00 Food Pantry $850.00 Operation Santa Claus $800.00 Tree Lot Fund $250.00 Mission Enrichment Fund $10,000.00

Credit Card Offerings 12/02 - 12/8________

General Offering $3,239.00 Food Pantry $200.00 Operation Santa Claus $100.00

PUBLICATIONDEADLINES

FCCNH NEWSLETTERDEADLINE IS MIDNIGHT SUNDAYPLEASE SUBMIT ARTICLES VIA EMAIL TO:[email protected] or [email protected]

Articles can also be delivered to the office Monday thru Friday, 9am to 5pm.

Check out our website (www.fccnh.org) and click on the Donate or Vendor button at the top of the page and select “First Christian Church of North

Hollywood” as your designated charity.

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First Christian News First Christian ChurCh oF north hollywood

a Congregation oF the Christian ChurCh

(disCiples oF Christ) 4390 ColFax avenue

north hollywood, CA 91604 - 2898

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First Christian Church of North Hollywood818/763-8218 • FAX 818/763-8457Web Site: www.fccnh.orgemail: [email protected]

Pastor & Senior Editor Robert M. BockProofreading Glenda Morgan BrownArt Direction Terri BurtonProduction Services Byron Armantrout

EmeritusMary Ann Steuterman Billie KlineLillian Carlson Heather Kenney Margaret Defibaugh Cathy Melendez Fern Donald Chuck Mont Jean Johnson Wanda Kanoy Helen Scarna Kay Smith Betty Van Zanten Shirley McClure Deborah Wheeler Virginia Stebbins Cindy Kaller

Let heaven and earth praise him - fccnh.org

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