So Much to Celebrate! Come and See!

If you have not heard the shouts of joy coming from the rooftop of Ascension, let me share the good news. At the end of July, our mortgage balance finally found life under the $800,000 mark. In 2011, we began the journey of debt reduction with more than $2,200,000. It has been a long journey to this moment, but God has been faithful to us! We give thanks and praise to God for the faithful hearts the Holy Spirit continues to shape within each of you to eliminate the power our mortgage debt holds over Ascension.

We are quickly approaching our fall programming. Sept. 6 welcomes a new Sunday morning worship schedule with the movement of our 9 a.m. service to an 8:30 a.m. start time. Our 10:45 a.m. service remains the same. On Sept. 6 at 10:45 a.m., we will worship outside in the Memorial Gardens to celebrate the beauty of God’s creation. Please joins us. On Sept. 13, we kick-off our new Children’s Ministry programming, which begins at 9:45 a.m. under the ministry umbrella of Tony Acompanado, Director of Faith Formation. We are retiring the legacy of the title Sunday School from our ministry at Ascension and using the title Children’s Ministry. We celebrate the strong energy of volunteers who are coordinating, teaching, storytelling, and helping to shape the fall ministry experiences for our children. Where can you serve? Email Tony, Tony@ascensionelca.org, and he can share a number of short-term or one-time opportunities in which you can be involved to share the gifts God has given you.

We are also re-introducing pastor-led Adult Education on Sunday mornings. On Sept. 13, Tony will share the scope of Faith Formation and the new path for Children’s Ministry. Beginning on Sept. 20, Pastor Angela kicks off our six-week Small Group Campaign, Engaging Scripture Through a Lutheran Christian Lens. I am especially excited to have Ascension offer a pastoral perspective on reading, studying, and interpreting the Bible and then to have small groups dig deeper each week of the campaign. In early November, I will offer three Sundays of education on the book of Luke, which will be our primary preaching text for Dec. 2015–Nov. 2016. There is so much more already being planned and I am excited!

Our Music Ministry is preparing to make a joyful noise in new ways this fall. Please consider taking a leap of faith by joining the choir or ringing a bell. Do you play an instrument? Then, Vicki Taylor, Director of Music Ministries, would love to talk with you about sharing your gift in worship. We are always happy to add communion assistants, readers, ushers to our ministry volunteer lists and we are happy to train you.

Mission Outreach is preparing to offer a wonderful resource and connecting point for members and visitors to share in hands-on ministry outside our church walls. Interested? Keep watching the e-alerts and Facebook for more information. Caring Relationships continues to tend to the connection points in our lives. GriefShare, DivorceCare, and DivorceCare4Kids are all beginning on Sept. 1. These programs offer support structures for people working through some of the most difficult times in their lives. If you know someone suffering through grief or in the midst of divorce, please reach out to Brenda Lytle, Director of Care Ministries, Brenda@ascensionelca.org.

A new member experience called Starting Point begins Sept. 27. I am excited to get to know those who are considering Ascension for their new spiritual home.

And just when it is time for a deep breath – ARISE 2025 is coming together in great ways. The Church Council and ministry leaders have been working on our 2025 vision since last February. We are very excited to watch God shape the years ahead. The council has done much of the behind-the-scenes work and will be ready for the congregation to share in the joy on Sunday, Sept. 27, for a first-round listening/sharing session. The council will revise the visions using comments from the congregation and then be ready to share again at a listening/sharing session on Oct. 25. Finally, with more revision by council, we will hold an unveiling/blessing/acceptance by the congregation at our Annual Meeting on Nov. 8. What a joy to trust in God’s guiding hand.

Finally, on Sept. 13 and 20, we invite everyone to wear nametags to help all of us get to know names and faces – reminders are always a good thing! Speaking of faces, the photo directory is off and running. Have you had your picture taken and updated your information? We are doing the pictures/directory in-house. No pictures to buy! This directory is all about bringing our community together and celebrating the community God has created at Ascension in this time and place.

So much to celebrate! Come and see!

Pastor Chris Marien

(This article was taken from Ascension’s September 2015 newsletter).

The Power of Presence

On Saturday, June 27, my day began at 3:30 a.m. as I made my way to the Milwaukee airport to fly to Seattle because my oldest friend invited me to preach at the worship service at which she was being installed as a new pastor. Flying to Seattle via Chicago meant there would be no time to change clothes before the worship service, so I wore my clerical collar through the airport, on the plane, and at lunch before finally getting to the worship service at 2 p.m.

I do not usually notice the stares, and sometimes glares, of people who see me approaching when I wear my collar. On this day, I traveled with a friend whose dad is a pastor. Several times, Jordan mentioned the stares pointed in my direction. I smiled as I remembered I was wearing my collar; after I put it on, I sometimes forget I’m wearing it. What was surprising to both Jordan and me was the deer-in-the-headlights look that so often confronts me when I travel in my collar. I imagine people have three main reactions: one offers respect and often a smile or head nod; a second is one of disdain (usually because of an experience with the Church where the person was mistreated, judged, or ignored); and the third reaction, which is the most fascinating because it speaks to our world as it is today, is one of complete and utter helplessness. As if some far off memory reminds them that they might know the collar represents something but they are unsure of where to place it or how to interact with it so they give me a wide berth. The symbol of the collar can be both an invitation and a distraction for people. I struggle to find a balance between the two, but I like to believe that the invitations outweigh the distractions.

I joined my friend at the service of installation and preached a message about new beginnings and hope for futures resting squarely in the grace of God. I shared a message that spoke to my friend’s gifts for the ministry and her hunger to share God’s love. And I promised the congregation she is now serving that she would love them but also push them out of their comfort zone. I asked them to consider the future as an adventure to share with their new pastor to the glory of God. At the end of the sermon, I reminded them that God is faithful – that they should feel blessed for being the “luckiest congregation in the ELCA” and invited them to “be at peace.” It was a wonderful day to worship God and to share in the journey of my friend as she begins a new chapter in ministry. The funny thing is – after wearing my collar all morning, through airports, plane rides, and lunch on the beach – it was so hot at the church that my friend invited me to choose to continue wearing my collar or to cool off by changing into a different dress shirt. I chose the cooler shirt, which did not make me that much cooler but did remind me that the journey we travel as people of faith is one that calls us to be wholly present for the good and the not so good moments of this life.

So, my friends, look for the moments in these summer days and remind yourself to be wholly present, so you might share all of who you are with a friend, a child, a parent, a spouse, and especially your God. Perhaps, in these summer days, you might even consider giving your whole self to yourself as a gift – to rest for a quiet time of reconnection with who you truly are and not who think the world expects you to be.

Peace be with you,
Pastor Chris Marien

(This article was taken from Ascension’s August 2015 newsletter)

Good News of Great Joy

I am writing this article as junior high students are preparing to scale the Tower of Terror at our JOLT Adventure Camp, near Crivitz, WI. It is an exciting time to watch them encounter the “challenge by choice” model. They are responsible for their own level of challenge, and almost all of them will choose to move far beyond their original decision to only go “so high” on the Tower of Terror. I often speak of this life we live as a journey of faith. We are certainly watching that journey unfold for our junior high students during this week of Adventure Camp.

The Angel Gabriel said to Mary: “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy.” In this adventure we travel as the people of God at Ascension, God has smiled on us with great blessing in these last weeks of June, and I can share joyful news.

First, I am excited to announce that Vicki Taylor, our Director of Music Ministries, has agreed to accept responsibilities and provide leadership as the Handbell Choir Director as of August 1. What wonderful news for our community!

Second, with the deep and abiding faithfulness of God by our side, we have pondered and prayed about the Children’s Ministry of Ascension. We have had a dedicated team of teachers and parents meeting, interviewing, and researching throughout the region best practices for children’s ministries. After several months, we are now ready to move forward.

I am thrilled to share with you that on August 1, our Director of Youth Ministries, Tony Acompanado, will accept the responsibilities for the shape and direction of Children’s Ministry into the future. Council has invited and Tony has accepted a newly created position – the Director of Faith Formation. Tony will now oversee our children’s ministries, junior high JOLT ministries, and our senior high CRASH ministries. We are already looking to the fall with great anticipation.

The month of July will also see the next step in our 2025 Visioning Process. Caring Relationships and Mission Outreach will each present their current and future vision statements to the church council for review and reflection. Joyful Worship and Spiritual Growth are now in the second phase of redrafting their current and future vision statements for the church council to review a second time. In September and October, we will have the opportunity for the congregation to reflect on and ask questions about the statements and action plans to move us to 2025.

God is offering so much in the midst of these summer months. Please join us in the celebrations of the new design of staff positions and in the continuing visioning for Ascension’s future.

On a side note – July 7 is the day Tony and I leave for the 2015 ELCA Youth Gathering in Detroit, MI, which begins on July 15. We covet your prayers for the final planning, the 20 participants from our own congregation, and the 30,000 other high school students, adult leaders, bishops, and pastors who will join us on the journey. Peace and joy be yours in these summer days.

Pastor Chris Marien

(This article was taken from Ascension’s July 2015 newsletter).

A Future Unfolding

By: Rev. Christian W. Marien

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt – a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ~ Jeremiah 31:31-33

Counting down the days to summer used to be a joy in the season of spring. In grade school, summer vacation meant long leisurely mornings and playing outside. In high school, summer days meant getting to my summer job by 8:30 a.m. and working until 5 p.m. if I wanted to fill my wallet and savings account. Now, as a parent, counting down the days to summer means navigating childcare, day camps, and new routines for drop-offs and pick-ups. Needless to say, I do not count down the days to summer vacation with the same enthusiasm as I did as a child.

The days are surely coming says the Lord, prophesies Jeremiah, reminding us God is not finished with God’s people. It is a word spoken of a future yet to unfold. I am grateful for church council under the direction of Council President Nada Draeger as Vision ARISE 2025 begins to bring focus to the future direction of Ascension. Church council, staff, wing and leg leaders, and other ministry leaders gathered in May for the first substantial piece of our new vision of the future for the glory of God. The excitement was palpable. We are indebted to Craig Greenwood who lead the retreat and laid the groundwork for the months ahead. 2025 might be ten years away but soon enough we will welcome 2024 and look to the next ten years of ministry of Ascension. Daunting? Not at all! Exciting? Absolutely! The Church of God seeks new expression even as we love and live what we now know.

The days are surely coming says the Lord. Let them come, Lord God. A new covenant – yes! A renewing of your promise to be among your people – yes! As the Holy Spirit moves among us, may we seek out those places and people where we realize the Lord’s presence.

In the next few months, I will extend invitations to you to share in listening sessions to help shape ARISE 2025, Ascension’s vision for the next ten years. The church council, wing leaders, and members serving in ministries of each of Ascension’s butterfly wings are beginning the next step of the visioning process. So the excitement grows!

Where will the Holy Spirit lead? How will we be moved by the tending of our God? Interested in joining in the conversation? Let me know. Give Nada a call. Talk to any council member. We would all love to have you join us in this second leg of the journey towards the future.

Counting down the days to summer used to remind me that the school year was over. Now as an adult, the summer days find different shape and purpose. I am glad to share in this journey of faith with each of you. Join in worship inside and outside this summer. Find your summer days marked a by a moment of prayer – giving thanks to God for a day of rest or a time of renewal with family and friends. Finally, ask God to help you recognize the presence of God in those around you and in yourself. And instead of counting down the days to the end of summer, imagine counting down the days towards a fresh fall and a future filled with hope for our church and our world to the glory of God.

Peace be with you!

(This article was taken from Ascension’s June 2015 newsletter).

The Hovering of the Holy Spirit

How does one begin to say goodbye? Just a few weeks after Easter and already we are prepare to say goodbye to our Savior as Jesus ascends into Heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father. We feel like we hardly have enough time with Jesus. Even though we have the Word to keep us in tune with the teachings of Jesus and the will of God, it never seems fair at the end of the day that God did not allow for a little more time with God’s people while residing in human flesh. The day of Ascension flies by on May 14 this year. We lose Jesus on the cross after some major ministry and teaching, only to be reunited with him at the empty tomb. And in our great joy, realizing that our Savior has now risen from the dead, we get 50 more days of appearances before he ascends into his Father’s heavenly kingdom.

It just doesn’t seem like enough. I want so much more. I want the time to spend talking with Jesus after he has been to the other side. What is death like? How did it feel to push aside the stone? What was it like to laugh in the face of death as you pulled the grave clothes from your restored body? So many questions we never get to ask. And then, before we know it, the day of Ascension is here and our Savior ascends into heaven and we are left with…what? Is there anything better than Jesus? Why not stay on earth and coordinate a new way of life – a little beginner’s course on living a new life in the afterglow of the resurrection?

However, Jesus clearly tells us that after he ascends into heaven, we will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit:

I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. ~ John 14:16-17

What great promise can be heard in those words? It is as if Jesus says, “Not only have I died on the cross for your sins, but in case that wasn’t enough to convince you, I will be sending someone to make the whole idea of salvation and the free gift of God’s love and grace more understandable.” The Holy Spirit is the person who moves in and among us, preparing us for God’s will and to hear God’s voice and pushing us in directions we sometimes would rather not go. This is the person that now stands as witness to God’s great glory and who helps to change our minds, warm our hearts, surprise us, challenge us, and propel us into the work God calls us to do as the people of God.

If we still do not understand what the ascension of Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit have in common, Jesus offers these words:

I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. ~ John 14: 25-26

It’s as if, in God’s great wisdom, the saints are being equipped to do the will and work of God long before we ever heard words like empowerment, equipping, and the priesthood of all believers. So while there are still millions of alleluias to be shouted from rooftops as we rejoice in the resurrection of Jesus, the tears of goodbye can be set aside in order to do his work.

We are not passive observers of the ministry of Jesus, his life, death, and resurrection. We are full-fledged priests and participants in the will and the work of the One who is, who was, and who is to come. Come and be party to the great glory of God. Let your hearts fill to overflowing as your joy brings service and your service finds expression. Let that expression be to the glory of God in both the ministry of Ascension, and especially, in the life you lead each day.

With alleluias still ringing,
Pastor Chris

(This article was first published in Ascension’s May 2015 newsletter).

Joy in the Journey

Dear People of God,

There is joy in the journey of this life. It’s all about the journey. We always talk about journeys as if they are something we are trying to complete. We speak of extended vacation, the terminal illness, the marriages on the edge of divorce, the job we wish we could quit, the educational process, the committee meetings that seem to go nowhere, the life we live each day, and the report that needs to be finished yesterday. We live our lives hoping to complete our tasks a little early so that we might have a little free time over the weekend, or when we retire, or when spring break comes. And somehow, we end up behind again. We look for the easy way out and road most traveled. We look to any option that might help us finish a project sooner or relieve the suffering more quickly. Yet when it is all over, most of the time, we find that we had to travel the entire journey to get to where we most needed to go.

Holy Week is one of those journeys. One of those journeys that offers no easy solution and no quick release of the suffering and pain that will come in the days ahead. Jesus walks the road, measures each step on this journey, from the triumphant entry into Jerusalem to the pitiful, humiliating death on the cross. We walk this road too. Jesus helps us to measure our steps as well. We look to the joy of Easter morning as the end of the journey. We know that there will be pain, sadness, betrayal, and guilt along the way, but we have this feeling that somehow it has to be this way in order for us to conclude the journey at Easter, at the empty tomb.

Yet, we have to look past the empty tomb. For Jesus, and for us, the empty tomb of Easter morning is not the end of the journey, it is only a measured step. The empty tomb surprises us with joy on Easter morning. A light in a journey of darkness. Yet it is just a glimpse of the light that will flood all around us when we enter into the Kingdom of God.

The end of the journey is not Easter morning. The end of the journey is eternal life with Jesus in the Kingdom of God. Easter morning and the empty tomb only share with us a glimpse of the end of the journey. Yet, the end will not come until a place has been prepared for each of us.

Holy Week (Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday) helps to push our tired feet farther on the journey. When we enter into the gates of Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, we walk with our heads held high as our Savior is hailed as king and palm branches rise and fall in joyful praise of Jesus. Maundy Thursday brings us to an upper room away from the rest of the world, where we will eat with close friends, have our feet washed by our Savior, and go to pray with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Good Friday will take us to the highest levels of government as Pontius Pilate debates with Jesus and finally hands Jesus over to be crucified. We will stand at the cross, in darkness, and feel the tears on our face and hear the hammers as they pound the nails into the flesh of Jesus. We will stand in the shadows and feel helpless. We will wait, with the whole creation, for Jesus to breathe his last so that we can carry him to the tomb and prepare his body for burial ourselves. And we will wait and pray and hope for something miraculous to happen.

So do not look for the end of the journey, rather find joy in the journey. Find your joy in Jesus Christ, and, all of a sudden, the joy of the journey will be complete and the end of the journey will come too soon.

With prayers for your journey ~ Pastor Chris Marien

Broken but Forgiven

A few years ago, a friend of mine sent me a reflection. It struck me for its honesty and wisdom and so I have kept it in my files to reread it as the season of Lent unfolds.

This past week I went to a very touching confirmation service. It was refreshing to worship as a welcomed guest with a different liturgical tradition. As I heard familiar scripture, the words seemed to leap off the page and dance in new ways right in front of my eyes. Call it the Spirit or the fact that my kids were quietly drawing at my feet, but I was actually able to listen. The sermon progressed with a common theme and was predictable until the preacher turned to the adult confirmand and said, “If you are saying yes to the church, because you think the church is going to make you whole, it is not.” At this point I sat up straight in my chair. What was he daring to say? As a preacher he was being almost too bold; he was telling the tenuous truth about the church that is rarely recognized or overtly advertised. He continued, “The church is made up of broken people, broken parts of the body of Christ.” As he explained the church as a motley band of faithful followers who sometimes get it right and at other times get it absolutely wrong, my heart swelled with emotion. He said to the young woman confirming her faith, “Your job is not to fix the church; your job is to join the church in its brokenness and its desire to love God and the world. By the end of the sermon, my eyes were laced with tears. It is true! The church does not make you completely whole or always happy. The church is made up of people, broken people who live broken lives, tainted by sin.

Often people shop for the perfect church, seeking out the church that does not look broken, rundown, stuck in a rut, or out of date. Will they ever find a church that is not at some level broken? Sometimes members just stop going to church, frustrated with this issue or that person so it seems easier to just give up and not go. How can churches heal and grow when people give up, don’t talk, and avoid brokenness? As a church we are transitioning into the season of Lent…when we individually and corporately follow Jesus to the cross. It is not an easy road, but a necessary journey of intense introspection. In many ways we are asked to feel the splinters of our own brokenness and rediscover our need for Jesus who offers complete forgiveness. The church is made up of broken, yet forgiven parts. The church is not a perfect place, but it is a place where forgiveness is given perfectly.

Since the church God calls us to share and to be is not about us as individuals, there is a different sense of identity offered in the church compared to the rest of the world. We can be a part of a country club and yet among the club members there is a level of knowing of who owns what and who interacts with whom. On the field of sport, the team may find an identity under a team name, but individual accomplishment is still sought and rewarded. In almost every aspect of society, individual identity is preferred over the identity of the community.

I can only speak to one example where this has not been true. In the year 2000, when the cast of the television show Friends was preparing to go through contract talks, the six stars were brought in separately for negotiations. Yet, after the first meeting, the six stars met and realized they had more power as a cohesive community standing together than standing alone. The result was a higher equal salary for the stars because they stood as one instead of continuing the tradition of every man for himself.

As we continue the Lenten journey toward Holy Week, I am reminded that in our common identity as children of God we are able to find strength for future steps. I thought it might be helpful to share encouraging Scriptures in these days under the shadow of the cross.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching. ~ Hebrews 10:24-25

For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. ~ Romans 12:4-5

How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! ~ Psalms 133:1
I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. ~ 1 Corinthians 1:10

I pray that this Lent will be a time of seeking for our hearts, that we too might join the whole church in its brokenness and its desire to love God and the world. God be with you in these days. See you in church. – Pastor Chris

(This article was first printed in Ascension’s March 2015 newsletter).

The Light of Epiphany

Dear People of God,
I am borrowing the words of one of my favorite poets, Ann Weems, to share with you the hope of this new year. She has an incredible gift to describe with such clarity my feelings of these days after Christmas. She writes:

3 wise menI must admit to a certain guilt about stuffing the Holy Family into a box in the aftermath of Christmas. It’s frankly a time of personal triumph when, each Advent’s eve, I free them (and the others) from a year’s imprisonment boxed in the dark of our basement. Out they come, one by one, struggling through the straw, last year’s tinsel still clinging to their robes. Nevertheless, they appear, ready to take their place again in the light of another Christmas. The Child is first because he’s the one I’m most reluctant to box. Attached forever to his cradle, he emerges, apparently unscathed from the time spent upside down to avoid the crush of the lid. His mother, dressed eternally in blue, still gazes adoringly, in spite of the fact that her features are somewhat smudged. Joseph has stood for eleven months, holding valiantly what’s left of his staff, broken twenty Christmases ago by a child who hugged a little too tightly.The Wise Ones still travel, though not quite so elegantly, the standing camel having lost its back leg and the sitting camel having lost one ear. However, gifts intact, they are ready to move. The Shepherds, walking or kneeling, sometimes confused with Joseph (who wears the same dull brown), tumble forth, followed by three sheep in very bad repair. There they are again, not a grand set surely, but one children (and now the grandchildren) can touch and move about to reenact the silent night. When the others return, we will wind the music box on the back of the stable and light the Advent candles and go one more time to Bethlehem. And this year, when it’s time to pack the figures away, we’ll be more careful that the Peace and Goodwill are not also boxed for another year!

The days of Epiphany call us to bask in the light of Christmas. Not the light of a star, but the light of a Savior. Here, the darkness is chased away by the promise of new life. The long nights of winter are beginning to give way to days filled with increasing moments of light. For many of us, the darkness seems to overwhelm us. It is only when we remove our hands covering our eyes and lift up our heads that we are able to see the light of Christ that surrounds us. May you be blessed by the hope that God has already placed within you in these days of Epiphany – these days of light.

Peace be with you,

Pastor Chris Marien