The 23rd 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

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Dear people of Ascension,

As I write, I am looking forward to tonight's Harvest Dinner. By the time you read this, I hope to have seen many of you there to celebrate the Ascension community, share delicious food (thank you, Rachel Sedor) and experience a special dramatic presentation about the last few years at our church, performed by Ember Arts and informed by many of you. Thanks to all who participated! If you were not at the Harvest Dinner in person, we will let you know how to watch a video of the performance soon.

There is so much to be grateful for in this life we share at Ascension. Worship, music, baptisms, friendships made and renewed, opportunities to learn and serve, our lovely garden, our quirks and resilience. There is also a lot to do these days- including the work of our annual stewardship campaign and a special campaign to restore our tower brownstone.

Undergirding that is the work of stewarding our ministry- caring for one another and using our energies, creativity, money and buildings to care for the needs of our larger community. It is a time both of giving thanks and of listening for the voice of the Spirit as she calls us to new, bold and generous mission. It is a time that calls us to choose how we will focus and spend our resources, full of unknowns and rich possibilities.

The themes of gratitude and choice entwine for me in these days. Sometimes our thanksgiving simply overflows, and we rest in the grace of God and the awareness of our dependence on one another and others we may never know. Sometimes gratitude is a discipline, a practice as we choose to trust and honor interdependence. Sometimes our gratitude makes it possible to be generous or take a risk. Sometimes our choosing opens us to larger gratefulness for the world, or a vision and longing for what we want to build together. Sometimes choosing is difficult and our choices imperfect, but we know the capacity to choose is a blessing.

How is gratitude informing your choices these days, and vice versa? However you are called to choose, act or create, may you know that you are held in grace.

Liz

How to Watch Our Live Stream Services

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

How to Watch Our On Line Services

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

Ascensionnyc.org/Webcasts

How to Add Prayer Requests Online for Sunday Service - Go to Ascensionnyc.org/Prayers and type in your prayer request. Be sure to add them before the end of the sermon.

A Prayer for Spiritual Communion

If you are attending any of our services online, we invite you to use this prayer at communion.

In union, O Lord, with your faithful people at every altar of your Church, where the Holy Eucharist is now being celebrated, I desire to offer to you praise and thanksgiving. I remember your death, Lord Christ; I proclaim your resurrection; I await your coming in glory. Since I cannot receive you today in the Sacrament of your Body and Blood, I beseech you to come spiritually into my heart. Cleanse and strengthen me with your grace, Lord Jesus, and let me never be separated from you. May I live in you, and you in me, in this life and in the life to come. Amen.

Join us for Coffee Hour

in the Front Garden (weather permitting)

after the service.

Regular Service Schedule

Sunday

9:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist (Side Altar)

11:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist w/ Music

(Church & Livestream)

6:00 p.m. Meditation & Sacrament (Church)

Wednesday

6:00 p.m. Holy Eucharist (Church)

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.

Open Church Schedule

Open Church - Mondays through Fridays, Noon to 3pm. If you would like to volunteer for this ministry, please contact Gretchen Dumler or contact the church office (info@ascensionnyc.org or 212-254-8620.

Our Mask Policy

As the COVID numbers drop and the city and state relax restrictions, we no longer require attendees to wear a mask – although we do strongly encourage everyone to be masked when indoors, and to be sensitive to the concerns of others. Clergy, servers, and choir will remain masked during services.

Announcements

Parish Office Closed Friday, November 11. The clergy and parish administrator will be attending the Diocesan Convention this Friday, November 11. Therefore, the office will be closed that day.

Upcoming Ascension Forums About our Diocese:

Forum this Sunday- Report from Diocesan Convention- Please join the clergy and our lay delegates to hear about what happened at Diocesan Convention this weekend. On the ballot are a number of important items, and convention is also an opportunity to hear from our bishops and other leaders around the Diocese of New York.

Next Sunday, November 20 we will have a second forum on the election of the Bishop Coadjutor. This coming week is full of meetings with the candidates, so we will have much more to share next Sunday. We also want to hear your hopes and dreams for the diocese and our next bishop. (You can watch new videos for the candidates here.)

Please join us!

To connect to the forums via Zoom:

Time: Nov 13, 2022 12:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89289798534

Meeting ID: 892 8979 8534

One tap mobile

+16469313860,,89289798534# US

+19292056099,,89289798534# US (New York)

Next Sunday, November 20, is Our Stewardship Ingathering. Have you made your pledge to Ascension's annual budget? You can mail in your pledge card, bring it to church next Sunday, or pledge online at Ascensionnyc.org/Online-giving. We need the support of everyone of you, and no gift is too small- or too large! Please give what you can with a joyful, grateful heart. Thank you!

Help Us Repair & Restore Our Tower Brownstone

Ascension is making urgently needed repairs and restoration on the historic masonry & copings of our tower brownstone. We have received a generous matching grant from the Manton Foundation for this important work. Now we need your help make our space secure for the next generation!

Every dollar you give will be matched up to $200,000. You can pledge to this campaign online at ascensionnyc.org/matchinggrant, or scan the QR code above, or contact the parish office at 212-254-8620. Payments can be made by check payable to the Church of the Ascension (remember to put “Tower Brownstone” in the memo line) or online through Abundant (Ascensionnyc.org/Give – select “Manton Matching Grant” from the drop-down menu). If you have any questions about this campaign or the tower, please call the parish office.

Thank you for your generosity!

Ascension Advent Calendar- looking for photographers! - For the last several years, our Advent practice at Ascension has included sharing a scripture and a photo for every day of the season. It's easy- let Mother Liz know you want to participate and she will send you a scripture for one of the days in Advent. You then send back an image, not necessarily illustrating the text, but responding to it in some way. We will share the images on our social media every day from Sunday, November 27 (Advent 1) through December 25. It's a great- and simple- way to prayerfully prepare for Christ's coming! If you're in, please let Mother Liz know by Sunday, November 20.

The Rev. Posey Krakowsky - Day of the Dead Quilt - Speaker/Author/Art Historian Dennis Raverty (info here) recently wrote an article about The Day of the Dead quilt, which I made for my husband in 2005. The article was published in The Living Church this month. Click here to read the article (page 14 and following).

Spirit Driven Stitching: Quilts by Posey Krakowsky: On View: November 6 - December 31; Reception: November 15, 6-8 pm. The Rev. Posey Krakowsky, Priest Associate at Ascension, is also an artist, theologian, and writer. A lifelong fiber artist, Posey's specialty is quilting, but she also knits, weaves, paints, sews, and works with beads. Posey's quilting pieces are multi-layered and rich and take months to complete. Several of her Quilts are on display at the Heavenly Rest Undercroft Gallery (1085 5th Ave, New York, NY). Posey will lead an Advent Day Retreat at Heavenly Rest on Saturday, December 10; please email lthorpe@heavenlyrest.org for more information, Of her work Posey says, “We are Spirit-driven beings on an earthly, incarnate journey. God walks beside us every step. The ways we use our hands inform our hearts, our minds, and our souls: leading them deeper and deeper into Love.” To RSVP for the Reception with the Artist on November 15, please click here.

There will also be a special opportunity for Ascensionites to see and talk with Mtr. Posey about the quilts on Monday, November 28, from 6:45 to 8:45.

Racial Justice Group- for our next meeting on Thursday, November 17, we will begin The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature by J. Drew Lanham. Dr. Lanham is an ornithologist, professor and poet, and tells his own family story about land, race and the natural world. For this session we will read pp. 3-79. Please join us!

New York Episcopal Federal Credit Union – Clergy and lay in the diocese are working together to create an independent, federally accredited credit union serving the communities within the Diocese of New York. The Credit Union will open banking services to the underserved, while providing low-cost emergency loans and financial counseling. Click here to learn more and see how you can become involved.

Diocesan Prayer for the Bishop Search - The candidates have been announced. To learn about them, click here. The Search Committee for a Bishop Coadjutor asks for your prayers. Here is a prayer you might use:

Loving God, giver of every good gift, Look graciously on your Church, and so guide the minds and hearts of those who shall choose a bishop for this Diocese, that we may receive a faithful pastor who will care for your people and your world, preach good news and witness to the resurrection. We pray in the name of Jesus, our true Shepherd. Amen.

How You Can Help

Help Asylum Seekers - Our friends at Judson Church (239 Thompson St.) have created a respite and mutual aid center for asylum seekers who have been bussed to New York from Texas. They are open every Monday from 10 am to 7 pm. You can help by volunteering time (Spanish speakers and those with medical, legal or social work training especially welcome), or by donating supplies. They need new (or like new) winter coats (men’s, women’s, & children’s), underwear (boxers preferably), and backpacks.

To learn more about volunteering, please contact the Rev. Micah Bucey at micah@judson.org. Donated supplies can be brought to Ascension, marked "mutual aid for migrants" and we will see that they get to Judson. Thank you!

This Week at Ascension

Anyone entering the church is encouraged to wear a mask. Please utilize the hand sanitizer stations.

Sunday – November 13

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

Holy Eucharist w/ Music; (Church & Live Stream) 11:00 a.m.

In person and online (Ascensionnyc.org/Sunday)

Join us for Coffee Hour following the Service

Meditation & Sacrament (Church) 6:00 p.m.

Monday – November 14

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