This Week at Ascension + February 15, 2023

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

Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Commemoration of Thomas Bray,

Priest and Missionary, 1730

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

Last Sunday after The Epiphany

February 19, 2023

7:30 a.m. Morning Prayer via ZOOM

9 a.m. Sung Mass

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

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

Icon image: The Transfiguration (Coptic Orthodox Tradition).

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 a.m. & 12 p.m. (said liturgy)

and at 7 p.m. (solemn liturgy with the Choir of the Ascension)

Ashes will be imposed at all liturgies.

From the Interim Rector

The Season after the Epiphany isn’t fixed in length. It varies due to the date of Easter which, of course, defines the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday. Each year, we have this curious juxtaposition of the Last Sunday after the Epiphany and Ash Wednesday three days later. The Old Testament readings are tied up with Mt. Horeb (aka Sinai) and the Gospel readings are synoptic gospel accounts of Jesus’ transfiguration. Suddenly, Ash Wednesday is upon us and we’re drawn into confession and repentance. We go from mountaintop experiences with Moses, Elijah, Jesus, and God  – to calling out our failure to fully live into our Baptismal Covenant. Put another way, we move from reveling in God’s incredible gift to us in Jesus to confessing our innumerable sins.

Ash Wednesday is a shock and I think it is supposed to be. It starts starkly: silence broken by  the collect of the day. The readings remind us of our call to fasting and repentance and God’s loving kindness and willingness to forgive. We recite Psalm 51 as a corporate confession and call for forgiveness; we share in the Litany of Penitence, and then mark ourselves with ashes as a sign of our mortality and penitence. And then, God ‘pardons and absolves’ the penitent and ‘all those who truly repent’. Yes, we celebrate the eucharist. It is a symbol of our relationship with God. It is God offering us food for life: that what we consume leavens us to be more like Jesus, and living in the way God desires for us.

Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent. We are called to fasting, prayer, introspection, and repentance. We know what lies in the future, when our Lenten behaviors are rewarded with the greatest joy anyone can know.

—Fr. Heard

Offerings for Prayer and Spiritual Growth

for the Season of Lent

Book Study Sundays, beginning March 5:

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 prayerfully 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 your own from an independent bookseller through Bookshop or find a copy on Amazon.

Personal Reading and Devotion on Beauty

This Sunday, you will find selections of John O’Donohue’s book Beauty available for devotional reading along with reflection questions and prayer prompts prepared by Mtr. Murphy-Gill. You can sign up to receive one of these packets as a downloadable PDF by emailing her. (If you’ve already reached out, you can expect your copy on Friday). Please note that this packet is for personal devotion and prayer and will not serve as our Lenten formation program this year. Mtr. Murphy-Gill is available for one-on-one conversation about it. This book is also available on Audible read by the author.

Lenten Quiet Morning, March 18

Gary Alexander will lead a group on a meditative retreat in the church. This will be an opportunity to engage the body and the space we occupy in prayer as we physically move through the church. Be on the lookout for more information as we approach the date.

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.

Hospitality Made Easy

The freezer has been restocked with cakes, coffee cakes, cookies and cinnamon rolls to be used for coffee hour following both 9:00 and 11:00 masses on Sunday. And the top shelf in the refrigerator has a supply of orange juice, lemonade, and half-and-half for creamer. Soda and Le Croix water in cans can also be utilized for coffee hour as available (usually leftover from receptions or special meetings).  

PLEASE, use these items to make your hosting of coffee hour as easy and hassle free as desired. Savory goodies like cheese and crackers, mini sandwiches, and veggies are always welcome additions.  If you like to bake or cut up some fresh fruit, these extra treats for coffee hour are much appreciated.  

A full coffee urn is usually prepared for 9:00 and generally lasts through 11:00. An electric teapot with hot water can be reheated as needed. All sorts of supplies like cups, small plates, napkins, coffee stirrers, plastic utensils, tea bags, sugar, sugar substitutes, etc. are located in the drawers and cabinets on the east end of Wheeler Hall. Additional supplies are always available in the kitchen.  

Hosting coffee hour is easy. If you run into a problem ask a vestry member or a warden----they are experienced kitchen helpers. And please remember to sign up for coffee hour in March and April.  

—Cheryl Peterson

From the Rector Search Committee

Hello. Thank you to everyone who submitted questions for the committee to ask the rector candidates. Your questions, along with the CAT survey, reveal what is important to you. If you would like to submit a question, there is still time. The committee will consider questions until February 22, 2023, Ash Wednesday. Send questions to office@ascensionchicago.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 19, 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: Ruby Woods, Tyler, David S. Jones, 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:

Fallon Anderson, 2/14; Rachel Bridenstine, 2/14; Julian George DuClos, 2/15;

Fr. Thomas Heard, 2/15

Anniversaries:

Colin Louis DuClos, Baptism, 2/14/2010;

Jim and Susanne Lenz, Marriage, 2/17/1968

Departed:

Ann McKee, Salvador Galavis,

Roy Frederic Kehl, 2/12/2011; Richard Young, Priest, 2/15/1996

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.