This Week at Ascension + June 28, 2023

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

Wednesday, June 28, 2023

Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, c. 202



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

Thursday, June 29, 2023

Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Apostles

Said Mass at 12 p.m.

The Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

July 2, 2023

7:30 a.m. Morning Prayer via ZOOM

9 a.m. Sung Mass

11 a.m. Solemn Mass -

In-person & Live-streamed -

The 11 a.m. Order of Worship may be found here.

For more info on the music for July 2, see notes below.

Image: Christ with Sword, 14th C. fresco,

Sacred Monastery of the Ascension of Christ, Kosovo

Click to join us VIA YOUTUBE

or VIA FACEBOOK LIVE

From the Interim Rector

The weekend mail brought a letter addressed to me from the Diocese of Chicago. It looked official and not part of a bulk mailing. Things like that give me pause: what did I/didn’t I do to warrant an individual communication? Turns out it was nothing like that!

The salutation read, “Dear Fr. Heard and Siblings in Christ”. This was a letter to all of us at Ascension. Short and to the point, Bishop Clark wrote to us to thank us for the opportunity to visit with us on Ascension Day. You can read the letter here. In sixteen years of ordained ministry and sixteen episcopal visitations, this is the first time I’ve ever had a bishop write to thank us for the visit. I am deeply grateful for our bishop’s thoughtfulness toward us. I emailed her to thank her for her letter. It means something significant to me.

At announcements during her visitation, I noted that her visit was our first in three years. COVID impacted so many things. What I didn’t say was that this was not Ascension’s first experience with visitation hiatus. In 1879, Bishop McLaren canceled his visitation due to Ascension’s practice of reserving the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle. Visits resumed after Fr. Ritchie agreed to remove the Sacrament. It went back immediately after the bishop departed.

It may seem like an odd thing, to be so divided over what is, today, a common practice. Ascension was far ahead of its time in this regard, but it did create a bit of a wedge between the parish and the bishop. Ascension should be a cardinal parish of the diocese. We should be working closely with our bishop to reinvigorate, revitalize, and support our common mission to be Jesus to the world. It is my hope that our recent visitation and our continued participation with the bishop is a portent of a future for Ascension in full partnership with our bishop.

—Fr. Heard



Food Pantry is Saturday, July 1

We will again gather to assemble bags of shelf-stable groceries and personal items for our neighbors in need. We begin filling bags in St. Michael Hall at 9 a.m. and start distributing them at 11 a.m. We need the most help between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., but welcome your help for however long you are able to stay.

Come be the hands, heart, and feet of Christ in our own neighborhood, following in the wake of the Cross, and enjoy some fellowship as well.

Major Road Closures This Weekend

Chicago will experience major road closures on Saturday and Sunday this weekend as it hosts the NASCAR races downtown. This is likely to result in high traffic. Please plan accordingly as you make your way to Ascension for the Food Pantry on Saturday and Mass on Sunday.

More information on the closures and new traffic patterns is available here.

Tuesday, July 4, 2023

Independence Day

The Parish Offices will be Closed.

Housing Items for The Quevedos

Thank you to all who have generously purchased and donated items for the Quevedo Family as they move into their new home. We’ve already received many items and will begin delivering them this week. You still have until July 9 to return the item(s) listed on your prayer card. 

If you wanted to purchase an item but did not get a prayer card, please purchase a gift card to Target. These cards allow the family to purchase a variety of items they need, including groceries, household items, and clothing. Please leave your card in Mtr. Murphy-Gill’s mailbox or hand deliver it on Sunday. She will give you a prayer card so you may recall your gift and continue to pray for the Quevedos.

¿Hablas español?

Spanish Translator Needed

If you speak Spanish and have some availability during the week, please email or call Mtr. Murphy-Gill to assist with some translation with the Quevedos. She is specifically looking for someone who can come in on a Tuesday morning or Wednesday afternoon to meet with the family.

Pastoral Visitors Info Sheet Now Available

Last week, an information sheet about lay pastoral visits was linked in the newsletter but was unfortunately not accessible because of permission settings.

That information sheet is now accessible and available here.

Summer Retreat Saturday, July 29

Step out of your busy life from 11 am to 3 pm, Saturday, July 29, to spend some time with yourself, fellow spiritual journeyers, and God. This retreat will take place at Ascension and will be led by Lauren Schwer, Director of Ignatian Spirituality at Loyola University Chicago. We’ll learn how to spend time daily in reflection on God’s presence as well as explore the things in our lives that can prevent us from living the lives that God calls us into. Lunch will be provided. Look for the sign up sheet at coffee hour (so we know how much lunch to order) or email Mtr. Murphy-Gill to RSVP.

Pilgrimage Opportunities

The General Theological Seminary and Virginia Theological Seminary have joined forces to offer two pilgrimages. The first is 19-31 August, titled “Pilgrimage through Grace & Gardens in England’s ‘green and pleasant land.’”

The second will happen 6-17 January 2023 as an “Epiphany Pilgrimage to the Holy Land.” For more information, please visit the bulletin board near the restrooms to see the brochures.

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.

For our prayers:

Sarah Reece Glanman, Bethany Cramer, The Gibbons family,

Noah Riggenbach, Sgt. Manuel Arroyo, Nat Simpson,

The Quevedo family, Andrew Abbott, Suzanne Dines, James Christiansen, Lee Gould,

John Schram, Gertrude Isaac, Thomas Wikman, MB Hwang, Juanita Malone, Oksana, Tyler,

David S. Jones, Richard Francis Tracz, Robert Browning, Natalia & Victor, Dorothy,

Victor Fernandez, Claire Green, Beth Hall, Sue Lenz, Brenda Martins

Birthdays:

David Allen, 6/25; David DeWitt Jones, 6/28; Michael Malone, 6/29

Anniversaries:

Ian Barillas-McEntee & Guido Moret, Marriage, 6/24/2022;

Michael Haile Zelazny, Baptism, 6/25/2017;

The Rev. Thomas Heard, Ordination to the Priesthood, 6/29/2007

Requiescat in pace:

Weldon Reeves, 6/25/2003

Frederick Farrell, 6/25/2022

Joseph R. DuciBella, 6/29/2007

Robert M. Susman, 5/30/2018

Mary Frances Green, 7/1

Raymond Mulcare, 7/1

Elizabeth Josephine Smith, 7/1

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.

Prayer for the Rector Search Committee

Almighty and everliving God, ruler of all things in heaven and earth, hear our prayers for this parish family. Strengthen the faithful, arouse the careless, and restore the penitent. Look graciously on your Church, and so guide the minds of those who shall choose a rector for The Church of the Ascension that we may receive a faithful pastor, who will care for your people and equip us for our ministries; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.



The opening voluntary ... The 29 year old Ludwig van Beethoven published sets of variations “for keyboards or pedal keyboards” on several popular English melodies of the day. When “God Save the King” was first printed in 1799, it was credited to “Louis” van Beethoven. Beethoven himself probably first informally performed these along with variations on Rule, Britannia! They are dashing, classical treatments, but with a splash of Beethoven's always forward-looking writing. Soon after, on the other side of the Atlantic, that same melody which had seen so many settings and texts, was adopted by the young nation, the USA.

The closing voluntary ...  At 17, Charles Edward Ives, since 14 the local church organist in Danbury, CT, wrote a set of variations on the song America for the July 4 celebration in Brewster, NY. He loved playing the piece, calling it, “as much fun as playing baseball.” Full of his trademark irreverent creativity, it, his Piano Trio, and his Psalm 90 for choir/organ/bells, were purportedly the only pieces he cared if anyone ever played after his death.

David White also promises “some great examples

of early American shape note hymnody.”

Organ and Choral Repertoire for July 2, 2023

Between Masses, please don’t forget that The Choir of the Ascension has recorded upwards of 60 tracks that you can listen to anywhere you have an internet connection. They can be found here: https://soundcloud.com/choir-of-the-ascension

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

8:00 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

Wardens and Vestry of Church of the Ascension

LaVerne Rollé Saunders, Sr. Warden;

SeniorWarden@AscensionChicago.org

David Reeves, Jr. Warden;

JuniorWarden@AscensionChicago.org

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

David A. Robertson, Elizabeth Simpson, Joshua Simpson, Samuel 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.