Ascension joins the Food Faith and Farming Network in offering this opportunity to support local farmers during the winter. Food Faith and Farming Network partners with Harvest of Hope Fund to support farmers in crisis. This market is a small way to uplift local farmers and raise awareness. The market is free and open to guests and will feature eggs, salsa, mushrooms, soaps, preserves, rustic breads, pastries, sweet breads, honey, apples, syrups, cider, oats, granola, wool products, and our own Meru coffee. Please bring reusable bags (or purchase an Ascension bag) and cash for shopping at the market.
In addition to the market, we will host a farm to table brunch made of locally sourced ingredients: cheesy egg bake, sausage, spinach salad with maple vinaigrette, apple oatmeal bake, cider and beverages. he market is free but there is a charge for the brunch. Tickets are available after services or online at https://tinyurl.com/DonateAscension. Tickets are available in the narthex the weeks leading up to the brunch with a limited number available at the door. Buying in advance guarantees your seat at the brunch. Tickets for the brunch are $12/adults, $8/senior, $5/kid (4-10, under 4 free). $30 maximum per family.
The Winter Farmer’s Market is a great opportunity to invite a friend to Ascension. Who can you invite to share in the market and experience Ascension’s welcoming atmosphere? Volunteers are needed for a variety of roles. Go to the Sign-Up Genius to see how you can help, https://tinyurl.com/ALCwmvol.
Serve/Mission Outreach continues to work toward our 2023 goals: Reach out, Invite in, Gather in. Our ongoing to commitment to accompaniment or to walk with our partners guides all that we do. Look for how these key words are used to guide our efforts this year. Our wing’s ministry leaders have committed 2023 to be a year of helping the members of Ascension to see that they all have a calling to serve others as though they were serving Jesus Himself. “What you have done for the least of these, you have done for Me.” (Matthew 25)
Watch for Serve opportunities and take the bold step forward to serve others as though you were serving Jesus. Serve with joy as a reflection of your love for Jesus.
Winter Farmer’s Market Save March 12 for this year’s market and brunch which is held in conjunction with the Food, Faith and Farming Network and the Harvest of Hope Farm Crisis Fund of the Madison Christian Community; both are non-profit organizations supporting Wisconsin family farmers since the 1980s. This event is part of the Mission Outreach effort to highlight the issue of hunger in our world and how Christians can respond not only to hunger but to the needs of farmers who grow our food. Coordinators Steve and Carol Spieker have put together a committee to plan another successful market including vendors, a brunch, BLAST activities and some special surprises. Market Products will include: eggs, meat, veggies, soaps, salsas, preserves, bakery, confections, apples, syrups, cider, oats and alpaca fiber products.
Winter Farmers Market 2019
The market is open to the community so we may have visitors at church on the day of the market. This is also a great opportunity for you to invite friends to Ascension to visit the market and get to know more about Ascension. Please help us in welcoming them. First impressions matter. As a part of the market, a brunch prepared with market goods will offer: cheesy egg bake, green salad, sausage, oatmeal-apple coffee cake, cider and coffee. Tickets will be sold after services starting Feb. 19. There will also be a chance to volunteer in a variety of ways. This event is a way to invite in by providing a space for a partnership agency and inviting community members to the event at Ascension and to gather in our members in service together. Keep your eyes out for ways to help or contact Carol and Steve directly at stevespieker88@gmail.com.
Creation Care Ministry As Christians, we are called to care for the Earth that God created and ensure that the environmental resources we rely on are also available to future generations. If you are interested in participating or getting more information, please contact Mary Ellen Comp or Lynn Parkhurst. Thank you to everyone who brought in used Christmas lights for disposal, keeping them from the landfills. This simple act makes a difference.
Limit Your Outdoor Salt: In Wisconsin, road salt is synonymous with winter. Unfortunately, road salts are toxic to children and pets. It damages vegetation, birds and wildlife, and destroys the organisms in soil. Just one teaspoon of salt can permanently pollute five gallons of water. Limit your use of road salt around your home and business. Try a natural alternative, such as sand. Shovel often and early and identify the critical areas that ice builds up.
Love Your Church, Love Your World – El Salvador Our sister parishes in El Salvador have become models for Lutheran churches throughout Latin America in their innovative efforts to become self-sufficient with economic projects intended to support the church as well as provide church members with employment.
San Jorge church has been hard at work in recent years resurrecting a baking project. They were able to get their hands on some old baking equipment that was donated by the German Lutheran church 20 years ago. A church member was trained as a baker during that time and he has been teaching many others how to bake. Since most Salvadorans cook on an open flame or on a camp stove, baked goods aren’t made at home. They have created the following list for us of needs to expand their business.
Ascension has been in partnership with the agricultural hardware store (agroferreteria) that supports El Buen Pastor in Usulután and its members since 2010. The covid lockdown was very difficult on the agroferreteria. Businesses were closed much longer in El Salvador than businesses were closed here, but without any rent or tax relief. As businesses slowly opened, people were only allowed to do business on dates based on their national id number. As a significant simplification, people with odd numbers were allowed to do business on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and people with even numbers were allowed to do business on Mondays and Wednesdays. On the days that agroferreterria was allowed to be open, business was booming. Unfortunately, the days they were allowed to do business was opposite of the days their vendors were allowed to do business. They were able to sell what they had, but they were not allowed to replenish their stock. As time went on, with less to sell, their income significantly decreased, but their overhead stayed the same. The workers ended up working for months without pay and Ascension was able to send money to allow them to catch up on back rent and back taxes. The next step is for us to send funds to allow them to replenish their inventory so they can once again become self-sufficient.
Christmas Food Packages: After receiving a financial gift from Ascension, the church council at San Jorge decided to make care packages of basic food supplies for all of the families at the church.
Land Crisis in Samaria Parish, Tanzania Hello Dear Friends,
I greet you in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. I am very happy to write to all of you this time although we do communicate and share a lot of things in our partnership committee group several times a month.
I and my family are doing very well and personally I am very thankful to God for my family. Samaria people are doing well and we thank the Lord for giving us rain so the weather condition is now good because our cattle health is not as bad as it was earlier.
The main aim of writing this short story for you is about the forced migration of some of the people in Samaria, particularly the Savana and Bondeni sub-villages.
The Tanzanian government is taking citizens’ land and giving it to investors and its main reason for this is to improve economic development, so we have been informed that we are not allowed to bury people and do any development in our personal land including building anything. Sadly according to the Tanzania constitution, they say our land is the property of the government, so we have been told that we will only be compensated for houses and other buildings and planted trees. People are very frustrated because we don’t know how much a person is going to be compensated. You can see my house which is among those being claimed by the government. Our church building and one other Pentecostal church is in the area have been claimed as well. In the Savana subvillage, 39 households are being evicted.
Kindly pray for us about this because people are in fear as they don’t know where they are going to live. Old people are very frustrated. We are waiting for the next steps now that they have identified those who have to move.
We love you our friends. God bless you all.
Yours in Christ,
Eliudi Mollel (Longishu M. Moleli), Samaria Sister Parish Committee Chair
A new year has begun with new experiences for the ministry and for my pastoral formation. At the beginning of January, we had the traditional celebration of the three wise men, and at the same time, I had the experience of visiting the Holy Land with the seminary. Both were very important experiences for the future of our ministry.
Edwin at the Sea of Galilee
The celebration of the three wise men was held without my presence. A group of leaders were in charge of the logistics for the organization of the event. We had our traditional rosca, exchange of gifts, piñatas, lunch, the visit of Baltazar, Melchor and Gaspar with their gifts for the Child Jesus and for the children, and for the second consecutive year the Puerto Rican group accompanied us, both leading the music at worship and entertaining us during our time of fellowship. While I was in the Holy Land looking at the photos of the celebration I asked myself, what did I learn from this activity? I believe that both the community and myself learned how important it is to promote leadership among the disciples for the well-being of our ministry because if for some reason the leader or pastor cannot be present, the activities of the community must continue for the well-being and the future of the church.
That brings me to my pilgrimage in the Holy Land. I am very grateful to God for allowing me to have such a wonderful experience today as I am about to finish my academic training process with the seminary. We had the opportunity to visit Bethlehem, the wall that divides Palestine with Israel, Sea of Galilee, the Jordan River, the desert of Judea where our Lord spent 40 days and 40 nights after his baptism, the journey of the cross, the empty tomb, the tomb of the patriarchs, and many other places where our Lord walked, healed and fed many with words and food. We also had the privilege of learning about the practices of the Jewish and Muslim religion.
Probably many of you would like to know what was the best part of my pilgrimage. This would be a very difficult question to answer because all the places were wonderful and each one of them created a time for meditation and reflection in the visitor’s mind, however, if I had to choose, I would choose the time we were around the Sea of Galilee. We boarded a boat and toured the lake, looking at the mountains that our Lord had to walk for us to receive the message of hope. During that time, we had a devotional in which we listened to the Gospel of Mark 4.35-41 (Jesus calms the storm). At the end of our time on the boat, I went to the lake, and reflected on the storms that my family and I have faced. I know that we are not alone and many of you have faced or are facing storms in your own lives. Storms are inevitable in this life and very painful. As Christians, we have comfort in remembering that Jesus is the one who calms the storms and gives us hope as we continue to live our baptism. My time at the lake brought me a sense of peace being reminded that we do not face our storms alone.
Brothers and sisters, let us continue to let ourselves be guided by the presence of Jesus in our lives so that the storms that come our way do not make us perish in our hope of a new life. Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. (1 Corinthians 16.13).
I have been in my position at Ascension as the Director of Care Ministries for almost 10 years. The time has come for retirement. I have been a nurse for 40 years and it has always been my passion to work with and help people.
When I look at retirement, I am comforted with knowing that I could look back with satisfaction. I am proud of the ministries I was a part of here at Ascension, but more importantly, I embrace the relationships that I had with so many people in our church family. I would like to thank all of the Care Ministry leaders for their work and support over so many years! I would not have been able to do my job without all of the people that help “behind the scenes” in ministry. I have always given 100% of myself and I will look to my future with eagerness and continue to live each moment to the fullest!
While I was on vacation last month and then had my time away extended because of an unwelcome covid quarantine, I had lots of time to reflect on the amazing life that has and continues to take place at Ascension.
To be alive is to live the love of Jesus! Love is the heartbeat that pumps life throughout the church. A church that isn’t loving isn’t alive. People of God, we are alive! We are living the love of Jesus! And over the nine years that I have served with you in God’s mission at Ascension, I have seen the love of Jesus alive in you.
As you faithfully pray for those in your lives and in the world who need love in their life. As you gather to be filled with Jesus’ love through the gift of his body and blood and grow through learning and serving opportunities. As you have named your fears and honored your hopes for your life, for Ascension, and for the world. As you have welcomed new people to our faith family and continue to care for each other in love. And as you have gathered donations and generously contributed to give away the love of Jesus to others.
It is evident that we are alive and filled with the love of Jesus not only for those within our family of faith but those outside of it. Ascension is alive! There is excitement and positive energy about how much we have grown coming out of the pandemic along with all the possibilities the future holds as we continue living in the love of Jesus!
I would like to take a moment to say thank you for your faithfulness, for the ways you live in love, for the ways you support the ministries of Ascension that spread this love to those who are most in need of receiving it. We would not be alive without each other nor without the love of God flowing in us and through us. So let us continue to focus on the ways that we are alive, that we live the love, that God is at work in and through us. And let us recommit ourselves to each other and to God to remain invested in living in love.
Part of that investment involves us showing up to receive what we need for life – to be fed and nourished by God in worship and fellowship so that God’s love can flow into us. Part of that investment involves us giving what God has first given us – sharing our gifts and abilities in the life of the congregation and supporting the ministries through financial gifts that not only give life to Ascension but in combination with the gifts of other churches give life to the whole world. Part of that investment involves us making time to grow in faith – to learn more about who God is, who we are as God’s beloved people, and how God wants us to share that love with others; through discipleship and outreach opportunities.
To be alive is to live the love of Jesus! So show up to receive, give what God has given you, grow in faith, and live God’s love today and always.
In the month of February, Ascension celebrates Love Your Church/Love Your World. Each year we spend time spreading the love of God inside and outside the walls of Ascension.
Always and in all ways, we want to say thank you for the tending of our shared ministry through your financial support. In February, we also invite members and friends to support the ministries of our community by providing donations of items to offset the needs of budgeted ministry. We invite you to choose a heart from the windows of the narthex/lobby to purchase items.
Love Your Church
This year, we’re asking for donations to offset the cost of the kitchen remodeling project. Consider making a donations to partially pay for one of the big ticket items below. We’re also asking for donations of office and other supplies.
Kitchen Appliances Double wall oven – $2,700 Double oven with range – $1,800 Fire suppression hood – $8,900 Commercial refrigerator – $3,800 Triple-bay sink – $1,400
Supplies Napkins, paper towels, paper plates (sm & lg) Ziplock bags (gallon & sandwich) Press ‘n’ Seal wrap Clorox wipes Windex
Office Supplies Paper (8 ½ x 11) Legal pads (reg. & mini) Stamps Plain envelopes, variety of sizes
The Magi have gone home. The Christmas decorations are all put away…well most of them. Our Nativity is still celebrating the birth of the newborn king, the visit of the shepherds, the gifts of the Wise men, and the humble beginnings of our Savior. During the season of Advent into Christmas, we often rearrange our living room and dining room to allow more space for the Christmas tree. When the tree disappears, the furniture often rearranges. Such is life.
It is no different here at Ascension. We have been on a journey of discovery over the past twelve months. How much can we do, exactly, without a functioning kitchen and the loss of two bathrooms? Well, the answer is ALMOST ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING. We have provided for the receptions for several celebrations of life. We have journeyed through Lent while gathering at long tables in the narthex/lobby for soup suppers. We have pushed countless people down the hall to the functioning bathrooms even through the great day of Easter with more than 700 in worship. More platters, bowls, pitchers, and coffee pots have been washed in the kitchenette in the Youth Room and the sink in the sacristy than anyone ever expected. What joy to do all those things with smiles on our faces most of the time. What joy to know we are so close to the end of this chapter of remodeling.
We have countertops ordered for the kitchen with early February as the target date for installation which allows the electrician to return to finish and then the painter returns to finish and then the city inspects and then…well, one can dream. We are so close to completion, and we are indebted to so many to bring these projects to a close and to countless more who have dragged dishes back and forth from the storage room/prayer room/meeting room/ new office space to West Hall and East Hall and back again. We also have several members who have monitored costs and adjusted plans and worked together with contractors and plumbers and painters and installers and appliance companies and HVAC companies. When someone said, “It takes a village.” It truly does. In our case: a community to craft the story to move us to completion.
All that being said, I would also offer that for the month of February we are celebrating “Love Your Church, Love Your World” once again. It continues to be a blessing to offer opportunities for members and friends to tend items that support the ministry of our church while at the same time looking out beyond our walls to support ministry on a local, national, and global scale. The generosity of this community never ceases to amaze me as I am often surprised as many of you say yes again and again to sharing the love of Jesus in tangible ways.
This year, “Love Your Church, Love Your World” will focus on the necessities of day-to-day church ministry, tending the continued work of completing the kitchen, and the continued expansion of ministry through our sister churches in San Jorge and Usulután, El Salvador. The sanctuary windows will once again be filled with hearts to offer you opportunity to share in the work of ministry to the glory of God.
As we enter February, you are invited to join me in providing financial offset to the needs of our kitchen remodel. Certainly, there are those among us who can afford to purchase one of these appliances outright. Lord knows, I am not one of them. BUT, I can afford a portion. I wonder if you would consider a gift of a portion of an appliance. Below is a list of the new appliances for the kitchen and their cost.
Double Wall Oven – $2,700
Double Oven with Range – $1,800
Fire Suppression Hood – $8,900
Commercial Refrigerator – $3,800
Triple Bay Sink – $1,400
Coffee Machine – $1,600 (This has been purchased already – Praise the Lord!)
Chest Freezer – $600 (This has been purchased already.)
For our sister churches in El Salvador, we continue to work towards sustainability. Our continued support of the two hardware stores is essential to the partial funding of our sister church in Usulután where Pastor Julio leads the congregation of El Buen Pastor (Good Shepherd Lutheran Church). In San Jorge, we work with Pastora Blanca and the congregation of El Milagro de Dios (Miracle of God Lutheran Church) to support the education of young people and provide the community in San Jorge with a place of safety and strength in the ongoing work of the church among the residents of San Jorge. It is always a moment of amazement to be reminded that most households live on a monthly income of far less than $150. Imagine?! We are excited to begin to plan to send a delegation of Ascension members to El Salvador in 2024.
The windows will be filled with hearts. How will your heart be filled with joy in the month of February? I invite you to join me in tending the ministry and mission of God in the world through “Love Your Church, Love Your World” and everything else that will come as we listen to the call of our Lord Jesus and do our best to follow.
What a year we had in 2022. Ascension has continued to thrive in telling the story of the love of Jesus and I am grateful for your faithfulness and for your dedication to our God and this community of faith.
We continue to lift the importance of children in our midst. The joy of multi-generational gathering in worship and ministry. We are also celebrating the journey of living in this “holy experiment” of one congregation worshipping in two languages. Our Advent Concert Worship and Children’s Christmas Program Worship were two examples of hearing voices raised in praise of our God in both English and Spanish. One of the highlights of the last part of 2022 was the number of visitors we saw joining our community in worship and at other events. Journey to Bethlehem and Las Posadas offered wonderful opportunities to welcome new faces into our midst to experience the joy of sharing in the excitement of this community of faith.
As we enter the season of Epiphany, we find ourselves reveling in the light of Christ. Where the star of Bethlehem was leading us toward the manger in the season of Advent, the light of Epiphany surrounds us and invites us to live in the light. What joy to gather in these weeks of Epiphany to hear the stories of the life of Jesus and to reflect on how we learn from Jesus how to live and love.
How we live and love is our reflection of God’s light in our lives. I am grateful to be among so many who live out God’s love by inviting, welcoming, and tending those around you. I am humbled to continue to serve God and Ascension as one of your pastors. What joy to hear you tell the stories of introduction and welcome, moments of hospitality and excitement meeting someone new. Dear friends, we should always be ready to tell the story of God’s love, our faith, and the journey God continues to bless. Revel in the light, people of God, the joy of the Lord is our strength.
We expect to welcome new members to our community on Palm Sunday in early April. If you know someone who is considering looking for a church or is ready to join our community, please let Pastor Tony or me know. We are happy to reach out to connect and answer questions.
Blessings to you in these new days of Christmas on our way to Epiphany.
Happy New Year! Now that we’ve got that out of the way, what’s next? Well, one of the irritating things about a new year is this business of new year resolutions. For many people it’s typical to step into the new year by setting new goals and aspirations. It’s something that tends to require a reordering of priorities and usually involves writing goals down on paper or creating cell phone reminders or encouraging notes on our computer home screen and then aligning our daily habits to those goals. We all make them – or at least feel like we should make them. But like new Christmas toys, too often they soon end up broken and tossed aside.
I think it’s safe to say if we gathered a list of resolutions from Ascension members we’d no doubt see goals ranging from the ever-popular losing weight, to sticking with an exercise program, to developing a more regular prayer life to being more kind, to being a better spouse, parent, sibling, or friend. All things that are intended to improve our lives.
Recently when I led a study on the Book of Joy, I asked group members, “What brings you the most joy?” Their consensus answer was “relationships and connections with others.” If this is indeed true, and I believe it is, then as we look ahead to this new year, I wonder if we might move relationships to the forefront of our minds as we ponder setting our new year resolutions. First in our relationship with God, and then in our relationships with others. Because if I remember scripture correctly this sounds familiar to something Jesus said – love God and love your neighbors.
As we step into this new year I wonder if each of us would consider these words every time we encounter the clerk at the post office, the receptionist at the doctor’s office, the people who clean your office building, and pick up your trash and recycling. The cashier, bagger, or stock person where you buy groceries, or the people who deliver your packages along with every other person in this world regardless of their race, religion, political affiliation, financial status, language spoken, skin color, country of origin or anything else and remember all of them are God’s children and deserving of love, welcome, acceptance, respect, and compassion.
With this in mind, I pray that your resolutions and mine will all lead toward the peace and joy on earth that we celebrate in the birth of Jesus at Christmas. May the joy of Christ be with you always throughout this new year and beyond.
I find myself struggling with trying to decide what to write about this month. Do I write about the exciting aspects of ministry this past December? We had our first early morning celebration of the annunciation. And when I say early morning, I mean 5:30 am worship on a Monday morning. And not just any Monday morning, but the Monday after the Advent concert when nearly all of our families had already been at church both Saturday night and all morning Sunday. We were unsure what to expect, but we had a full sanctuary, including several visitors. We enjoyed worship led by mariachi musicians who sang the traditional songs of the Festival of Guadalupe and shared breakfast together at the end of worship.
Las Posadas
Or what about Las Posadas? It was our fourth year hosting this living advent devotion and celebration and it was bigger and better than ever, even in the cold. We were excited this year to open the children’s pageant to all of Ascension’s children, so we were led by a multicultural parade of Bible characters, sheep, donkeys, and cows. We needed two piñatas for all of the fun! It was a fun night of fellowship between native English speakers and native Spanish speakers, Ascension members and many visitors.
Personally, I finished my seventh semester of seminary and was approved for ordination. There is so much I could write about what it is like to be this close to the end of school!
Perhaps it would be better for me to write a more forward looking article on all of the exciting things to come. On January 3, I will be leaving for sixteen days for a seminary course in Israel. For reasons that I don’t understand, according to seminary I have not had any cross-cultural experiences. While I feel like the work I have been doing as a Salvadoran immigrant in a US seminary should have counted as my cross-cultural experience, I won’t complain too much if it means I “must” go to Israel with experts on the area. I am both excited and nervous about this opportunity.
Maybe this is an opportunity to tell you about our next Holy Day we will be observing.
Los Reyes Magos
The Three Kings will be arriving at Ascension on Sunday, January 8 at 10:45 am. We will welcome them with a potluck lunch after worship. Special music guests, Puerto Rican Band Cache MKE will provide music for worship and lunch.
In several Spanish speaking countries, this is the day children receive their gifts, just like baby Jesus did. The Magi are the ones that bring presents, not Santa. In keeping with the tradition of exchanging gifts on Three Kings Day, there will be a $5 secret Santa gift exchange at lunch. You are invited to bring a gift that matches your category (Girl, Boy, Man, Woman) and participate.
Lunch will include a traditional rosca. If you’ve never eaten a rosca before, it includes a surprising ingredient, plastic baby Jesus. Find out what it means to receive the Baby Jesus in your rosca!
There is so much to celebrate here at Ascension, whether we are celebrating what just happened or looking forward to what is on its way. May you find the moments in your own life to enjoy the memories of the good times of the year that has just ended, or happiness in looking forward to what is to come.
