This Week at Ascension

January 7, 2026

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

The First Sunday after the Epiphany

The Baptism of Our Lord Jesus Christ

9 a.m. Sung Mass

10:15 a.m. The Holy Rosary

11 a.m. Solemn High Mass *

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

12:45 p.m.

Epiphany Faith Formation - in the Library

St. Bede and Christianization: Then and Now

The Very Rev. Sarah Foot

Dean of Christ Church, Oxford 

* VIA YOUTUBE or FACEBOOK LIVE 

✠ Weekday Mass Schedule ✠

12 p.m. on Monday & Friday

8 a.m. on Tuesday & Thursday

6:30 p.m. on Wednesday

View the Wednesday 6:30 p.m. Live-stream Mass here

VIA YOUTUBE or FACEBOOK LIVE

Weekday Daily Offices

7:30 a.m. Morning Prayer via Zoom

6:00 p.m. Evening Prayer via Zoom

From the Rector

In his book, Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict XVI provides an iconographic dive into our Lord’s Baptism. An event which the Church commemorates this Sunday -- the Sunday after the Epiphany of Our Lord. “[In Eastern iconography,] Jesus' baptism often depicts the water as a liquid tomb having the form of a dark cavern, which is in turn the iconographic sign of Hades, the underworld, or hell. 



Jesus descends into this watery tomb, into this inferno that envelops him from every side, in anticipation of his act of descending into the underworld on Holy Saturday, that period of time between Good Friday and Easter. But Jesus does not merely go in the role of a spectator. Rather, he goes down in the role of one whose suffering with others is a transforming suffering that turns the underworld around, knocking down and fleeing open the gates of the abyss.”

Being baptized now means to go to the place of our Lord’s baptism. But in Baptism, we stand in our Lord’s place, freed from the abyss of death. Because Baptism is no longer a gift of anticipation, a future promise, but a gift of full and total participation in our Lord’s life and our Lord in our lives. “For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.” Roman 14:8

Fr. de la Torre

Epiphany Faith Formation 

St. Bede and Christianization: Then and Now 

The Very Rev. Sarah Foot, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford  

Sunday, January 11 at 12:45 p.m. 

By his own account, St. Bede (672-734) inhabited a world of limited horizons. During his lifetime, St. Bede witnessed the conversion of Northumbria (England) and the spread of Christianity. Please join us for an Epiphany Faith Formation session looking at the lessons we might be able to adapt from St. Bede to create a mission-shaped church in our own world. Our class will be led by the Very Rev. Sarah Foot, a leading scholar of Early English Christianity and Dean of Christ Church, Oxford. A hearty lunch will be provided beginning at 12:45 p.m. in the Library.

2025 Annual Meeting Notice

The Rector, Wardens, and Vestry of The Church of the Ascension have called for the Annual Meeting of the Parish to be held on Sunday, January 25, 2026.

There will be one Mass at 10 a.m. on this day. The in-person only business meeting will follow in the church, continuing with a lunch in Wheeler Hall.

2026 Vestry Slate 

The Vestry Nominating Committee discussed a broad range of candidates for next year’s church leadership throughout the months of September and October, and presented a slate as follows: junior warden, three vestry members for a 3-year term and two vestry members for a 2-year term to fill the seat left by the passing of our beloved brother in Christ, Jim Drury, and Andrew Smith, who is nominated for junior warden. The Nominating Committee submitted their slate to the Vestry during their Wednesday, November 19 meeting and the Vestry approved the slate as presented. 

The candidate for junior warden is Andrew Smith; the three-year term vestry member candidates are Jay Jacot, Guido Moret, and Rebecca Boylan; and the two-year term vestry member candidates are Adam Bronson and Jim LoBello. Candidate biographies will be shared in the new year prior to the Annual Meeting. 

If there is a member of the congregation that would like to submit their name or the name of another member of the congregation for Vestry (please make sure you have their consent before submitting their name), they should submit that name to the senior warden, David Robertson at drobertson@ascensionchicago.org

Donate Flowers in the Coming Year

2026 flower sign-up sheets are now available on the table in the narthex. Donations may be given in memory of departed loved ones or in thanksgiving for a birthday, anniversary, or an important milestone. Flowers may be donated at the High Altar, the Shrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Shrine of Saint Michael the Archangel, and the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. If you are interested in donating flowers, please see the sign-up sheet on the table in the back of the church.

You can also make a flower donation online by visiting Ascensions PayPal page. Once you’ve made your donation, please email the parish office any personal dedications. For 2026 the donation amount to cover the cost of flowers on the High Altar is $65 and on any one of the Shrines the amount is $35.



Online Coffee Hour Sign-Up Sheet

If you're looking for a way to give back and support Ascension's robust parish life, we hope you'll consider serving as a coffee hour host. With our new online sign-up sheet, it's now easier than ever to sign-up for coffee hour: https://tinyurl.com/y66pztfz. A hard copy continues to be available in Wheeler Hall, and will be updated and reprinted every week to prevent accidental "double bookings."

So, what does hosting coffee hour entail? We ask that you set-up, provide and prepare snacks, and clean up Wheeler Hall. You can provide any food items you wish and there are always pastries available in the freezer for easy thawing. Coffee and cold beverages are provided by the church. Reimbursement funds are available for coffee hour expenses, but please make sure to provide a receipt in order to complete a reimbursement request. 

If you have any questions about hosting coffee hour, please speak to Father de la Torre or Hospitality Committee members Josh or Ellie Simpson, LaVerne Saunders or Carol Noren. They will be glad to help and guide you.



The Prayers of the People

As part of our Sunday offering of the Mass, we bring to God our petitions and thanksgivings. As a community, we do this by bidding the parish’s intentions in the Prayers of the People. If you wish to have someone added to the Prayers of the People, please email Father de la Torre or the Parish Office.

Lord, hear the prayers of thy people; and what we have asked faithfully, grant that we may obtain effectually, to the glory of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.



THE PARISH PRAYER LIST

Shannon Ayala, Steve Schell, Dan Cox, Byron Marroquin, Andrew Reeb, Nicholas Stenson, Ernestine Sonsonia, Jose Vargas, Mary Callahan, John Berardi, Lola Soria, Lynette Ngumi, Leslie Sterk, Pamela Turner Greer, LaVerne Saunders, Marcela Simpson, Christina Kimmel, Daynen Heldt, Alfredo Caliva, Nate Cole, Ed Blatz, Marlea Edinger, Elizabeth McLaughlin, MB Hwang, Juanita Malone, Claire Green, Brenda Martins

Birthdays

Elaine Wilson, 1/6; Rod Luery, 1/7; Sonja Smith, 1/7; Elizabeth Weber,1/8;

Betty Smith, 1/10

Requiescat in pace

Georgia Schell; Charles Borin, 1/5/2000; Robert Richard Bolt, 1/5/2018;

Robert T. Brotherton, 1/6/2000; Betty Reeves, 1/8/2007; Charlene MacDougal, 1/10/2021

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

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



Organ and Choral Repertoire for

Jan. 11, 2026

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.