This Week at Ascension + February 8, 2023

"Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." - Psalm 96

Wednesday, February 8, 2023

Commemoration of Bakhita, Monastic, 1947

(Josephine Margaret Bakhita)

Evening Prayer at 6:00 p.m. via ZOOM

In-person and Live-streamed Said Mass at 6:30 p.m.

Unction will be available for those who wish it.

VIA YOUTUBE or FACEBOOK LIVE

Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany

February 12, 2023

7:30 a.m. Morning Prayer via ZOOM

9 a.m. Sung Mass

11 a.m. In-person & Live-streamed High Mass

Followed by the Rosary (Luminous Mysteries)

The 11 a.m. bulletin may be found here.

Icon image: The Beatitudes (Jesus Teaching).

Click to join us VIA YOUTUBE or VIA FACEBOOK LIVE

Ash Wednesday,

February 22, 2023

The Liturgy of Ash Wednesday will be observed at 7:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m.,

and 7:00 p.m.

Ashes will be imposed at all liturgies.

From the Curate

The Grace of Limit

In his book, Beauty: The Invisible Embrace, John O’Donohue writes about how the Irish who lived on their country’s wild and visually stunning West Coast used to build their homes with small windows. These types of homes are mostly ruins now, replaced by newer buildings with great big windows to allow one to take in the grandeur of the landscape from inside, from all sides, without going outside. Certainly, small windows are a way of keeping the damp chill out, but O’Donohue remarks that there was more to them: “Yet a small window exercised a discipline of proportion in relation to the external beauty. It never offered you the whole landscape: instead, from every angle you looked, it chose from the landscape a unique icon for your eyes. The grace of limit suggested more than your eyes could visually grasp.”

As we begin to close the season of luminous revelation and make our preparations for a desert journey, the notion of limit has been on my mind. Reading this line of O’Donohue’s has shifted my thinking from “What will I give up this year?” to “How will I reframe my days in order to experience the grace of limit that they might suggest the eternal more-ness of God?”

What parts of your life are in need of the “discipline of proportion,” not so that you might exercise more control but so that you are reminded of the enormous presence of God in your life? 

—Mtr. Murphy-Gill

P.S. The Sunday before Lent, I will have selections of O’Donohue’s book Beauty available for devotional reading along with questions for reflections and prompts for prayer. You can sign up to receive one of these packets as a downloadable PDF by emailing me. Hard copies will also be available in the Narthex. I also invite you to purchase your own copy through an independent bookseller. They are available on Amazon, as well. 

Please note, that this packet is for personal devotion and prayer and will not serve as our Lenten formation program this year. I am available for one-on-one conversation about it.

We Should Talk Returns Tomorrow, February 9

Parishioner Caroline Wills will talk with us about 13th-century Dutch poet and mystic Hadewijch of Brabant. We’ll look at her poem, “To Learn Mary’s Humility” and explore images of motherhood, desire, and humility in Hadewijch’s work. We’ll gather on Zoom at 7 pm.

Interested in leading a future discussion? Contact Mtr. Murphy-Gill. Take a look at our calendar for the next two months to see what kinds of topics we’ll be learning about together:

• March 2: From Roman to Anglican: A Catholic Journey,

led by Mtr. Meghan Murphy-Gill

• April (day TBD): Climate Action in the Episcopal Church,

led by Séan Hansen



Next Young Adults Gathering February 12

This month, the young adults group will enjoy lunch, fellowship, and conversation following the Solemn High Mass in the Library. Noah Riggenbach will lead our discussion about the ways we encounter God. Lunch is provided.

Even if you have never joined us before, we’d love to have you with us. We are meeting upstairs in the parish house. If mobility is a challenge for you and would prevent you from attending, please contact Mtr. Murphy-Gill.

Lenten Book Study:

Entering the Passion of Jesus

Beginning the second Sunday of Lent, March 5, following the Solemn High Mass, we will begin our preparation for Holy Week by studying the Passion of Jesus. New Testament scholar Amy-Jill Levine will be our guide for this journey, as we’ll be using her book, Entering the Passion of Jesus: A Beginner’s Guide to Holy Week for our study. Copies are available at the church. Suggested donation is $5.



 You can also purchase a copy on Amazon or via an independent bookseller on Bookshop.

Vestry Retreat

On Sunday, 26 February, the Rector, Wardens, and Vestry of the Church of the Ascension will gather in Saint Michael Hall for a retreat. We will be organizing, planning, and laying the groundwork for the year. We will begin at 1:00 PM with a light lunch.

From the Rector Search Committee

The position of Rector at Church of the Ascension has been added to the Diocesan website as of January 19, 2023. As you know, it was a long time coming due to complications at the Diocese. Interested candidates submit their application to the Diocese. The Diocese peruses them and removes applications with red flags before passing them on to us. The cutoff date for accepting applications is March 17. The Diocese gives all the applications to us at one time. 

In the meantime, the committee is establishing a procedure for assessing candidates. We have created a matrix system for assessing the written applications to determine whom we want to interview. To prepare for the live interviews (initially via Zoom), we have assembled a list of pertinent questions. We are inviting parishioners to submit questions that they think are important to ask. If you would like to submit a question, please email it to office@ascensionchicago.org. It will be forwarded to the Search Committee. We are also scheduling practice interviews to help us prepare.



Important: If you know of a priest that you think would be a good fit for Ascension, please encourage them to see the information in the Clergy Openings section of the Diocesan website (episcopalchicago.org). Thank you! 

Prayer Requests

Do you have a need for special prayer in your life? Whether your prayer needs are because you have an upcoming surgery, an ill family member, or you’re just feeling particularly lonely lately, Fr. Heard and Mtr. Murphy-Gill would like to know.

We’ve created a way for letting us know about your requests for prayers in a way we hope makes it easy for you to reach out, though you can always call the church or reach out to one of the priests personally. 

Share your prayer requests here.

Organ and Choral Repertoire for February 12, 2023

Weekly Ascension Schedule

For connections:

via Zoom (click here)

SUNDAYS

7:30 a.m. Morning Prayer via Zoom

9:00 a.m. In-person Sung Mass

11:00 a.m. In-person and Live-Streamed Solemn High Mass

VIA YOUTUBE or FACEBOOK LIVE

MONDAY-FRIDAY

7:30 A.M. Morning Prayer via FACEBOOK LIVE

6:00 p.m. Evening Prayer via Zoom

WEDNESDAYS

6:30 p.m. Said Mass

VIA YOUTUBE or FACEBOOK LIVE

For our prayers: Clarissa Galaviz, The Galaviz Family, Ruby Woods, Tyler,

David S. Jones, The Hall family, Elsa Pineda, Richard Francis Tracz, Thom Racina, Robert Browning, Natalia & Victor, Dorothy, David Schrader, Victor Fernandez, Claire Green, Beth Hall, Sue Lenz, Brenda Martins, Lee Gould, Gertrude Isaac,

Marty Stenson, Steve Dionne

Birthdays: Jonathan Galliher, 2/7; Adriana Luery, 2/8; Alexia Rivera, 2/8;

Arthur Kreymer, 2/9; Patricia Johnston, 2/10; Tom Opferman, 2/11

Departed: Robert Jeffrey Arnold, 2/6/2018;

William Louis Gaines, 2/8/2005; Emil Avimalq Malick, 2/9/2013;

Walter S. Schlough, 2/10/1979; Roy G. Batson, 2/11/2009;

Norman Peter Joseph, 2/11/2011; Joseph Stack, 2/11/2018

Prayers have been especially requested for the repose of the soul of Ann McKee, the wife of Christopher McKee, who died last week.

Rest eternal grant unto them, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon them;

May their souls and the souls of all the departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.



Vestry of Church of the Ascension

LaVerne Rollé Saunders, Sr. Warden; David Reeves, Jr. Warden;

Ian Barillas-McEntee, Jim Lo Bello, Ken Cozette, Marlea Edinger, Sean Hansen,

David A. Robertson, Elizabeth Simpson, Joshua Simpson, Sam Sommers, Clerk



Susan Schlough, Treasurer

Finance@ascensionchicago.org

Br. Nathanael Deward Rahm BSG, Parish Office

Office@ascensionchicago.org

Approved minutes of Vestry meetings are always available online to parishioners who request the link. If you would like Internet access to these Vestry Minutes, please email the Parish Office and request the link. Once you access the web page, you can read all recent Vestry meeting minutes.

The link remains live indefinitely. Any parishioner who has the link will not need to request a new link from month to month.