Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost

The Church of the Ascension

in the City of New York

12 West 11th Street, New York, NY 10011

212-254-8620 | info@ascensionnyc.org | www.ascensionnyc.org

Dear People of Ascension,

As we begin our fall stewardship campaign, I wonder what we are stewards of, and how. What we cherish, what we tend. What are our unique gifts to give, our special work to do, the particular communities and relationships in which we care and are cared for? What interactions stretch and challenge us, and which ones assure us that we belong?

Often we focus on financial stewardship, and that is both important and revealing. Where our treasure is our hearts will be also, as Jesus said. Sometimes what we do with our treasure changes our hearts- and vice versa! How do we care for our hearts, our time, our resources of skill, education, health, privilege, support? How do we honor, preserve, use and give away what has been passed down to us?

We are stewards of blessings too many to number. Are we also stewards of our wounds and losses? I am sure that we are tenders and tellers of stories- and to do so well calls for imagination and heeding inconvenient truth; attending to voices not always heard, gaps in the narrative and still-open endings. Stewardship might be a major theme in the stories of our lives.

In this season, what particularly calls forth your caring energy? Your sense of accountability? Your deep joy and gratitude?

May we be good stewards of our questions in these times of immense need, change and possibility.

Liz

Services at Church of the Ascension

Join Us!

Click this link for this Sunday's bulletin & hymns.

A Note About Prayers - For our Zoom participants, in order for us to collect your prayer intentions, please put them in the Zoom chat after the service has started and before the end of the sermon.

Sunday Services

Holy Eucharist - in the Church - 9:00 a.m.

Holy Eucharist with Music - in the Church - 11:00 a.m.

Iced tea and lemonade in the front garden following the service

Livestream Service via Zoom at 11:00 a.m.

How to join the livestream service:

From your computer, laptop, pad, smart phone, or other device, click this link:

Ascensionnyc.org/Sunday or zoom.us/j/322793633

If you do not have a device with a camera, you can still join with your phone by dialing the following number: 929-205-6099, and enter the meeting ID: 322 793 633.

Lights! Camera!... An Update on Livestreaming.

First off, a HUGE thank you to our interim tech team (Jacob Scott, Zennie Trieu, Eve Beglarian, and Steve Hubbard)! They have been invaluable in keeping us online while we wait for all the pieces to come together for our Local Live broadcasting. And thank you for your patience as we've worked through sound, logistics and wifi issues.

Here's where we are and where we're heading. The cabling is currently being installed. Once that's in place, the team from Local Live will install the cameras and show us what to do on our end. Then we should be good to go!

Weekday Services

Wednesday Evening Eucharist - in the Church; 6:00 p.m.

Evening Prayer Every Weekday Evening via Zoom

Join us each weeknight at 5:30 for Evening Prayer & discussion. Click this link to join: ascensionnyc.org/eveningprayer. To call in (voice, no camera), dial 929-205-6099; the meeting ID is 770 597 201.

Prayer & Meditation - Every Weekday starting at Noon

The Church is open for prayer and meditation every weekday; Monday through Friday, Noon to 3:00 p.m. Open Church will begin with Noonday Prayer, led by Brother Andrew, OSF.

Announcements

Commissioning of Stewardship Canvassers – will be next Sunday, October 24, at the 11:00 a.m. service. If you are scheduled to be a canvasser, please be sure to attend this service.

A Memorial Concert for Charles Swords Hoppin - Saturday, October 23, 4:00 p.m., at Church of the Ascension. Frederica von Strade, Mezzo-Soprano; David Enlow, Organ.

Harvest Dinner, Wednesday, October 27, 7 pm – You are invited to join us on Zoom this year for our virtual Harvest Dinner. The variants are just a little too much for us to work around for this historically close-contact affair. Instead, we will be following last year’s Ascension Dinner Theater format. Please join us for dinner (with food from your own kitchen). We will enjoy a thoughtful, enlightening and sometimes silly evening.

Do you have a photo or two (or three) to share about your past year’s pandemic experience? Please send them to Rachel at rachelsedor@yahoo.com. This photo compilation was so popular last year - please contribute! Also, if you would like to share a limerick, please send it to Rachel.

We very much look forward to so much fun the night of October 27th. This will certainly be a not-to-miss affair!

From the Vestry! Click here to see the proposed agenda for the upcoming Vestry meeting.

Monday Evening Lectionary Bible Study -- Join us Monday evenings at 6:30 p.m. via Zoom. This is an opportunity to read and discuss the readings for the upcoming Sunday. If you are interested in joining, please contact Sibyl Piccone.

Next Racial Justice Group meeting Thursday, October 28 at 6:30 pm. For the next two months, we will read and discuss Clint Smith's How the Word is Passed: a Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America. In a review of the book earlier this year in the NY Times, Julian Lucas writes, "Gregarious, learned and engagingly open-minded, the book meets America where it is on the subject- which is to say, all over the place. Beginning in his hometown, New Orleans, Smith visits nine places that memorialize or distort their link to the legacy of slavery, from Thomas Jefferson's Monticello to the African Burial Ground in Lower Manhattan. He skillfully braids interviews with scholarship and personal observation, asking, 'How different might our country look if all of us fully understood what had happened here?'" Please join us for what will surely be a lively conversation! For October 28, please read the prologue and the first four chapters.

Support the Parish! Please check us out at ascensionnyc.org/give to find out how easy and secure it is. Click the envelope on the right to go the Ascension Website for more information and to give, whether a one-time donation, pledge payment, or make a new pledge.

Our parish can only continue its mission and ministry because of the generosity of parishioners, visitors, and friends of the parish and we are working hard to make our online giving as easy and seamless as possible.

(If you experience any issues with Abundant Giving, please email us at websexton@ascensionnyc.org)

A Note about Using Abundant Giving: When you donate and pledge through the Abundant Giving app or go through the website, you need to direct your donation to the correct category. There are multiple categories to choose from:

Offering Plate
Stewardship Pledge 2021
Rector's Fund
Memorial Gift

These categories change as we update categories during the year. (An example would be when we delete the Easter flowers category after Easter and add Christmas flowers for the weeks leading up to Christmas.)

To donate through your app or the website, click the link above. The next screen will prompt you: "How Much Do You Want To Give?" Next to that, is a drop-down list of categories. Offering plate is always listed first. Click on the little arrow and the list will appear. Click on which ever category you want your donation to be credited. It is important to identify which category you are donating to so that your year end statement will be correct.

You should have received your year-end statement for 2020. Please review it carefully and contact the parish office immediately if there are any issues.

New York Haiti Project - Earthquake Near Martel - You can donate directly to Fr. Phanord to help the church, school, and people in Martel via Zelle at haitiangoodsam@gmail.com. Or you can send a check to New York Haiti Project, 1858 Hunt Avenue, Bronx, NY 10462.

Letter from the Bishop - An Appeal for Haiti -- In addition to giving options above, you can also give via Episcopal Relief and Development or directly through the Diocese. You can also send a donation to the Diocese of New York, designated for Haiti relief*, at 1047 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10025.

The community of Martel is rebuilding and the construction resumes on the school expansion. The earthquake happened less than a month ago, and the people are already rebounding. Click here to read Fr. Sam's update.

Episcopal Relief and Development - Hurricane Ida Assistance. - You can help those affected by Ida is through supporting Episcopal Relief and Development's Hurricane Relief fund. To donate now, please click here. And now, New Yorkers have had our own experiences with Hurricane Ida - stay tuned for ways to address local issues.

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry highlights ways to help Afghan refugees through Episcopal Migration Ministries. As Episcopalians, as followers of Jesus, as people of faith, we mourn the recent loss of life in Afghanistan, the ongoing chaos and instability, and the risk that many Afghans face, in particular women and girls. Click here to watch the Presiding Bishop's address and to read more.

Find out how to stay involved in the work of advocacy in ensuring the U.S. government honors its commitments to our Afghan allies at www.episcopalchurch.org/ministries/office-government-relations/
To contribute financially to provide for housing, medical and financial support, and expanded community sponsorship to serve our Afghan allies, visit bit.ly/supportafghanallies to make a secure donation online, or text “EMMALLIES” to 41444.
For opportunities to volunteer, provide housing, or sponsor, visit episcopalmigrationministries.org/volunteer-community-interest-form/

This Week at Ascension

Sunday – October 17– Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost

Holy Eucharist (Church) 9:00 a.m.

Holy Eucharist w/ Music (Church) 11:00 a.m.

(Live Stream of the service will be available)

Lemonade and Iced Tea (Front Garden) following the service

Monday – October 18

Church open for prayer & meditation; Noon to 3:00 p.m.