Dear People of Ascension,

This Sunday we will hear a portion of the book of Jonah as one of our lectionary readings. Jonah is one of scripture’s most memorable characters and also one of the easiest to identify with. Called by God to go and urge the Ninevites, the bitter enemies of his people, to repent, Jonah heads in the opposite direction and famously ends up in the belly of a great fish, where he reconsiders. In the passage for this week, God has rescued him and sent him to Ninevah again, where the prophet reluctantly delivers the message. Later, he will complain angrily that the people actually repent, and God actually forgives them. It’s hard to be a prophet.

Courtesy of a colleague, this week I heard a midrash on Jonah’s time inside the whale. Rabbis taught that it was not entirely dark in the whale’s belly, but Jonah was able to receive light through the whale’s eye. He had to see from the whale’s perspective. Can you imagine? What visions does that huge swimmer and singer have as she dives and leaps and travels through the great deep?

To encourage our meditations on whale visions, here is a portion of a (new to me) poem from the beloved poet Mary Oliver, who died five years ago this week. You can read it here in its entirety. May we be alert to the epiphanies that come from seeing through the eyes of whales and Ninevites, enemies and foreign species, as well as our dear ones and kin.

Liz

Photo: "Eye of Right Whale"

From Humpbacks

“Off Stellwagen

off the Cape,

the humpbacks rise. Carrying their tonnage

of barnacles and joy

they leap through the water, they nuzzle back under it

like children

at play.

They sing, too.

And not for any reason

you can’t imagine.

Three of them

rise to the surface near the bow of the boat,

then dive

deeply, their huge scarred flukes

tipped to the air.

We wait, not knowing

just where it will happen; suddenly

they smash through the surface, someone begins

shouting for joy and you realize

it is yourself as they surge

upward and you see for the first time

how huge they are, as they breach,

and dive, and breach again

through the shining blue flowers

of the split water and you see them

for some unbelievable

part of a moment against the sky —

like nothing you’ve ever imagined —

like the myth of the fifth morning galloping

out of darkness, pouring

heavenward, spinning; then 

they crash back under those black silks

and we all fall back

together into that wet fire, you

know what I mean.”

~ Mary Oliver

Join us for Coffee Hour

In the Parish Hall

after the service.

This Week's Ascension Forum:

“Finances and Faith”, Sunday, January 21

What do our personal financial priorities say about our faith, and where does Ascension fit into your financial life? As we begin the New Year, come hear from Mary Gaillard (Treasurer) and John Grimes (Finance Committee Chair) about the state of Ascension’s finances and participate in an open “family” discussion about our significant budget deficit and what you can do to help. Notwithstanding the serious nature of the topic, we believe it will be an uplifting discussion, and we want to hear from you!

Next Sunday, January 28, is our annual parish meeting. We hope you will attend! We need your vote, and even more we want you to be part of the conversation about the mission and ministry of our parish. Lunch will be served! (If you have questions about whether you are eligible to vote, please speak to Mtr. Liz or call our parish bookkeeper, Sajia Choudhury.) See you there!

In accordance with the Religious Corporations Law of the State of New York, the Annual Meeting of The Church of the Ascension in the City of New York will be held on Sunday, January 28, 2024, immediately following the 11 a.m. service, for the purpose of electing a Warden for a term of two years, one Vestry member for Class of 2026 for a two year term, and four Vestry members to the Class of 2027, for three year terms, and for the conduct of such other business as should come before the Parish.

Absentee Ballots for the Annual Meeting - Eligible voters may request absentee ballots from the church office by email (info@ascensionnyc.org) or by calling 212-254-8620. Absentee ballots not received in the office by noon on the Friday, January 26, or placed in the ballot box on the day of the meeting, will not be replaced or counted.

The nominating committee is pleased, honored, delighted, grateful to present these candidates for the vestry, to be elected at our annual meeting (Click the links to see their bio): Sabra Brock, Zachariah Hennessy, Gale Lynch, Richard Mitchell, and Phoebe Norcross; and David Cholcher, candidate for Warden. All have been active at Ascension in various endeavors. Our thanks to all who participated in this process (nominations closed on Dec. 17).

(Nominating committee: David Lehmann, Elizabeth Adams, Vin Knight, Isabel Spencer)

HOW TO VOTE at the Annual Parish Meeting

All eligible voters will receive an email on Wednesday, January 24 when the polls open, instructing them on how to vote. To be eligible to vote, you must have been a pledging member of the Church of the Ascension for the prior year- in this case, 2023.

If you do not receive an email by Wednesday, January 24, and you feel you should have, please check your spam or junk folder. If you don't find it, contact the church office (212-254-8620 or info@ascensionnyc.org) as soon as possible.

Polls will be open until Friday, January 26, 12 noon.

Please cast your ballot by that time.

The Annual meeting will be held in person with Zoom access for any that would like to attend remotely. To access the meeting via Zoom, please click here.

2023 Contribution Statements are Coming! If you have contributed to Church of the Ascension in 2023 (pledges, gifts, tower, etc.) you will be receiving a link in Constant Contact early next week. When you receive it, click the link, enter your email address when prompted, and you will receive your statement. if we do not have your email address in the system your statement will be mailed. If you have any questions, please contact the bookkeeper at 212-254-8620 or at sajia@ascensionnyc.org.

Making our Language More Inclusive- In 2018, General Convention authorized modest changes in the Eucharistic liturgies of the Book of Common Prayer in order to make the language for both God and humanity more gender inclusive. We will be using these adapted texts. You may or may not notice any changes, and some of us have been making changes on our own for quite a while. We welcome your comments about how this changes any of your perceptions and prayers.

Join us at the movies! We are collaborating with other downtown Episcopal Churches to host a film screening of A Case for Love on Tuesday, January 23rd at 7pm at the Regal Theater at Union Square (850 Broadway – Note the change of venue!), Doors open at 6pm, welcome at 6:30pm). A Case for Love is a documentary film exploring the legacy of Bishop Curry's ministry and the power of unselfish love in an increasingly divided world. Tickets are free for our community, but space is limited. Click here to register.

Report from Young Faith Delegates to COP 28, Wednesday, January 24 at 6:30 pm: Two young members of our Diocese, Coco de Marneffe and Kara Moran, were part of the Presiding Bishop’s delegation to the Conference of Parties (COP), the United Nations annual Climate Conference, in Dubai this past November. In this online forum sponsored by the Diocesan Creation Care/Environmental Justice Committee, they will share their experience at COP; their frustrations, anxieties and hopes for combating climate change, and their sense of the vital role for young activists and people of faith in building a just and sustainable future for all on earth. Click here to register for the webinar.

Lenten House Eucharists – If you would like to host one in your home during Lent or to learn more about being a host, please contact Sibyl Piccone at srpiccone@yahoo.com.

A Time for Giving - In NYC last year 120,000 children were homeless. This does not include all of the migrant children NYC received in the past year. Most of these students do not have warm clothing to wear. Our Crafters Guild has made 132 items to donate to an elementary school in the East Village which has a large group of students who live in shelters. Now we have also been asked to donate to a high school in downtown Manhattan. Since the need for winter outerwear is great, we are asking for you to help us provide these children with hats, scarves or gloves. The age range of all these students is from 5-18 with high schoolers wearing adult sizes. So open your heart and make a child a little warmer this winter. If you can help, please bring your donation to the parish hall where it can be deposited into a large bin for distribution.

Stewardship Pledges & Budget Deficit - A big thank you to all who have made their pledge commitments for 2024. If you haven’t yet done so, it’s not too late! If you are able to increase your pledge, we will gratefully receive an addition as well! The vestry has passed a budget for this year, and it has a significant deficit which we are still working to reduce, both by cutting expenses and increasing income. We hope everyone will support our parish, and we need your financial commitments, active involvement and of course your prayers. Thank you, everyone, for all that you do for Ascension!

The News from Haiti continues to be bad. Just when you think it can't get worse, there is news of Christmas Day gang violence in Port au Prince that left two children dead. Thankfully, the villages of Martel and Bondeau have been spared the violence. At our December board meeting, Fr. Phanord, who joined us by Zoom, told us that St. Luke's Episcopal School in Martel has grown to 178 students. Families are fleeing the city for safety in the countryside. Read the full newsletter with pictures here.

Help our immigrant neighbors! The Judson Memorial Church Radical Hope Mutual Aid Center, a Monday refuge for migrants, is looking for small- and medium-sized men’s jeans, sweats, long-sleeved t-shirts, and zip-up jackets (but not pea coats). (The men go to places where day-laborers gather for work, and the kind of work for which they are hired needs shorter jackets.) Drop-off at 243 Thompson St. 9-5 (ring the doorbell) or leave in the basket in our parish hall. Thanks for your help!

The long-awaited repairs to the wood and brownstone of our Fifth Avenue tower are proceeding right on schedule and, unbelievably after all the years of studying and planning, the work is due to be generally finished by the winter. This means that payments to the architects and contractor are coming due, starting now. The Church of the Ascension is the recipient of a $300,000 matching grant from the Manton Foundation. The key word here is “matching.” And our generous donors have indeed pledged to match the grant. In general, the wardens and vestry requested pledges that could be paid in full by the first quarter 2024. Now would be a good time to complete the payment of your pledge. Remember, when you pay by check to put “Tower Brownstone” in the memo line. If you pay through Abundant, select Manton matching grant” from the drop-down menu. Finally, if you have not pledged, we hope you will consider a gift. The Manton match and pledge payments do not cover the entire cost of the job. With this work on the tower, our Fifth Avenue façade is gradually being restored to its 1841 look and our garden and entrance are becoming safer places to enjoy.

Sunday – January 21

Holy Eucharist (Church) 9:00 a.m.

Holy Eucharist w/ Music (Church & Live Stream) 11:00 a.m.

In person and online (Ascensionnyc.org/Sunday)

Join us for Coffee Hour following the Service

Ascension Forum (Hybrid) after 11:00 service

Meditation & Sacrament (Church) 6:00 p.m.

Monday – January 22

Church open for prayer & meditation; Noon to 3:00 p.m.

Evening Prayer (Zoom) 5:30 p.m.

Lectionary Bible Study (Zoom) 6:30 p.m.

Tuesday – January 23

Church open for prayer & meditation; Noon to 3:00 p.m.

Evening Prayer (Zoom) 5:30 p.m.

“A Case for Love” (Union Sq Regal Theater; Link to register) 6:30 p.m.

Wednesday – January 24

Church open for prayer & meditation; Noon to 3:00 p.m.

Evening Prayer (Zoom) 5:30 p.m.

Holy Eucharist (Church) 6:00 p.m.

Report from COP 28 (Link to register) 6:30 p.m.

Thursday – January 25

Church open for prayer & meditation; Noon to 3:00 p.m.

Evening Prayer (Zoom) 5:30 p.m.

20’s & 30’s Group Dinner (Parish Hall) 6:30 p.m.

Friday – January 26

Church open for prayer & meditation; Noon to 3:00 p.m.

Evening Prayer (Zoom) 5:30 p.m.

Saturday – January 27

The Food Pantry operates on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of the month. For assistance or to volunteer, please contact Fr. Ed (fatherchinery @ascensionyc.org) or Amy Shaw (amyqshaw@gmail.com).

Sunday – January 28

Holy Eucharist (Church) 9:00 a.m.

Holy Eucharist w/ Music (Church & Live Stream) 11:00 a.m.

In person and online (Ascensionnyc.org/Sunday)

Annual Meeting (Parish Hall) after 11:00 service

Meditation & Sacrament (Church) 6:00 p.m.

In this time of seasonal weather changes, as happens every year, we are all becoming more mindful of even small changes in how we feel. As such, we ask that you give careful consideration to public health best-practices. And in light of the increase in Covid infection rates, please feel free to use a mask when you attend worship services, particularly if you could be considered at higher risk of infection.

If you have any question, or need assistance of any kind, please don’t hesitate to contact the parish office or your clergy members. Remember, we’re better together! Because together we can and do make a difference!