Organ Failure

Hallelujah! Praise God in his holy temple;

Praise him with the blast of the ram's-horn;

Praise him with stings and pipe.

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Hallelujah!    

   - from Psalm 150

Dear people of Ascension,

   Anyone who learns that he or she is suffering from organ failure is, or should be, alarmed. It is, or should be, the same for a sacred-music-loving congregation upon learning that it's pipe organ is failing.

   No, Ascension's pipe organ is not exactly failing. But parts have been and are failing. In the past eighteen months, a number of troubles, none major so far and each of a different kind, have cropped up and required interventions and repairs. On other occasions, after the fact, Organist David White has described late night, in-house remedies: sourcing graphite from a pencil lead, for instance, to lube a stuck part in a pinch.

   With this background, you'll understand the Vestry's recent commitment to about $85,000 in organ repairs. A first project phase, to be completed before Christmas, involves replacement of all 'sliders.' These are the sophisticated mechanisms, many now failing, that slide into place to activate a given rank when the corresponding stop is pulled on the console. Our 1964 Schlicker pipe organ has 64 ranks!

   A second phase, to be completed sometime in 2019, will focus on rehabilitation of the instrument's reeds, 'tonal finishing' of all ranks and cleaning. Soon after the New Year, parishioners will be invited to contribute to a project capital campaign. We hope to receive commitments of up to $40,000, in addition to some significant commitments already secured.

More about our pipe organ diagnosis and prognosis.

• Our 1964 Schlicker pipe organ has been in the care of Berghaus Organ Builders (Bellwood, IL) since at least 1984, and Berghaus will be performing the upcoming repairs.
• Some excellent information about our pipe organ may be found on the Music page of our brand new website.
• You now know the full extent of my limited knowledge about this topic - please feel free to address technical/musical inquiries to Organist David White, or, if in regard to the Vestry's decisions and funding, to our Wardens or Treasurer or me.

Sharing Lunch, 

Sharing Blessings

is the name that's been chosen for a monthly mid-day gathering on Wed-nesdays - Starting next Wednesday, October 10.

All are welcome to share the 12:05 p.m. mass followed by a soup lunch and conversation. Many thanks to Cheryl Peterson for the inspiration and leadership. You may read her introduction to this wonderful opportunity here.

• Please don't let the Chicago Marathon keep you from Ascension this Sunday! But please do allow plenty of extra time and your route - especially if you will be coming to any of the earlier services. Until LaSalle Drive is re-opened, you will be able to access our parking lot through the alley in back of the church: north on Clark, west on Elm, south into the alley. See more notes below ...

• St. James' Cathedral Curate and Deacon Anna Broadbent and three young adults from our Cathedral will lead a 10:10 a.m. panel discussion: "Millennials in Church!" Please plan to join us in the library, and bring your questions, especially those that may inform our own hopes to welcome new and younger members.
  

Also upcoming: Keeping God's People Safe is the name of the Diocese of Chicago program to provide training in appropriate boundaries and practices in all church-related relationships and contexts. The Level 1 training to be offered at Ascension on Saturday, October 13, from 10 a.m. - noon and open to all parishes in the diocese, is particularly focused on the responsibilities we all share for protecting minors in the church from predatory behavior. The training will be facilitated by Todd VanAlstyne who may be contacted directly by email or phone 312 330-8363. 

The past week has been lively and meaningful. Highlights include:

 

The launch of our new website!  Hopefully you've had a chance to look it over. Getting the website live was a technical challenge for some of our most tech-savvy minds! We are still working out some wrinkles. Your feedback will help us ID things that still need our attention.

We've had some glitches in email due to the website conversion. I've lost some of mine and don't have access to some of my prior email. One of the two addresses used by Br. Nathanael in the church office was inoperative as of yesterday. If you suspect a problem, please let us know about it ... probably by way of a phone call rather than email! (312) 664-1271.

By all accounts our Chicago Episcopal Michaelmas Celebration was a great success! The sacristy service book indicates 124 were present for the organ recital, Choral Evensong and Benediction. Wheeler Hall was packed with many souls from many congregations, including our own and guest choir members and other musicians. Thanks, of course, to all who helped pull of this great event, including Ken Kelling who took this photo and also provided an entire online album that you may view here.

The Requiem Mass for Father Dunkerley, shared by over 300 last night at Church of the Atonement, Chicago, was characterized by many prayers, many tears, many hugs and plenty of laughter that I believe Father D would have cherished. A half-dozen of us from Ascension hosted the beverage table (funded by Ascension member gifts) at the packed, lively reception that followed. The photo here shows some of the ministers who gathered with the family outside the church to share in the traditional prayers as the body (or, as in this case, ashes) are received immediately prior to the mass. With the long, long wait for last night, many of us, I'm sure, acutely felt the prayer and gift of ... rest in peace.

What Ascension-goers should know:

 

- Please plan to share in worship at Ascension at normal times Sunday. Allow extra time to get to the church.

 

- The Marathon route requires the closure of LaSalle Drive ALL MORNING SUNDAY. Consider taking the Red Line to the Clark and Division stop if you are able. Allow extra time if you drive.

 

- Access the church parking lot by way of Clark Street, heading either north or south, then head west on Elm (one way toward LaSalle) to the alley behind the church. Turn left into the alley. Enter the lot through the open gate just past the rectory garage.

 

- Please join in praying for the health of all athletes taking part and for public safety throughout the marathon.

Commemoration of  

6:30 p.m. Said Mass

October is the month of the Holy Rosary. In praying the Rosary we are invited,  as God's sons and daughters, to gaze upon the life of Jesus Christ through the eyes of Our Lady. The beginnings of the Rosary are found in the early Christian practice of reciting the 150 Psalms from the Bible, as a form of prayer. The Rosary in its present form arose in late medieval Christianity when the Hail Mary evolved, as Christians saw the Blessed Mother as the great witness to the whole life of Christ. 

 

The stories of the New Testament containing the five Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries are remembered during these prayers. Pope John-Paul II added the five Luminous Mysteries, which focus on Christ's ministry and on the Eucharist, to the initial group of three. The Rosary is both simple and profound: the rhythmic repetition of the words bring peace to the soul and uplifts our mind to Jesus' redeeming sacrifice for us all. Indeed. we can look up to the windows on the north side of our church to find that they are dedicated to the mysteries of the Rosary. For many years the Society of Mary recited the Rosary before the Saturday Mass. Now it is recited usually the first Sunday of the month following the 11 o'clock Mass. Please consider joining us for beautiful, wonderful devotion.

 

Jim Berger

The Rosary will be prayed this Sunday, October 7 following the 11 a.m. Solemn High Mass. All are welcome to participate.

Sorry, we had 'technical difficulties' with the information from our new website on our pipe organ that I intended to paste in here. You can click on the link, however. And enjoy the picture!  - Fr. Raymond