This Week at Ascension + September 6, 2023

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

Wednesday, September 6, 2023

Commemoration of Hannah More,

Religious Writer and Philanthropist, 1833

Evening Prayer

at 6:00 p.m. via ZOOM



In-person and Live-streamed

Said Mass at 6:30 p.m.

Unction available for those who wish it.

VIA YOUTUBE or FACEBOOK LIVE

Image: portrait of Hannah More by Henry William Pickersgill,

oil on canvas, 1822, National Portrait Gallery, UK

The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 18)

Sunday, September 10, 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.

Image: Where Two or Three are Gathered, James Tissot (1836-1902) Brooklyn Museum, NY

Click to join us VIA YOUTUBE

or VIA FACEBOOK LIVE

From the Curate

Here we are, one Sunday down and one more to go before our new rector, Fr. de la Torre, arrives. By now, after years of a pandemic that, for all intents and purposes, was an upheaval to the liturgical way of life here at Ascension, and more than a year of a search process, this church is ready to settle down. On that front, I have some bad news and good news for you. 

The bad news first: As a church built on the gospel of Jesus Christ and given the mission of bringing God’s good news into the world, we never get to settle down. 

Here’s the good news: That means we’re not stagnant! We are a living church of dynamic people! Here’s some more good news: you know how to adapt. And you know how to do it well! Just look at the last nearly four years! It hasn’t always been fun, but you do have the knowledge and ability to respond to new challenges. 

Before I came to Ascension, I was warned that you are the church that hates change. But here’s why that didn’t and still doesn’t bother me: I know very few people who like change. And I certainly don’t know any churches that get excited about changing things up regardless of what it relates to. I don’t like change! 

What I have learned about this community in my two and half years with you is that even when you’d rather not, you actually do change quite well. Personally, I’ve been impressed by the level of flexibility around how we gather that you’ve shown as we emerged from the pandemic. I’ve been equally impressed with the ways in which you’ve accommodated new expectations during the liturgy, whether you’ve been seated in the congregation during mass, serving as an acolyte in the chancel, or serving in the loft as a musician or tech minister. 

In the coming weeks and months, as with any transition in leadership, that flexibility and willingness to adapt is going to continue to be needed. But for now, until Fr. de la Torre’s first Mass on September 17, things are actually going to stay the same! So, for a week and a half, including one Sunday, you have my permission to sit back, relax, and enjoy no changes!

But don’t get too comfortable. Because I have a feeling Fr. de la Torre is going to hit the ground running when he arrives. And I can’t wait to see where we go next.

—Mtr. Murphy-Gill

If you’ve been wondering whether you’d like to volunteer at the refugee shop held in St. Michael’s Hall every Wednesday, please read this personal account I asked David Robertson to share about his first experience volunteering. 



Please remember that we need volunteers to help out throughout the week, so if Wednesday doesn’t work for you, please contact me and I’ll find a better time for you!

—Mtr. Murphy-Gill

St. Chrysostom's Closet

They begin arriving at 7 o’clock in the morning. Young refugee mothers with small children in strollers, teenagers, a few young men; maybe as many as thirty souls waiting patiently and carefully queued along the church façade up to the gate to Ascension’s Victory Garden. When I arrive at 8:15, hunt down a key and open the garden gate, I offer a quizzical smile and tell them, “Estamos abierta a las diez” (we open at 10). They nod. They know. They are patient and wait. I invite them into the garden and hear a repetition of "Hola!” and "Gracias” as they smile and come through the gate and find a place to sit and quietly talk, while the children play.

Two hours later the crowd has grown to around 100. Continue reading here.

Stewarding Our Time

“Time stewardship is the careful, wise, and Godly use of the time God gives you.” - John Campbell, Idlewild Foundation

The Stewardship Committee is committed to having a year-round plan for stewardship at Church of the Ascension that educates, encourages, and engages people to be more generous with their time, money, skills, and assets. 

As part of adhering to this vision statement, we are asking our community to take some time over the next two months leading up to submitting our pledges to reflect and engage with us through questions. These questions will be included in TWAA every other week and will be based on one of the following: time, money, skills, and assets. This week our theme is stewarding our time. 

Weekly Question: 

• How do you as an individual steward your time? What is something you could do to steward your time more effectively? 
• How do we as a parish steward our time? What is something we could do to steward our time more effectively? 

We invite you to submit your answers to this week's stewardship questions via this Google form.

“All Christians are but God’s stewards. Everything we have is on loan from the Lord, entrusted to us for a while to use in serving Him.” – John MacArthur



History of the Madonna painting

(after Raphael) in Wheeler Hall

The official title for the painting is: Madonna della Seggiola or Madonna of the Chair.  The original was painted by the Italian artist, Raffael Sanzio, in the early years of the 16^th century. Raphael was born in Urbino, 1483, where his father was an artist for the court. Following an apprenticeship in Perugia and experience in Florence, Raphael moved to the Vatican where he painted for Pope Julius II and Pope Leo X. He died there in 1520. Continue reading here.

Requiem Mass for Robert Browning

A Solemn Requiem Mass

for the repose of the soul of parishioner

Robert L. Browning will be celebrated on

Friday, September 15, 2023 at 11 a.m.

at Church of the Ascension, Chicago.

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, 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

Clarissa Galaviz, Michael Curry, David Schrader, Sty Peabody, Robert, DeDe Frank,

Leslie Smebak Gormley, Pam and Hap Hopper, Mike Vales, Jim Drury, Ann Griffin, Russell Staufenbiel, Patricia Spencer, Rachel Smolinski, Sarah Reece Glanman,

Sgt. Manuel Arroyo, The Quevedo family, Suzanne Dines, Lee Gould, John Schram, Gertrude Isaac, Thomas Wikman, MB Hwang, Juanita Malone, Oksana, Tyler,

David S. Jones, Richard Francis Tracz, Natalia & Victor, Dorothy, Victor Fernandez, Claire Green, Beth Hall, Sue Lenz, Brenda Martins 

Birthdays: Edward Minieka, 9/8

Requiescat in pace:

Philip J. Reinert, 7/31/2023; Dorothy Murphy, 8/20/2023;

Robert Browning, 8/21/2023; Stephen L. Taylor, 9/2/3006

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.



Organ and Choral Repertoire for September 10, 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.