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2019 Pledge Cards -
See More Information Below
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Sunday, October 28th
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Christ and the two blind men,
Julius Schnorr,
19th century
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8 a.m. Said Mass (Rite I)
9 a.m. Sung Mass
11 a.m. Solemn High Mass
Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)
Mass for Four Voices
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This Week at Ascension +
October 24, 2018
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From the Rector
Also from the Rector
Community Thanksgiving Dinner
Fall Work Day
Sharing Lunch, Sharing Blessings
Father Dunkerley Memorial Book
Commemorations at Ascension
Ascension Book Group: October
This Sunday at Ascension
Lawrence Hall Wish List
The Parish Prayer List
Approved Vestry Minutes Online
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Mega Millions
"How shall I repay the Lord
for all the good things he has done for me?"
- Psalm 116
Dear People of Ascension,
Only one ticket with the winning numbers was sold for last night's $1.5 billion Mega Millions lottery draw. As a Rector at the start of an annual stewardship appeal, but more so as a Christian who practices the spiritual discipline of tithing, I wonder if the lottery winner is also a Christian who tithes. If so, her or his 10% tithe would be $150 million!
Almost any congregation and budget would be overwhelmed by such giving! Fellow members of the lottery-winner's congregation would no doubt start asking: Why should I give anything-the budget's covered? Or, My gift is tiny by comparison; how can it make any difference? Over years if not right away, both the financial and spiritual health of the congregation would erode.
 Surely, some of us see the similar erosion here at Ascension and in our own households. Of our $800,000+ in budgeted operating expenses for 2018, only about 12% (less than $100,000) is expected from parishioner giving. It could be said that Ascension's more than $10 million in reserves and endowments has spiritually sickened many of us, provided us with rationales for not-giving.
I'm grateful that our doors can be open to and the sacraments and our glorious sacred music shared with all, including parishioners whose financial circumstances are strained or dire. I also wonder what our giving would look like if all of us who live above the poverty line tithed. I partly wonder what needs or new programs we might fund. Even more, I wonder about our own related transformation.
Those who generously give seem to always hold the winning tickets of gratitude and joy.
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My thanks to Vestry member Ken Kelling and Junior Warden Cynthia Perrizo
for taking on the leadership of our 2019 stewardship appeal. Their letter was sent to all member households toward the end of last week and may also be viewed here. In order to begin forming a 2019 parish budget that accurately reflects member pledge commitments, the Vestry and Treasurer ask that we make our pledge commitments by Thanksgiving Day if possible.
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Rehab of the Schrader Pipe Organ has begun in earnest,
as you can see from the pictures below.
Left: Organist David White consults with the project supervisor from Berghaus Organ Builders, with ranks of pipes laid out and labeled in the choir loft.
Top two
: an old 'slider motor' ... and a new one!
Right
: An intact rank of pipes-beautiful!
Bottom center-right
: What's left when all the pipes in a rank are removed!
Bottom center-left
: One of numerous banks of slider motors. You can see a newer one that was recently replaced on an emergency basis. We've learned that many of the motor pulleys that should spin freely are nearly completely stuck. Imagine how many slider motors in a 64-rank organ!
The slider-replacement project is Phase 1 of a two-phase organ rehab project that I introduced in the October 3 parish newsletter. You may speak to me, Organist David White or either of our Wardens if you are interested in making a financial gift toward this project, or you may contribute by way of the donation link on our website or you can wait for the all-member ask after the New Year.
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All Souls Memorial Cards
or your emails with memorial requests will need to be in the parish office by next Monday, October 29, at the end of the work day. If you use a hand-written card, linked here, please write legibly! I look forward to sharing in the All Souls Requiem Mass with all who are able: Friday, November 2, 7:00 p.m.
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COMMUNITY THANKSGIVING DINNER
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Save the date! Be sure to reserve
Sunday, November 18th for helping out at the annual
Community Thanksgiving Dinner. We need your participation to provide cooked, carved turkeys for the event, to set up on Saturday the 17th at 10:30, and to help on Sunday to cook, serve and host dinner for people in the neighborhood around Ascension, who will join us at 1:30 that day. Take this opportunity to begin the holiday season by reaching out to the community. There will be signup sheets in Wheeler Hall for you to volunteer for the job that best suits your talents. For more information or to volunteer, please contact
Carol Noren or
Bob Rarick.
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Bring your garden shoes, your garden gloves and your handy garden tools to church on Saturday, November 10 to help prepare our garden for winter days ahead. We will gather at 9:30 a.m. to begin raking leaves, removing summer plants and bulbs, trimming trees and bushes, planting spring tulips, and laying down some protective soil and mulch. Indoor activities are also planned. Coffee and donuts for all. Everyone invited!
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SHARING LUNCH, SHARING BLESSINGS
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We will gather for lunch on November 14th (2nd Wednesday) after mass at 12:05. Think lasagna! With all the turkey emphasis in later November, something other than chicken noodle soup seems best. And there will be veggie lasagna for those who don't eat meat. Our theme will focus on stories of saints--saints of the church and saints you have encountered in your own life. Come and share in this informal time together!
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FATHER DUNKERLEY MEMORIAL BOOK
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Dear Parishioners:
Fr. Dunkerley died unexpectedly.
Do you have a memory or a picture you would like to share with his partner, Sal Martinez, and his family?
Please download the form here and send to me by All Souls Day on Nov.2nd.
I plan to compose a book to send Sal and Fr D's family.
His family was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love at his memorial.
Please respond.
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COMMEMORATIONS
AT THE ASCENSION
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Commemoration of
St. Raphael the Archangel
Today, Wednesday, Oct. 24
6:10 p.m. Evening Prayer
6:30 p.m. Said Mass
 Commemoration of
St. Simon & St. Jude, Apostles
Monday, Oct 29
7:10 a.m. Morning Prayer
6:10 p.m. Evening Prayer
6:30 p.m. Said Mass
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The Ascension Book Group will meet to discuss
War In Heaven
in Wheeler Hall on
Thursday evening October 25 at 7:00 p.m.
Refreshments will be provided. For questions contact Ken Kelling at (773) 853-2337 or via email here.
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The
Sunday Lectionary readings
,
Schedules of Acolytes, Lectors & Ushers
as well as Hymnody, Motets and Organ Voluntaries for
Sunday, October 28, 2018
may be found by clicking
here
.
The Lector's Pronunciation Guide may be found
here
.
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Please remember these people in your daily prayers
Geoffrey Wainwright, Robert White, Charlene MacDougal, Fr. John Graham, Dorothy Murray, Mary Lou Devens, Doreen Finn, Ronna Case, Michael Milano, Thomas Holden, Brenton Boitse, Charley Taylor, Marlea Edinger, David Belding, Jr., August 'Augie' Alonzo, Ann Halikas, Helena Wilson, Emily Cole, Sharon Przybocki, Mthr. Judith Marie OSA, Burton Nelson, Fr. Richard Daly, James, Keith, Kenvert Samuel
Prayers for the departed
Prayers are requested for the repose of the soul of
Delores Peter,
aunt of DiAnne Walsh.
Prayers are requested for the repose of the soul of
Robert Scogin,
friend of Gary Alexander.
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. Amen.
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APPROVED VESTRY MINUTES ONLINE
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The Approved Minutes of Vestry meetings are now available online to parishioners who request the link. If you would like Internet access to the Approved Vestry Minutes, please email the
Church Office and request the link.
Once you access the web page, you can read all recent Approved Vestry Minutes. In addition, if you click on the subscribe button at the top right, you will be given email notice whenever a new set of Approved Minutes is added.
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The Cubs season ended weeks ago, but the World Series is now underway, and the poem below took me back to my own brief and mostly ill-fated Cub Scout Baseball career, at age 9. Whether or not you follow baseball or ever played it, I welcome you to join me in the outfield of the poem below and to revisit the arc of some redemptive moment of your own
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- Fr. Raymond +
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Family Festival Days: Home Run!, N. Rockwell
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Baseball
by Ted Zalasky
We were only farm team
not "good enough" to
make big Little League
with its classic uniforms
deep lettered hats.
But our coach said
we were just as good
maybe better
so we played
the Little League champs
in our tee shirts
and soft purple caps.
What happened that afternoon
I can't remember-
if we won or tied.
But in my mind
I lean back
to a popup hanging
in a sunny sky
stopped
nailed to the blue
losing itself in a cloud
over second base
where I stood waiting.
Ray Michaud who knew
my up-and-down career
as a local player
my moments of graceful genius
my unpredictable ineptness
screamed arrows at me
from the dugout
where he waited to bat-
"He's gonna drop it! He
don't know how to catch,
you watch it drop!"
The ball kept lifting
higher, a black dot
no rules of gravity, no
brakes, a period searching
for a sentence, and the sentence read:
"You're no good Bill
you won't catch this one now
you know you never will."
I watched myself looking up
and felt my body rust
in pieces to the ground
a baby trying to stand up
an ant in the shadow of a house
I wasn't there
had never been born
would stand there forever
a statue squinting up
pointed out laughed at
for a thousand years
teammates dead, forgotten
bones of anyone who played baseball
forgotten
baseball forgotten, played no more
played by robots on electric fields
who never missed
or cried in their own sweat
I'm thirty one years old.
The game was over twenty years ago.
All I remember of that afternoon
when the ball came down
is that I caught it.
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STAY CONNECTED
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