The strategic planning conversation that I mentioned above was shared by Junior Warden Cynthia Perrizo, Vestry members Wanda Dole and DiAnne Walsh, Buildings and Grounds Chair Cheryl Peterson and me. Please speak with any of us or any Vestry member to share your tune. You may read my summary of our meeting here.

Paul Simon's songwriting announcement was made in a September 5 interview on National Public Radio that you may read here. Simon's Homeward Bound - the Farewell Tour that begin in May will conclude a week from tonight in Queens, New York, at a venue a few blocks from his childhood home.

Thank you, Kuni and Aiko for walking 5K for our food pantry . I can't yet report on how much money we pledged or gave, but it's not too late to make a gift! Whether you're paying a pledge you've made or making a new gift, please indicate 'Kuni/Pantry' in your check memo. You may also make a payment by way of our website , and if you're willing to add 3% for Ascensions web transaction fee - extra thanks!

A Tale from the Convent ... Helene Reinshuttle, a former guest and beneficiary of the ministry of the Order of St. Anne, recently returned to the convent ... after 80 years! Ms. Reinshuttle came to the convent as an infant, left by her single mother who said she would return in a few days, after finding a job. Helene's mother did return, but not for three years, during which Helene was in the continuous care of the Order. Recent contact by one of Helene's children with Mother Judith Marie culminated in a visit and shared meal by Helene and five of her family members (children and their spouses). Helene now lives in Tallahassee, Florida.

You'll definitely want to be here for the September 30 Michaelmas Celebration! I'm grateful to report a lot of enthusiasm and interest from other parishes in the Chicago North Deanery. Both the St. James Cathedral Organist Stephen Buzard and Atonement Organist Charlie Sega have agreed to share in the 3:30 p.m. Organ recital. My clergy colleagues from a number of parishes are lining up guest acolytes and lectors and help with the reception. Your added help with the reception will make a big difference! Please contact DiAnne Walsh or me if you can step up. And plan to bring friends, using the attached flyer or any means as invitations. I believe this will be a beautiful, meaningful liturgy and a great celebration.

Retractions are in order, it appears , first because in last week's newsletter I put Mucknell Abbey in Yorkshire rather than Worchestershire. (My apologies to the Mucknell Benedictines, to Joshua Heath and to the kindly Welsh cathedral dean and friend who reads our Ascension news and spotted the error.) 

Also, parishioner Jim Wilson intelligently and graciously questioned the ID of the relics in the Ascension altar that I'd described in the Worship Notes in last Sunday's worship leaflet.  You may read both my (untouched) Worship Notes and Jim's follow-up here.

The Church of the Atonement, Chicago, was filled to capacity and with goodwill and good faith for last night's Celebration of New Ministry and Institution of Mother Erika Takacs as 11^th Rector. The layered photo here shows (from top to bottom) clergy mingling and receiving instruction prior to the procession, Bishop Lee, Mother Takacs and other ministers at the altar, and some from Ascension who were present (from left to right): Scott Knitter, me, Senior Warden Cynthia Perrizo, Organist David White, the Rev. Dr. Carol Noren, Jay Jacot, DiAnne Walsh, Cathedral Curate Deacon Anna Broadbent and Wanda Dole. A meaningful moment of the liturgy for me was the concluding Pontifical Blessing offered by Bishop James W. Montgomery, Ninth Bishop of Chicago (1962-1987). You may view the complete service leaflet from the celebration here.

Hail to the new drinking fountain! The old one was slowly failing. The new one has the added features of a filter and water bottle filler! Special thanks to Sexton George Panice, who ran into and overcame some humdinger older-building troubles with the installation. If you are unaware, the water fountain is located in the parish house hallway, outside the kitchen and adjacent to the steps into the sacristy hallway.

From the Parish Archives - A 'Cruiser Deluxe' walker! No one knows it's origin, but it's new in the box and has apparently been stowed for at least several years in a former archive storage area. Please contact Br. Nathanael in the parish office if you know someone who could use it. Help with assembly can be arranged ...

God of the heavens: nature and all that You have created are truly awesome. Often, we; take these wonders for granted. Teach us to cherish all of your gifts.

Try as we might, we know that we cannot control the oceans, the mountains, the weather. We also firmly believe that ever since the time of Noah, You do not send floods, make the earth shake, or dispatch weather formations, such as hurricanes, as warnings or punishments.

So we ask, as this hurricane approaches land and approaching our brothers and sisters, that You shelter all who will be in its path. Watch over everyone, their loved ones, friends, and fellow people, many of whom are preparing to evacuate. Guard them as they prepare, perhaps to leave their homes again. Give them strength, courage, and resolve to ride out this storm; answer their prayers and ours that they be blessed with goodness and be spared from harm.

Baruch ata Adonai, Elohanu Melech Haolam she kocho u-gevurato maleh olam.

Blessed are You, Source of Life and Nature, whose awesome power and strength fill our world and inspire us to be strong in the face of all of life's difficulties.

   - Rabbi Fred Guttman of Temple Emanuel, Greensboro, North Carolina, since 1995

Regarding a Requiem for Father Dunkerley, I regret that the uncertainty I shared two weeks ago still pertains. Please join me in prayers for resolution soon. And for those who are interested, I believe the current sentiment is to retain the narthex memorial and bunting over the outside doors at least until a date for a requiem is settled.

A quote from the September 5 NPR Paul Simon interview seems a good way to end this one ...

" We don't have the capacity to understand

the great mysteries of life and God or no God or infinity,

we just can't get it. It's beyond us, but that's fine.

We're not meant to get that. But the pursuit is so

interesting that, I think, it's life-sustaining, and I think

when you lose the interest in that pursuit you're finished ."