Music Opportunities

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing. (Psalm 100:1-2)

Come and sing or ring a new song with Ascension’s music ensembles! Rehearsals resume in September. Contact Vicki Taylor with questions or to sign up.

Ascension Choir 

The Ascension Choir provides musical leadership in worship approximately three Sundays a month, primarily at the 8:30 service (occasionally at 10:45), and at special evening worship services throughout the church year. 

  • Ages: high school through adult
  • Rehearsals: Wednesdays, 7:30-8:30 p.m., Sanctuary
  • Begins: September 6

Ascension Ringers Handbell Choir 

Joining the Ascension Ringers does not call for previous experience with handbells, but does  require the ability to read music. Reading music is an acquired skill and those interested in learning to read music with the goal of joining the handbell choir are encouraged to contact Vicki Taylor, Director of Music Ministries to arrange learning opportunities.

The handbell choir rings 5 octaves of Malmark handbells and 5 ½ octaves of Malmark handchimes. Ascension Ringers provide music in worship once per month, primarily at the 8:30 service (occasionally at 10:45), and at special services throughout the church year. 

  • Ages: high school through adult
  • Rehearsals: Wednesdays, 6-7:15 p.m., Sanctuary
  • Begins: September 6

Ascension Children’s Choir

The Children’s Choir sings approximately every 4-6 weeks, rotating between the 8:30, 10:45, and Spanish Language worship services.

  • Ages: Grades K-7
  • Rehearsals: Thursdays, 5-5:40 p.m., Music Room
  • Begins: September 21

Sing for a Season

Love to sing but not sure about a year-long commitment? Sing with the Ascension Choir for the Advent/Christmas season (rehearsals begin in November).

Instrumentalists

Instrumentalists of all ages and stages are invited to offer their musical gifts in worship. Contact Vicki Taylor to indicate an interest. 

Welcome!

Welcome home! The first words Amy and Tamie and Pastor Edwin spoke when the bus arrived from O’Hare with our Tanzania mission team. A hug from my wife and a wet nosed welcome from our Golden Retriever Baxter in the church parking lot and almost everything was right with the world once again.

Of course, our original mission team was split into three separate groups – Pastor Tony had flown home earlier from Ethiopia once Bob was out of the hospital; the Wards were beginning to explore Ethiopia as they waited for clearance for Bob to fly; and the seven members who went on to Tanzania after our original layover in Ethiopia arrived back at Ascension. Not exactly what I expected to happen as we loaded the bus for Tanzania on Thursday, June 29th. I should not be surprised; God has a way of allowing our journeys to unfold without us knowing fully the road before us.

Tanzania was everything I expected and more. The incredible heartfelt welcome of our sisters and brothers at the airport, every church, each school – so much joy and wonder and a little healthy skepticism. I wonder about the questions that probably ran through the heads of the members of our partner churches and students at the schools:

Who are these people from America?
What do people at Ascension think or know about us?
What does that white guy keep saying up front during worship?
Why does the whole school stop what it is doing when these people arrive?
What do you do with that frisbee thing?

In my own mind, there were other questions I was asking:

How can every tea offered to us be so much food?
How can we eat lunch after worship when just had tea an hour before?
Will there be Chapati (my favorite Tanzanian food)?
Will Pastor Nathan remember to translate for me at the front of the church?
What does the home life look like for each of these students?
Where does this overwhelming spirit of joy flow from for our friends in Tanzania?

The stories will continue to be told of our mission team visit. The prayers and concern for Bob offered from Pastor Nathan and our sister churches. The joy of being together after five years of being apart. Remembering faces that we met in 2018; renewing friendships, relationships, and making new connections. Hearing the stories of appreciation and gratitude for food for our partner school students and the gift of clean water. Remembering the looks on the faces of students for the presentation of soccer balls. No frisbees next time – just soccer balls…lots more soccer balls. Celebrating stories of success told with pride and joy for students success and their commitment to a well-rounded education including taking care of their needs for care and support. Every time we visit the schools, I want to spend twice as much time not only listening to reports but actually talking to teachers, sitting in on classes, actually playing soccer with the students. Every visit is simply the hook that makes me want to return to spend more time with them. Every church visit is a powerful reminder of the promise of God’s love across language barriers and customs. How the hospitality of a smile and a handshake can change our whole world.

It is always a humbling experience to travel to our sister parishes and be reminded that we are wholly dependent on them for our care and well-being. Always do our sisters and brothers reach far beyond what is expected to take care of us. Pastor Nathan, Eludi (our sister parish committee chair) and the partnership committee are one of the most beautiful gifts of grace I have ever experienced. God’s grace often comes to us in unexpected ways in this life. I am grateful for these glimpses of grace when I least expect them.

May these last days of summer offer you moments of God’s grace through the gifts of family, friends, sisters and brothers in Christ, moments of worship, times of reflection and rest, and the presence of the One who is the way, the truth, and the life…Jesus, the Christ. Amen.

Peace be with you and I hope to see you in church. And if not – well – Sunday, Sept. 10 at 10 a.m. is our Welcome Home Sunday. One service for the whole church. We will look for you then to once again tell you, Welcome Home!

Pastor Chris

Finding God in the Unexpected

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
~Philippians 4:4-7

On the 16-hour flight home from Ethiopia, I found myself spending a considerable amount of time reflecting on and processing the diverse experiences of that unexpected journey. And the more I reflected, the more a recurring theme surfaced – overwhelmed. Almost the entire journey from the get-go was a non-stop and unexpected roller coaster of events, feelings, expectations, and emotions., and certainly not the trip I had been looking forward to nor what the Ward family could have ever imagined in their wildest dreams.

There were profound moments of difficulty – from a beloved member of our community suffering a major medical emergency while traveling abroad, to being stuck in an airport for an uncertain amount of time with no easy to choose or clear-cut solutions. There were moments of deep sadness and guilt at the extreme poverty and hunger that surrounded us and yet simultaneously we were constantly surrounded by people whose welcome, and hospitality, and compassionate care were so selfless and filled with grace that I hardly knew how to receive it all.

And then there were unbelievable moments where the grace and love and mercy of God were so evident that I found myself overcome with emotion that it was impossible to hide or comprehend.

But as I shared in my sermon reflection on July 23, this was not a trip to elicit pity or sadness for the difficulties or things that were hard to see, hear, and experience. Instead, this unexpected journey was an opportunity to have our eyes, hearts, minds, and faith broken open wide in order to see what God deems as important while experiencing the absolutely unbelievable love and grace and wonder of God.

Thank you for the great honor to serve as one of your pastors and walk this journey of life and faith alongside you, and for your ongoing encouragement and support and care and love throughout all that we have and will experience together. My hope and prayer is that in the days to come we will continue to open ourselves to what God desires for us and trust God to follow wherever the Holy Spirit leads. And then my dear friends, together we can be overwhelmed by all that our amazing God has in store for us.

Pastor Tony

The Joke’s on Me

And my first month as an official pastor is over and what a way to start this new journey. As I mentioned in one of my sermons in July, my colleagues gave me the confidence to be in charge of the church just a few days after my ordination and installation. Not only did they leave me by myself for fourteen days, they also took my wife, my secretary, and my musician! Some of you have already heard parts of this story, but what I have not shared is how beneficial these days were for me as the sole pastor.

As the final months of planning for the Tanzania trip approached, questions about who would worship in English came up because I had to lead worship in Spanish. After a conversation, the three pastors concluded that it was not necessary to find a substitute for worship in English at 10 a.m. We decided to have the bilingual service at 10 a.m. both Sundays.

We have already had bilingual worship on multiple occasions. This was not new to any of us. What was new was the lack of multiple worship leaders. For previous bilingual worship service, it was easier to know when to listen: English-speakers knew to listen when Pastor Chris or Pastor Tony were speaking, Spanish-speakers knew to listen when I was speaking. But with only one pastor, the congregation had to listen all of the time because you never knew what language I was going to speak. As I was looking out while preaching, I could see that it was a greater mental effort than normal to follow, but I could also tell that everyone did the work. If it became too much and you tuned out, you did a great job covering it!

The different services had different challenges. Because Spanish worship is the same time as 10 a.m. English worship, the attendees at the 10 a.m. service aren’t as accustomed to my accent. But, they persisted and continued with an amazing effort to understand me!

For the 8:30 a.m. worship, we experienced a different linguistic complication. Those worshippers were the first ones to hear me preach that day’s sermon. Afterall, my wife was in Tanzania! At the end of the service, one of you approached me to help me with the pronunciation of the word “yoke.” It was the key concept and the word I said most frequently throughout the sermon. I found out I mispronounced the word. Every single time. Instead of preaching that Jesus came to lighten our yoke, I told everyone that Jesus came to lighten our joke. I guess the joke was on me! Thank you for your grace with what must have been a terribly confusing story about gathering water in El Salvador with a joke and the questionable theology that Jesus came to bring us lighter jokes.

This is the wonderful thing about our multicultural ministry. We will continue to walk and experience new things together as a community. I will of course continue to struggle with some words during my preaching, but also all of you will continue to develop your ears listening to the words of hope, peace, joy and love.

Pastor Edwin

Newly-Ordained Pastor Edwin Aparicio

My journey began first with the synod candidacy committee, then seminary, and then the call process with all of you at Ascension, but it is now official. Ordination and Installation are already behind us! On many occasions I have written many words of thanks to all of you and I will not tire of doing so. I am grateful for all your support and participation in this whole process and for having been present. On the Sunday of the celebration, I felt very overwhelmed. Although the worship was a bit long, almost everyone joined us for the dinner that my wife, Pastor Chris and Pastor Tony had planned.   

 Thank you with all my heart for having brought a delegation from the land of my birth. Amilcar, Claudia, Mayra and Pastor Rafael are people belonging to the communities where I began to serve God through the Church in my life. Having had a group of people from my country in the organization and installation was very important, but it was also a way of raising our ties of brotherhood again in a post-pandemic period. (Juntos nos levantamos … together we rise!!)

The first days when I started my classes at the seminary I reflected: I don’t know what is to come, I don’t know what I will face in these four years, but what I do know is that I have to do my part and God will do his. As I begin this new journey as an official pastor, God has reminded me that the same continues to hold true: I need to do my part, the people of Ascension need to do their part, and God will do the rest.

Wait for the Lord;  be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. (Psalm 27:14) 

Pastor Edwin

By the Strength and Grace of God

What joy it gives me to share summer greetings with you!

To be honest, I am a little overwhelmed. The month of June did not disappoint with outdoor worship services, baptisms, senior toweling, JOLT Adventure Camp, the delegation from our sister parishes in El Salvador, the ordination and installation of the newly-minted Rev. Edwin Aparicio, and the blessing and sending of our delegation of members to renew our relationships with our sister parishes in the Meru Diocese of Tanzania.

And now – Pastor Edwin running the world of Ascension. It is as it should be. “Let the new guy do it,” I said as I stepped onto the plane for Tanzania. The time in Tanzania is about renewing relationships and celebrating the education ministry of our partner schools as well as tending the grief of members of our sister parishes who have been forced from their land and repatriated to other land in the area in the government’s eminent domain landgrab. Crops are still struggling, which means livestock is struggling, which means our sisters and brothers are struggling and yet they are so very excited to welcome our return. They are also hungry to share their appreciation for your generosity in gifts to provide food for our three or four partner schools – so much to be grateful for as we return to Usa River and the people of God who gather to worship and minister in and through the Samaria, Neema, and Galilaya parishes. Your prayers are deeply appreciated for safety, health, smooth dirt roads and no impromptu rivers flooding our vehicles. The adventure continues.

Closer to home, I give thanks for so many who offer their hands and feet as the visible work of God in tending the needs of Ascension and our partners in the community. From continuing to tend the landscaping and maintenance needs of the church campus to volunteering to help out at the Hope Center to renewing our partnership with NAMI (the National Alliance of Mental Illness) to preparing for fall programming while we are still rejoicing in the days of summer. The great wonder and beauty of who we are as the community of Ascension is the reflection of God’s love in the gathered community as we serve each other and the world outside our doors. So many of you tend so many moments behind the scenes without recognition or reward. Let me simply say, “thank you.”

Someone outside Ascension sent me a note. It was handwritten which is the reason it stands out in memory. They shared their gratitude for a moment of ministry offered to them in the past couple of months and wanted me to know that it was a testament to the “flourishing” community of Ascension that they felt moved to write the note. Flourishing is a word I do not use very often. My wife’s garden is flourishing with the heat and the added water as long as I stay away from it. The junior high students at Adventure Camp were flourishing in their willingness to step out in faith and courage and face their fears. In response to my request, so many of you offered to help with the welcoming of our brothers and sisters from El Salvador and with the ordination of Pastor Edwin – which invites all of us to flourish when the Word of God is preached and our God is praised and the story of God’s love is shared. Wherever, whenever we gather together to walk together we flourish as the community of Ascension and in our own flourishing we invite others to flourish. After all, the tagline of Ascension is not simply a tagline for us – it is a way of life. It is our way of life. Remember?

Juntos nos levantamos … together we rise.

Yes, indeed, we do. By the strength and grace of God, together we rise. Thanks be to God!

See you in church.

Pastor Chris

Ordinary Life … Extraordinary!

“So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.” (1Corinthians 10:31)

My feet are killing me. I’m so hungry I could eat a horse. That plane ride took forever. This is the best book ever written. I’ve told you this a million times.

Much of our lives are sprinkled with hyperbole – a common expression defined as exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally. Perhaps that’s because we humans have always been enticed by the “shiny new object.” And I wonder if that’s because our misguided hunger for what’s new, popular, unique, and exciting holds us captive to our vanity?

In our Western Christianity we tend to follow the liturgical seasons and we are now in the time after Pentecost – a time Lutherans also reference as Ordinary Time. Depending how you count it, it’s 33 or 34 weeks and the liturgical color is always green.

When you hear the word “ordinary” what’s the first thing that comes to your mind? Boring? Familiar? Usual? Plain? I think it’s fairly common for most of us to think of “ordinary” in this way, but I do wonder if beauty and amazement can be found in the “ordinary,” especially because so much of our lives are spent in seemingly “ordinary” moments.

We usually eat and sleep at about the same time each day. Our daily diets are fairly usual. The routes we commute to work, school, and social activities are so routine that our smart phones often tell us where we’re going and when we’ll get there even before we’ve left the house.

But ordinary doesn’t have to mean insignificant or unimportant. Sleeping is certainly a very ordinary thing to do, but it’s critical for our health and well-being. The ordinary, “thank you” and “you’re welcome” exchanged between people might not solve world hunger, but it does matter.

So much of the ordinary in our world goes unnoticed. So much of the ordinary never makes the news. But let me tell you, ordinary matters. Just ask anyone going through grief counseling and they’ll tell you without hesitation that they’d give anything to have another “ordinary” moment with their loved one who died.

The ordinary moments of our lives don’t have to leave us sedated, bored, or uninterested. Just take a good look around you. Take a moment to actually notice and appreciate all the people and things that ordinarily surround you each day.

Love, grace, mercy, death, resurrection, prayer, Jesus, rest, food, nature, laughter, work, family, and friends – these are just some of the amazing things that make up my ordinary life. And yet, as I take time to reflect on each of them and the value they have in my life I begin to notice them no longer as ordinary but extraordinary. My simple prayer is that in all things each one of us would take the time to dwell on and give thanks and praise to God who graciously gifts us every ordinary-extraordinary thing.

~ Pastor Tony

Ordination & Installation

By the grace of God and the call of the Holy Spirit, the honor of your presence in worship and prayer is requested by the community of Ascension Lutheran Church at the ordination and installation of Edwin Alexander Aparicio Ortez into the Ministry of Word and Sacrament in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

3:30 p.m., Sunday, June 25, 2023
Ascension Lutheran Church
1415 Dopp Street, Waukesha, WI  53188

A dinner reception will follow the worship service.

Bishop Paul Erickson – Greater Milwaukee Synod, Presiding
Reverend Christian Marien, Preaching

Clergy are invited to vest and process for worship. The color of the day is red.

Young at Heart (55+)

Dancing Horses Theatre Aug. 17

Over 55? You’re invited to the Young at Heart trip to the Dancing Horses Theater on Thursday, Aug. 17. For the cost of $75, enjoy a bus ride, box lunch, and watch the show at 1 p.m.

We’ll leave Ascension at 11 a.m. The box lunch includes a turkey club sandwich on croissant, potato salad, fruit cup, cupcake, and lemonade or water. Sign-up in church on Sundays, June 11 and June 18, or at the next Young at Heart meeting on June 21. Sign-up and pay by Wednesday, July 19.

Waukesha K-9 Unit Presentation & Demonstration June 21

The Young at Heart group meets on the third Wednesday of each month for a potluck and to play cards and games. At the June meeting, there will also be a presentation and demonstration by the Waukesha K-9 Unit. Bring a dish to pass for the potluck at noon. The presentation will be at 12:45 p.m. followed by cards and games.

Bunco — Not Just for the Young at Heart!

Join the Young at Heart and others on the fourth Wednesday of the month from 1 to 3 p.m. for a few rounds of bunco (a dice game) and a lot of laughter!