THIS WEEK AT ASCENSION + February 10, 2021
"Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." - Psalm 96
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Please note the starting time -- it differs from our past in-person mass schedule.
Please see additional reservation information below.
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with Imposition of Ashes, February 17
Please see additional reservation information below.
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Please see additional reservation information below.
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After clicking on any link above, you will be able to see how many spots, if any, are still available for a particular mass.
The full schedule for Sunday, including virtual worship and connections,
may be found below.
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Wednesday, February 10
Commemoration of
Absalom Jones (trans.)
Evening Prayer, 6:00 p.m.
Live-streamed Mass, 6:30 p.m.
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Sunday, February 14
The Last Sunday after
The Epiphany
9:30 a.m. - Morning Prayer
10:00 a.m. - In-Person &
Live-Streamed Mass with organ,
hymn improvisation and choir motet
11:15 a.m. - Virtual Coffee Hour
Note: our means of live-streaming may change. Look for further instruction in a weekend newsletter or on Sunday.
Image: Transfiguration of Christ, from an Armenian Gospel Book 1455 CE
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Last chance in this newsletter ...
Click on the links provided above for Ash Wednesday masses.
NOTE: When you register online, you will be sent an email confirming your online registration. This same link will also have a BLUE CANCEL THIS RESERVATION tab.
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"Present the church with a spot or wrinkle" (Ephesians 5:27):
That Scripture is the ministry of the pre-mass cleaning crew. We help make Ascension as spotless and germ-free as possible for everyone coming to worship. Do you have an extra 25 minutes on Sunday morning? Then join our band of volunteers and help prepare the building for mass. It is not a major commitment; you would be asked to serve perhaps one Sunday every other month. All supplies and a checklist of duties are in the ushers' closet, and training/orientation is available. If interested, please email Carol Noren at cnoren@northpark.edu
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Pantry@Ascension:
Where we've been, where we hope to go
Led by Deacon Charles Farrell.
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Please join us during our virtual coffee hour Sunday the 14th, and note the unique schedule:
Social gathering will begin via Zoom following end of the mass (by 11:15 a.m.)
Deacon Farrell's Pantry Report and Forecast with Q&A will be offered twice:
11:30 am. & Noon
This schedule will allow for some or all who take part in in-person worship to get home and sign in to Zoom.
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Focus
Jesus said, "Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” - Jesus of Nazareth, Mark 1:38
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Dear people of Ascension,
Focus was a key theme of my sermon this past Sunday. I looked at parts of the text from the Gospel of Mark that show us how intentional Jesus was in prayer and mission. And I wondered about our focus, yours and mine, with regard to matters of faith.
The focus theme came back to bite me on Monday. A meeting I’d convened to plan our reopening for in-person worship (starting this coming Sunday) was far along when I gasped. “Do you mean to say that Ash Wednesday is only nine days away? The 17th?” I had thought it was not until the 24th. Where was my focus?
Now, to save you from some similar gasp, I’m asking for your focus. Having learned last fall that we can successfully re-open Ascension’s doors for mass on Sundays, we also learned that doing so requires sustained focus from all who take part. Given a number of changes for ‘Reopening V2.0,’ I’ll be particularly grateful for your attention to any and all matters below that will make the most of your connections to and worship at Ascension.
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What will be different?
Ascension In-Person Worship V2.0 - February 2021
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One mass (not two) on
Sunday mornings: 10:00 a.m.
For ten weeks in the fall, we offered one virtual and one in-person mass. Now we believe we can combine the two. We will do so starting this Sunday.
One Sunday Mass, in-person and live-streamed: 10:00 a.m.
Note: Organ voluntaries will now precede the hour and, with God's help, the Sunday masses will begin promptly at 10:00 a.m.
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We have unanswered questions about technology ...
How will we connect
on Sunday and beyond?
Our new technology is being installed as this newsletter is being sent. Training and testing will take place on Friday. Please look for a weekend newsletter with instructions on how to connect virtually if you will be doing so.
And don't worry -- a host at our normal Zoom connection on Sunday will provide instruction, if needed, on where and how to find us if we are not Zooming! Our virtual coffee hour will, in any case, be via Zoom.
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The Daily Office will continue to be offered for now in the venues established near the start of the pandemic. Please see the schedule and links below.
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Yes, you may be 'on camera' when our new technology becomes operational if you attend any service that we are live-streaming or recording -- even though the intention of our technology is NOT to ID or track members or guests. A note along these lines will be included in our worship bulletins.
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Yes, ashes will be administered on Ash Wednesday. To minimize contact, the priest will use the disposable swabs shown here -- one per penitent.
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Rite I will be used for Sunday masses during Lent.
Other information about liturgies and music for Lent, Holy Week and Easter will be shared as available.
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Calling all authors and composers
Ascension is blessed with an abundance of gifted people with publications in their respective fields. As part of our record-keeping, we would like to make note of your accomplishments. If you have had any work of yours published --book, article, music, prayer, poetry, etc., we would be grateful if you would donate a copy for the Ascension archives. If you wish to attach a brief autobiographical statement and/or notes about your work, that would be welcome, too. Together we can continue compiling the history of Ascension and its people.
Thanks,
Carol Noren, archivist
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February-March-April 2021 issues of the Forward Day by Day devotionals are now available. Please contact the Parish Office. We have a limited supply of both the regular and large print booklets.
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Organ Repertoire for Sunday, Feb. 14 |
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ORGAN
Cathédrales, op. 55, no. 3
Louis Jules Vierne (1870-1937)
At the Communion
Improvisation on WAREHAM
ORGAN
Symphony V, op. 42, no.1
V. Toccata
Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937)
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Choir of the Ascension:
Now on Soundcloud!
Please visit SoundCloud and listen to our playlist! There are currently 40 tracks, and several more will be added each month.
Benjamin Rivera, Choirmaster
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Interim Sunday and Weekday Worship Schedule and Connections:
All masses live-streamed from the church.
Sundays
9:30 a.m. Morning Prayer—Zoom
(and in-person as of Feb. 14, subject to registration)
11:15 a.m. Coffee Hour—Zoom
Weekday Mass: Wednesday Evenings
Daily Offices continue as before:
Morning Prayer
Evening Prayer
6:00 p.m. Monday-Friday—Zoom
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Other than for urgent or essential matters or for brief personal devotion in the church, visits to Ascension are presently to be avoided. Any (other) visit should be arranged in advance with Br. Nathanael Rahm. Thank you for your understanding. |
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Due to COVID-19, Church of the Ascension’s Treasurer and Bookkeeper are limiting the amount of time they spend working in the parish offices. All checks received at Ascension via the United States Postal Service, not always a reliable service in our area, will be bank deposited approximately every 4-6 weeks. You may contact the Treasurer by email anytime at Finance@AscensionChicago.org.
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Ascension Connections
Below
(with your click and God's help)
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Meeting ID:
792 031 7452
Password: 1133
Join-by-Phone Option: (312) 626-6799
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Weekly Ascension Schedule
For connections:
except for Morning Prayer,
SUNDAYS
9:30 a.m. Virtual Morning Prayer
10:00 a.m. Live-Streamed Mass
11:00 a.m. Virtual Coffee Hour
MONDAY-FRIDAY
6:00 p.m. Evening Prayer via Zoom
WEDNESDAYS
6:30 p.m. Low Mass
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Yes, but I still haven't Zoomed ... |
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Please give generously as you are able.
Treasurer Susan Schlough has asked me to remind you of Ascension's ongoing expenses at this time. To the extent that you are able, payment on your pledges or the offering of Holy Day or other special gifts will be greatly appreciated. You may still write a check and mail it to the church, or online payment is possible through the buttons at various places on our website. Thank you!
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For our prayers: August 'Augie' Alonzo, Jim Berger, Ethel Martin, Dean Pineda, David Byerly, Bonnie Joseph, Diane Burnett, Steven Wallis, Sarah Ponder, Paula Budzban, Taffy Wehe, Neil, Canola Malone, Br. Jonathan Wheat, Rocky Ermilio, Catriana Patriarcha, Charley Taylor,
Richard Laibly, Standish Henning
Birthdays: Jonathan Galliher, 2/7; Adriana Luery, 2/8; Alexia Rivera, 2/8;
Arthur Kreymer, 2/9; Patricia Johnston, 2/10; Tom Opferman, 2/11;
Requiescat in pace:
Larry Gordon, cousin of Mary Jane Kowalski
Joan Gerwe Laibly, aunt of Richard Laibly
Charlene MacDougal, wife of Gary MacDougal
William Louis Gaines, 2/8/2005
Emil Avimalq Malik, 2/9/2013
Walter S. Schlough, 2/10/1979
Roy G. Batson 2/11/2009
Norman Peter Joseph,2/11/2011
Joseph Stack, 2/11/2018
Roy Frederic Kehl, 2/12/2011
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.
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The opportunity to hear about and reflect on our pantry ministry on Sunday brought to my mind a personal memoir, 'Take this bread: A radical conversion,' by Episcopal priest Sara Miles. Below are a few quotes from it. Please pray for all who are served by our pantry outreach at Ascension, and for all who are eager to return to regular volunteering, and for wisdom in shaping the future of the pantry. - Fr. Raymond +
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“I was, as the prophet said, hungering and thirsting for righteousness. I found it at the eternal and material core of Christianity: body, blood, bread, wine, poured out freely, shared by all.”
“There's a hunger beyond food that's expressed in food, and that's why feeding is always a kind of miracle.”
“Feed my sheep, feed my sheep," I repeated. "He didn't say, 'Feed my sheep after you check their ID.”
“the point of church isn't to get people to come to church." "No?" said Steve, cocking an eyebrow. "What is it?" It seemed obvious to me. "to feed them, so they can go out and, you know, be Jesus."
“Repentance means turning toward other human beings, our own flesh and blood, whenever they’re oppressed, hungry, or imprisoned; it means acting with compassion instead of indifference.”
“What happened once I started distributing communion was the truly disturbing, dreadful realization about Christianity: You can't be a Christian by yourself.”
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The Rev. Patrick Raymond, Rector
Susan Schlough, Treasurer
Br. Nathanael Deward Rahm BSG, Parish Office
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Vestry of Church of the Ascension
Cheryl Peterson, Sr. Warden; Kenneth Kelling, Jr. Warden; Kelly Colomberti, Marilyn Evans, Lynette Hector,
Jim Lo Bello, George Pineda, David Reeves, Samuel Sommers, Enrique Vilaseco, Amber Zelazny
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