During these next forty days we join with Christ in the road towards the Cross and Easter. This is a time of reflection, repentance, and formation.

What are you taking up for Lent?

What are you laying down for Lent?

This Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, the season where we prepare ourselves for Christ’s Passion. To recognize the beginning of this season and its penitential nature we will be meeting for prayer on Ash Wednesday, this week, February 17.

This will be a time of prayer, scripture, worship, and repentance. The imposition of ashes will be available if you desire.

There will be two services:

• Morning, 7 a.m., in the Prayer Chapel in the back of the church.
• Evening, 7:30 p.m., in the Fellowship Hall.

The morning service is highly recommended as it shapes the whole day. Those who came to BOTH services last year deeply appreciated how impactful that was. We’ll start the day with a focus on repentance and then end the day discussing how that affected our relationships throughout the day.

Join us this Sabbath for worship celebrating Christ’s glory. Worship in song, story-telling, sermon, and silence. Ryan will be speaking on Luke 9:28-36:

Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” —not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.

The beginning of a new year brings many new things. One of those that’s just around the corner is a new Bible study.

This coming week we are beginning a new series called “The Biblical Story in 7 Acts.” This study is for anyone who enjoys the Bible and I would welcome each and every one of you (though if you all showed up I would have to seriously change the way I’m approaching this. But it would be a lovely challenge to have). Specifically, however, this series of studies is for those of you who are fairly new to the Bible, or you’ve sort of been dancing around the Bible for a while, but never actually jumped in.

In eight session we will be looking at the entire scope of the Biblical story, from Creation to Consummation and everything in between. This is the 30,000 foot view. When you’re in an airplane looking out the window you can see many features of the landscape you can’t see from the ground. For example, if you’ve ever flown over the Grand Canyon it’s truly remarkable to see the entire grand canyon at once. You can’t do that by standing on the South Rim and looking down. It’s just too big. Likewise, there are things you miss when looking from 30,000 feet that you will notice if you actually hike down into the Grand Canyon.

As in geography and topology, so in Bible study, both perspectives are important. I have noticed, however, that many students of the Bible miss the proverbial forest for the trees. So we’re going to spend a few weeks studying the forest, with occasional forays into the trees.

So come with us—Monday nights at 7:30 pm at the church.

Grace and Peace,

Ryan

January 6 through February 16 is the season of Epiphany. The word epiphany means “to know” or “to reveal,” making the season of Epiphany all about the revealing of Christ’s ministry. We’ve experienced Advent (anticipating Christ’s first and second comings) and Christmas (Christ’s birth), so now we seek to know the ministry of Christ.

The ministry of this church is also going full swing during Epiphany. Here’s a list of events that you are invited to participate in.

• Bible Study: Starting Monday, January 11, 7:30 p.m. (more info)
• Sock Distribution at Gett Love. Wednesday, January 20, 8:30 a.m. Meet in the church parking lot.
• Church Work Party, Sunday, January 24, 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
• Annual Congregational Meeting, Sabbath, January 30, 12:30 p.m, Community Chapel.
• Community Walk, Sunday, January 31, 3:00 p.m. Meet at the church.

(For more about the season of Epiphany, visit http://www.crivoice.org/cyepiph.html.)

Stay tuned this week for the release of this documentary about our church’s missional transformation.

Stained Glass: Hollywood Blvd. is an unprecedented documentary series that shows the pulse of a church through all the joy and pain that congregational leadership demands.  This particular series follows the development of the young leadership team at the Hollywood Adventist Church.  As church life fades away from its traditional position in society, how do congregations redefine their role in the 21st century?

Filmmakers Paul B. Kim and Melody George go where the camera has rarely been allowed: behind the scenes of a church trying desperately to keep its relevance alive.  Sponsored by the North American Division Church Resource Center Vervent Productions.

Merry Christmas to all!

You’re invited to our second annual Lessons and Carols service on Christmas Eve, 7 p.m. in the Sanctuary. We’ll sing Christmas carols and read the story of salvation fulfilled in Christ’s birth. This will be a night of warm fellowship, prayer, and praise.

Read Pastor Ryan’s Christmas journal.

This next Sabbath marks the beginning of Advent season, when we remember Christ’s first coming as a human baby, and anticipate his second coming in glory at the fullness of time.

The sermons for Advent will be from the Gospel of Luke.

1. November 28, Luke 21:25-36
2. December 5, Luke 1:68-79
3. December 12, Luke 3:7-18
4. December 19, Luke 1:39-55

Advent events include a Christmas Concert on Sunday, December 6 at 7 p.m. in the Sanctuary. Aaron Beaumont (Myspace), Aaron Roche (Myspace), and Nick Zork will be presenting original holiday music. Musicians from our church will also provide inspiring Christmas music, both traditional and contemporary.

There will be a Christmas Eve Lessons and Carols service in the Sanctuary at 7 p.m. We’ll read the story of Christ’s birth, sing carols, and be family for each other. All are welcome.

The color of Advent is royal blue, which is why the website isn’t its usual purple.

Christ the King Sabbath is the last Sabbath of the Christian year. Next Sabbath the new year will begin with Advent. This Sabbath, whose liturgical colour is gold, is the climax of our year-long journey through the Gospel of Christ as experienced in scripture, the kingdom, and sacred time.

“Its purpose is to celebrate the coming reign of Christ as King of the Earth and his completion of the renewed creation that marks the fullness of the Kingdom of God. That hope is born from the entire life of Christ and his teachings that have been celebrated in the seasons of the Church Year during the past twelve months. In celebrating the Reign of Christ the King, this [Sabbath] also provides an appropriate bridge to the new Church Year that begins the following [Sabbath] on the first [Sabbath] of Advent with an emphasis on hope and expectation, the longing for the coming of the Kingdom of God amid the darkness of a sinful world.” Christ the King, Christian Research Institute.

This Sabbath is also the day we traditionally celebrate and recognize our Emerging Leaders. This year the leaders are Nathan French, Julia Alty, Dennis Hill, and Leslie Foster.

The gospel reading for this Sabbath will be John 18:33-37. Scott will speak about Pontius Pilate’s encounter with Christ and the Kingdom.

For the past several weeks I’ve been savoring some of the writings of the ancient Christian mystics by way of a recent book entitled, Love’s Immensity, by poet Scott Cairns. I would like to share one of these poems with you, based on the writings of Saint Athanasios of Alexandria (c. 298-373).

The Death of Death

Put fear aside. Now
that He has entered
into death on our behalf,
all who live
no longer die
as men once died.

That ephemeral occasion
has met its utter end.
As seeds cast to the earth, we
will not perish,
but like those seeds
shall rise again—the shroud
of death itself having been
burst to tatters
by love’s immensity.

I find that I am on a constant crusade, if you will, against fear. There is very little I have certainty about, but this one of thing I know for certain: fear is not a part of God’s life. Fear is, at best, a warning system to tell us that something is not right, but it cannot be a part of the core of our being—a part of the center of our soul—out of which we live our lives.

Even the fear of death is not the ultimate truth, “death itself having been / burst to tatters / by love’s immensity.” Let us cling to God’s immense love and not let go or give in to fear.

Grace & Peace,
Ryan