Sabbatical Gratitude

Now that sabbatical for Pastor Chris and Ascension has come to an end I feel it’s time to share my gratitude to everyone who helped make this time of growth, discovery, and renewal everything the Holy Spirit gifted it to be.

Thank you to my family for their patience and support leading up to and over the past 3 months; it gave me the courage and strength to trust that God prepared me to be pastor in this moment.

Thank you to Pastor Chris for all the prep work he put in before he left to ensure things would run as smoothly as possible while he was away.

Next I’d like to thank our staff for their openness to a period of new leadership and for their willingness to jump in without hesitation and take on extra tasks to ensure that we continued to offer the very best of Ascension to our members and visitors.

And no Thank You would be complete without thanking you, the members of Ascension. You reached out daily with phone calls, emails, and texts; you volunteered to help bake bread, assist in worship, set up, clean up, and everything in between. And there was no shortage of others who regularly stopped in the office or pulled me aside to ask a powerful question that I’m only starting to fully comprehend or appreciate – “What can I do to help you?”

We, and by we I mean the whole community of Ascension, welcomed and embraced this sabbatical time and we learned, laughed, and played. We struggled, pondered, and dreamed, and we mourned and celebrated. What I rejoice in most is that we did all of it together. I’m honored by God’s call to be your pastor, colleague, and friend and I am so excited for whatever God has planned for us in the days ahead as we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit – together.

Please know how grateful I am to you and for you. As we launch into the next steps of our journey together I pray that the energy and excitement that has been building throughout the summer and as we welcomed Pastor Chris back, will inspire us to confidently continue to be the people of God in this place and beyond. I pray that the Spirit of God will stir, challenge, empower, encourage and send us to be light for the world.

All this brings me to my final but most important thank you of all – God. I thank God for calling and refining me to be who I am today and continuing to love me into all God created me to be. What a gift we have to be the people of God and what an even greater joy we have to be God’s love to the world around us.

~Pastor Tony

The Beginning of the End

I started seminary knowing that I would be away from home for the first week of each semester for prolog week. My first year of seminary was also Tony’s last, so we were on campus together at the start of both semesters. The next year-and-a-half of prolog weeks were entirely virtual due to the pandemic, followed by an optional face to face in January of 2022. With the hours my wife was working and a difficult holiday season, I was happy for the opportunity to participate in prolog week from home. This September, it was time for me to go back to campus. It felt like it was my third prolog week and not my seventh one. In El Salvador, I commuted to and from university for my undergraduate degree. This was the first time in my life for me to go on to campus and stay there without anyone looking out for me. It felt like I was achieving a milestone in life, even if it was twenty years after most people in the US have that experience.

At the same time, it became very real that I was in my last year of school. In addition to the course work, a whole new list of papers and projects has been added to my plate as I work through the synod’s candidacy process to be approved as a potential candidate for a pastoral position. So if I seem a little jittery, no need to worry – it’s just a sign of too much coffee.

Coming to my final year also brings about the uncertainty of what happens next. My back has started to let me know that my years as a landscaper are coming to an end. What will my next chapter look like? I do not know. Is it back to school for a new career? I do not know. Does it mean moving? I do not know. Will there be enough opportunities here in the Milwaukee area? I do not know. What I know and I believe is God’s promise that he will always guide us on our journey in life, even when there are more questions than answers.

Although my anxiety is great, it does not compare to the anxiety that many of you and those around you are suffering. People of God, we all need to remember that God is dwelling and accompanying us through the work of the Holy Spirit.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Jeremiah 29:11

Edwin Aparicio, Pastoral Intern

Walk With Ascension

Pathways to Mental Wellness

Do you ever feel like you are living in a world that is turned upside down? It’s hard not to when day after day we are all faced with violence, economic challenges, political unrest, COVID fears, family and job stresses. You name it!

We recognize people’s hurt, anxieties and fear. To support one another through these challenges, we are launching a new ministry here at Ascension which we are calling “Pathways to Mental Wellness.” Our goal is to offer support, resources and a listening ear to help one another navigate the waters of our everyday lives.

We are kicking off this new ministry by inviting you to attend a special reflective prayer service on Sunday, Oct. 16, at 6 p.m. At this service we will offer some scripture, music and prayer in hopes of offering you some much deserved moments of calm and respite. Think of it as a time to just “be” so you can clear the noise and feel the presence of the Holy Spirit.

These moments of time are intended for everyone: Young, old, men, women and children. We encourage you to invite your friends, neighbors and anyone that is feeling weighed down by everything going on in our world. Come….You are invited…..Peace be with you!

Steve & Carol Spieker, Ministry Leaders

GriefShare

We are in a full 12-week session of GriefShare again this fall. If you or a loved one has a suffered loss and would like some help and support, this may be the program for you. This group will provide help and encouragement after the death of a spouse, child, family member or friend. Our program continues through November 15th in our Youth Room at the church. We will meet for 12 consecutive sessions. Mary Lou Charapata and Brenda Lytle will facilitate the Grief Share group. If you would like to be a part of our Grief Share program please contact Brenda Lytle, RN, Director of Care Ministries at brenda@ascensionelca.org or 262-547-8518.

Care Ministries Needs Volunteers

Are you looking for some volunteer opportunities to help others? We have openings in two of our Care Ministries!

  • Meal Ministry: We need additional people to make meals for members in our congregation that may need some short-term assistance. Please contact Iva Richards.
  • Transportation Ministry: We need drivers to assist some members of our congregation (short-term) that need to get to an appointment or to get to church on Sundays. You don’t need to lift or carry medical equipment. Please contact Kay Stone.

Pastoral Assistants

If you or a family member is hospitalized and would like a visit from a pastor or pastoral assistant, please call the church office at 262-547-8518.

Cancer Care Ministry

Our Cancer Care Ministry helps members of our congregation. If you know of a congregational member or family that could use some assistance walking their cancer journey, please contact Brenda Lytle.

Young at Heart (55+)

Young at Heart meets on the 3rd Wednesday of each month starting at noon for a potluck, play cards and enjoy fellowship. Bring a dish to pass if you’re able.

Be the Village Ministry

In September, supporters from Ascension helped raise awareness for foster care by walking through the Milwaukee County Zoo wearing Chosen t-shirts, bags and buttons. Supporters learned important fostering information at specific passport check-points and gathered for a picnic lunch.

All About the Kids!

So many activities, classes and fun begin for Ascension kids over the next few weeks!

JOLT (6th-8th gr.)

It is time! We are so excited. We meet Thursday, Sept. 22, at 6 p.m. (Note time change!) Parent and student are expected to join us for registration and time together. We will do our best to have you out of here by 7:15 p.m. JOLT registration fee is $40 and you can use our contactless payment, CC reader, write a check, or pay cash. Questions: Email Pastor Chris, pc@ascensionelca.org.

CRASH (9th-12th gr.)

Confirmation Meeting: Are you a 9th grader ready to be confirmed? This message is for you! Prospective confirmands and a parent should join Pastor Chris and Pastor Tony at 12 p.m. this Sunday, Sept. 25, for lunch and information around Confirmation Sunday, Oct. 30, at both the 8:30 and 10:45 a.m. services. Questions to Pastor Chris, pc@ascensionelca.org.

CRASH Is Coming! CRASH will meet on Oct. 9 at 12 p.m. for lunch and time to catch-up. Bring a parent with you.

BLAST (ages 3-5th gr.)

BLAST Begins This Sunday: Families with children ages 3-years-old through 5th grade are invited to the first BLAST of the year at 9:50 a.m. in the sanctuary on Sunday, Sept. 25. Register online https://tinyurl.com/BLAST2022-23, or just show-up and sign-in.

Kindergarten Stepping Stone: Kindergarten students and parents are invited to join Pastor Tony this Sunday, Sept. 25, at 9:50 a.m. in West Hall for some fun Bible exploration to hear about God’s love for them and prepare them to receive their first Bibles. RSVP and questions to Pastor Tony, tony@ascensionelca.org.

BLAST @ Green Meadows RSVP Due This Sunday! Please RSVP and pay no later than this Sunday, Sept. 25, https://tinyurl.com/GreenMeadows2022 for this family event on on Sunday, Oct. 2, including worship on the farm and a potluck. Cost is $12 per person (under 2 free).

Music Ministries for Youth

Sing and Ring With Us! Choir and handbells have resumed but there is always room for you! Both groups welcome ages high school and up, and meet on Wednesday evenings. Need to miss a rehearsal or a Sunday morning? No problem; everyone misses from time to time. Email vicki@ascensionelca.org, with questions or to join.

Children’s Choir Resumes: Children’s choir for grades K-6 begins on Thursday, Oct. 6, 5 to 5:40 p.m. Busy with fall sports? Children are welcome to join in at any time during the year. Contact vicki@ascensionelca.org to sign up.

Welcome ~ Bienvenidos!

Join us on Sunday, Sept. 18, for a special worship service at 10 a.m., incorporating our English worship services and our Spanish worship.

After worship, plan to stay for a time of fun and fellowship. BLAST Rally Day is hosting kid time with inflatables in the garden area. There will also be other games and activities and door prizes. Food trucks will start serving right after the service and will serve until 1 p.m. or as needed. There will be $4 pizza slices or empanadas, $5 sides, $10 sandwiches, $15 dinner plates. There will also be an ice cream cart and snow cone tent. Since food trucks often can’t accept credit cards, please bring cash to pay for your lunch!

We will have door prizes, conversation and a chance to re-connect with old friends and meet some new ones. It doesn’t matter how long it has been since you or a friend has been at church, Sept. 18 will be a day to come home or make a new home. Please invite your friends who may be in need of a church home.

Welcome Home

What does it mean to you to be welcomed? Welcomed home, welcomed back, welcomed in, or welcomed for? When and by whom have you experienced welcome? And how did it make you feel?

Being welcomed makes us feel accepted, appreciated, embraced and there’s usually a sense of gladness connected to it. I think it’s safe to say we all want to feel welcomed – by our family, friends, community, church, colleagues, and maybe even more so by those who are strangers to us.

I’m not sure I can identify just one feeling that comes with being welcomed, but I do know when I’m welcomed I feel joyful, valued, a sense of belonging, and I’d dare even say, loved. And if we’re being completely honest then we also have to be mindful that there will be some who will undoubtedly experience a lack of welcome or even worse, being unwelcome.

“…for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” 

Matthew 25:35-36

When we’re welcomed and extend the same there’s something deeper that takes place. Welcome at its most basic level is about inviting and being invited in. It’s an invitation into a relationship that reflects openness, acceptance, care, forgiveness, and understanding. And as Jesus reminds us in Matthew 25, when we extend welcome to one another, it’s ultimately God that we’re inviting in and accepting welcome from.

There’s also another aspect of welcoming that I think we tend to take for granted, and that’s the importance of celebration. Picture the running embrace a parent receives from a small child when they return home from work, or the rejoicing that happens when a child returns from college, or the celebration of a loved one who returns from a vacation. Being welcomed is a celebration, no matter how many times we experience it, or take it for granted.

With this in mind, welcome is the theme that gathers us together again as we launch into a new season of fall programming. On Sunday, Sept. 18, we’ll celebrate the return of Pastor Chris and family from a 3-month time of sabbatical rest. That same day we’ll celebrate Rally Day and the welcome back of BLAST, JOLT, and CRASH students and families as children and youth ministries resume again. We’re also excited to welcome back Ascension members who have stepped away for a time and have been longing to return. And finally, we’re thrilled to welcome in friends and visitors that we’ll invite to join us in celebrating the amazing community of Ascension.

Our Welcome Home Celebration on Sept. 18 begins with a gathering of the entire diverse community of Ascension at a single, blended, bilingual worship service that will take place in the sanctuary at 10 a.m. Following worship, there will be a variety of food trucks on-site selling delicious items so the celebration can continue over lunch. BLAST will be providing several inflatables in the memorial gardens to entertain kids and families. And it will all be a wonderful celebration, well at least it has the potential to be…but that’s only if you come to be welcomed – welcomed home…welcomed back…welcomed in…and welcomed for. You are welcome! All are welcome! And I am so excited to welcome you!

Pastor Tony

God’s Work, Our Building

The Holy Spirit continues to guide us in our call to proclaim the living word. I remember a few years ago when Ascension only offered worship in English. Thanks to the work that the Holy Spirit has done through each one of you, today we have the blessing that we worship in English and in Spanish. 

A few weeks ago a visitor came to our Spanish service. I had the opportunity to talk and share with her the kind of community we are. The highlight in our conversation was her happy surprise at hearing the services in English and Spanish take place at the same time. She said, “Here if in a family some speak only English or only Spanish, they have the option to attend together and worship in the language of their choice?!” Her mom only speaks English, she speaks English and Spanish. Now she has found a community of faith where she has the option of coming to church with her mother and worshiping each of them in their preferred language. In the past, they were not able to go to church together.

This is not the only story. For a few weeks, a couple has been attending Spanish worship. They want to get married. The man speaks English and Spanish, the woman speaks only English, however she has been attending the service in Spanish. I had the opportunity to talk with the couple and offered them the option that if they wanted to worship in Spanish some weeks and in English other weeks, they would be welcome to do that at our church. They have the option of a bilingual wedding at Ascension so both sides of the family feel welcomed and included. I don’t know if they will take advantage of this opportunity, but they appreciate that as a family they will all be authentically welcomed at Ascension. At Ascension, families don’t have to choose between worshiping in their chosen language or worshiping at the same time as a family. 

All these things have only been possible thanks to the work that the Holy Spirit is doing in each one of us. I pray that God will continue to enlighten each of us. 

May the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with each of us as we find ways to use what we already have to do God’s work.

Edwin Aparicio, Pastoral Intern

Council Welcome

Welcome Back!

This month we welcome Pastor Chris back from his sabbatical. We look forward to seeing him and his family again and sharing our stories.

But they are not the only ones we welcome back. Perhaps you, like I did, returned recently from a trip out of town. Perhaps you have missed a few (or more than a few) Sundays due to a busy summer schedule. Perhaps you have been away from church for a longer time, for whatever reason.

We also look forward to the return of music ensembles and Sunday school and small group (and more) programs after their summer hiatus. To all of you, we say, “Welcome back!”

At our summer meeting, your church council reviewed the list of projects that have been completed or are on-going in and around our church building. A lot of work has been done, much of which we can see, as well as some maintenance and repair items that aren’t as visible. We are amazed that this work has been done (and paid for!) without seeking additional loans. The council appreciates the financial commitment and support of the congregation. We are already starting the budget process for 2023 and look forward to that support as we continue and grow our work.

It is an exciting time and a wonderful thing to welcome all to our beautiful church home.

Sincerely,

Susan Otto, Council President

Upcoming Worship August/September

Join us for special worship services with varying times over the next few weeks.

  • Aug. 21: 8:30am (Sanctuary) & 10am (Memorial Gardens), 10am Spanish (East Hall)
  • Aug. 28: 8:30 & 10am (Sanctuary), 10am Spanish (East Hall)
  • Sept. 4: 9:30am Combined worship (Sanctuary), 10am Spanish worship (East Hall)
  • Sept. 11: 8:30 & 10am (Sanctuary), 10am Spanish (East Hall)
  • Sept. 18: Welcome Home Worship, 10am Bilingual (Sanctuary) (Rally Day)

The Light Shines in the Darkness

As I reflect on the current state of our world, I find myself overcome by moments of sadness and anger. And I imagine many if not all of you who read this can relate in some way. The level of people’s stress, uncertainty, fear, worry, and anxiety are elevated to unhealthy levels and daily I hear from people at a loss about what to do or where to turn for comfort much less find any answers how to make things better. 

And even though I’m skilled and experienced in dealing with difficult, stressful, and traumatic circumstances I too need to be careful not to allow these things to overwhelm me. From lost jobs, failed relationships, and difficult diagnoses, to parade tragedies, mass shootings in schools and churches, senseless global wars, political division, environmental destruction, and a global pandemic that just won’t go away, it seems there are plenty of reasons for fear, worry and sadness and sometimes it all feels like a lot to take in.

So, what are we to do then? Where will we find rest or relief from these things that pull us further away from the abundant life that God promises? I know that many of you are exhausted and discouraged, and wonder what’s the use in trying, but I urge you not to give up – don’t lose hope – even if you can’t see the light right now. You are not alone in your suffering, and I don’t mean this to be grim or discouraging, instead I want to remind you that you are not alone – that you do not bear your struggles, grief, fear, sadness, or any of it alone.

In this, I hope you will find encouragement to keep moving forward, keep believing in the possibility of a different reality, keep working toward changing and improving – yourself, your family, your workplace, your church, your neighborhood, community, country, and world. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” (John 1:5) God is reminding us that the darkness in our lives can never extinguish the light, there is always hope, there is always possibility. “With God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26)

My friends, I pray that you will trust in God’s promise, presence, and strength to be with you and carry you through this and every difficult season of life. Even as I struggle alongside you, please know that I am grateful to be on the journey alongside you holding you and our world in prayer, confident that God is working in all things to bring us the peace, joy, and abundant future God is preparing for us. And I hope that each of us will see the worship, community, and ministries here at Ascension as a beacon of God’s light in the darkness and as we do may we each know God’s peace that passes all understanding.

Pastor Tony