Celebrating Love

If I speak in the tongues of humans and of angels but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions and if I hand over my body so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no record of wrongs; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.    1 Cor. 13:1-7

Aside from a random birthday or anniversary, there’s usually not a lot in February to celebrate. For many of us, by the time February rolls around we’ve had enough of winter and we’re more than ready for spring, and this makes the shortest month of the year feel all that much longer. 

Sports fans get the Super Bowl and Daytona 500, and baseball fans start getting excited because pitchers and catchers begin reporting to spring training. This year we get the Winter Olympics. Outside of that though, pretty much all there is in February to look forward to is Valentine’s Day – an overly commercialized day celebrating romantic love with the exchange of heart shaped boxes of candy, cards, and dinners out at favorite restaurants.

As I’ve been thinking more about Valentine’s Day, and all that’s going on around us, I’m reminded of what Jesus said when asked what the greatest commandment is. In Mark’s gospel he answers, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”  

LOVE. That’s what it all comes down to for us. Many of you may have grown up singing the familiar hymn, They’ll Know We Are Christians By Our Love. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always seem to be what Christians are known for these days. Too often I think we’re known for what we fear or what makes us angry. Maybe this Valentine’s Day and beyond we would do well to get back to the way of love.

As Paul writes in the scripture passage quoted at the top of this article, if we don’t have love, we’re just making noise, having nothing, and gaining nothing. The way to truly experience and share the love of God in our homes, communities, and world is through love. Loving God, loving one another, loving our neighbors, even loving our enemies. I’m pretty sure that covers just about everyone in our lives…at least, I can’t find any exceptions in there. 

Let’s be honest, loving others day in and day out is hard…fortunately the path of love is relatively straightforward. With everything you say and do, simply ask yourself, “Is what I’m about to say or do going to show the love of Jesus to this person?” I know sometimes this is easier said than done, however, the implications for us and the world to love the way Paul suggests are wide ranging and transformative.

Loving with this sort of patience and gentleness invites others into our lives and provides intimate ground for relationships to grow. And love like Paul describes can bring down the walls of fear and conflict that seem to be so effective at separating people right now. This is the kind of love I want to celebrate on Valentines Day and every day, and I hope you do too, because  I think it just might be enough to change the world. 

~ Pastor Tony

February Worship News

Lenten Worship

The Season of Lent begins on Wednesday, Feb. 18, with Ash Wednesday and continues through the next 40 days not counting Sundays. Worship times on Ash Wednesday are at 12 and 6:30 p.m.

The only difference between the services is the addition of our music ensembles in the evening. Ash Wednesday worship is a peaceful moment of reflection in a world of noise. As is tradition, we will be invited to kneel before the altar and have a cross of ash placed on our foreheads with the words, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” A provocative reminder and powerful promise that God is the one who forms us out of nothing and returns our bodies to the ground when this life is at an end.

Here at Ascension, the season of Lent is measured in bowls of soup and first communion classes and new member conversations and stories of the presence of Jesus transforming the world before he ultimately journeys to the cross. You are invited to be a part of everything. If this is your first Lent at Ascension, there is much to experience. If you have been a member forever, still Lent offers something new every season.

On Wednesdays in Lent, after Ash Wednesday, we meet for soup supper at 6 p.m. You can sign-up to bring a soup or loaf of bread in the narthex/lobby beginning Sunday, Jan. 25. We average between 125 and 150 for soup each week. And then worship begins at 6:45 p.m. and ends at 7:15 p.m. to get littles home and off to bed. Wednesday night soup supper and worship begin Wednesday, Feb. 25. The final one will be March 25.

Sing for a Season Returns

Sing for a Season is back! Join the Ascension Choir and sing for the Lenten season and/or Holy Week. Rehearse with us on Tuesdays (rather than Wednesdays during Lent) from 7:15-8:15 p.m. Feb. 24 through March 24; sing for Palm Sunday, March 29, Maundy Thursday, April 2, Good Friday, April 3, and Easter Sunday, April 5. Interested singers are invited and welcome to join in for 4-5 rehearsals and sing with us on whatever dates work best. Email Vicki Taylor with questions and to sign up.

Children’s Choir

The Ascension Children’s Choir returns for our spring session on Wednesdays from5:15-6 p.m. beginning Feb 25 through Mar 25. Please note the change to Wednesdays; rehearsals will take place immediately prior to Lenten Soup Suppers and worship services. All children in grades K-5 are welcome to join us! Email Vicki Taylor with questions and to sign up.

Advent & Christmas at Ascension

Join us for these events, activities and worship during this special time of the year.

Advent Midweek Worship

Each Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. in of Advent, we will gather in the sanctuary for a half hour worship with music, prayer, scripture, devotion, and communion. Join us on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 10 and 17.

Annunciation Worship & Breakfast Dec. 12

On Thursday, Dec. 12, we will celebrate the visit of the Angel Gabriel to Mary with a 6 a.m. Spanish-language worship with a mariachi band, followed by a potluck breakfast.

“Go Tell It on the Mountain” Dec. 13 & 14

Join us for a special weekend of worship with our Advent Concert Worship services. On Saturday, Dec. 13, at 6 p.m., and Sunday, Dec. 14, at 9:30 a.m., the musical ensembles of Ascension will share the music of the season in the context of worship with holy communion. We will celebrate with a potluck brunch at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday. Please sign-up in the narthex with what you’re bringing.

Las Posadas Saturday, Dec. 21

Las Posadas remembers the journey of the holy family through the streets of Bethlehem where they were turned away by innkeeper after innkeeper. We begin with hot cocoa and a live nativity at 4 p.m. Las Posadas begins at 5 p.m. Children of all ages are welcome to be in costume. A dinner will follow Las Posadas with mariachi band and a piñata. Join us for this multicultural event popular with all of Ascension.

Children’s Ministry Nativity Program

Sunday, December 21st, the Fourth Sunday of Advent, will offer normal worship at 8:30 a.m. and at 10:45 a.m. we will hear the voices of children raised in song to welcome the coming Savior. A new format this year will offer some additional children’s times to tell the story of Christmas with reflections on the people and animals that found themselves invited into the story of the birth of Jesus.

Christmas Eve Worship

We worship at 3 p.m., 5 p.m., and 9:30 p.m. with carols, communion, and candlelight at all three services. Our 3 p.m. worship will be led with organ and piano. Our 5 p.m. worship will be led with organ, piano, and choir. Our 9:30 p.m. worship will be led with guitar. Our Latino families will celebrate Nochebuena at 6 p.m.

Christmas Day Worship

Christmas Day Worship is at 10 a.m. and gathers our praise to “greet the happy morning” as one hymn writer offers. We offer holy communion at this worship service.

Sunday, Dec. 28, the First Sunday of Christmas will gather us for worship at our normal worship times of 8:30 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. for our English language worship and 10:45 a.m. for our Spanish-language worship.

God Is Here

The season of Advent means there is something on the horizon the likes of which we have never seen before. It is not possible to keep it from coming, because it will. That’s just how Advent works. What is possible is to not see it, to miss it, to turn just as it brushes past you. And you begin to grasp what it was you missed, like Moses in the cleft of the rock, watching God’s hindquarters fade in the distance. 

So stay. Sit. Linger. Tarry. Ponder. Wait. 
Behold. Wonder. 
There will be time enough for running. 
For rushing. For worrying. For pushing. For now, stay. 
Wait.
Something is on the horizon. ~ Author Jan Richardson.

Advent is my favorite time of year. Yes, some of you will accuse me of saying that about Lent and Easter, but it is really true of Advent. Last year, when several of our pastoral colleagues used the Celtic Advent Calendar, which offers six Sundays to the season of Advent, I was tempted to make the switch, but then all the things – budget hearing, annual meeting, Thanksgiving must all squish together in clunky ways and the one thing I dislike more than anything else is when things are “clunky.”


Advent, for me, has become the “great surrender.” For several years now, I have shifted the days of Advent to less running around and more opportunity for quiet. “How do you do that pastor?” Ah, well, first there is little that must be decided in a meeting in the month of December that will not wait until January or could not be concluded in November. Which means more nights at home in front of the fire with family. This new schedule means more dinners together as family around the table with the lighting of the Advent wreath before we pray over dinner so we might honor the slow progression of the days leading us to the manger. It means no JOLT on Thursdays so that there might be lingering moments with a friend over a warm cup of coffee. This surrender means that I will let go of the schedule that is always leading my days so that I might be drawn to what my soul longs for instead of what my schedule shouts at me. 

And like last year, I’ve added an opportunity for study and reflection with a three-week book study to focus anyone who wishes to walk the road of Advent. This year, we will reflect on the “Voices of Advent,” a book written by Dr. Matthew Skinner, a professor at Luther Seminary. You will have opportunity to sign up ahead of time and join me on either Tuesday evening at 6:30 p.m. or on Wednesday mornings at 10:30 a.m. beginning on Dec. 2 and 3 respectively. Along with the book study, we are offering a new opportunity for quiet, reflective worship with communion at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesdays in Advent, much like what some of you experienced this past Lent. A half hour worship with music, prayer, scripture, devotion, and communion. All nicely brought together in a half hour worship. It is but one additional way I surrender to the season of Advent and the call of the star to follow. 

It has been a most glorious year of ministry. As the church year closed on Christ the King Sunday and began again on Nov. 30th with the First Sunday of Advent, nightfall is longer, temperatures lead us to winter, and the weather invites us to linger in warm conversations that keep us together for a moment or two longer. And so I will practice the “great surrender” once again this season and invite you to join me. 

“Through the dark of Advent. There is hope that whispers: God is here.” A promise we have known all along – a promise, we need only remind ourselves and each other, will never not be true. May Advent be a time to stay. Sit. Linger. Tarry. Ponder. Wait. Behold. Wonder. There will be time enough for running and rushing around. For now, stay. Wait. Something is on the horizon.

See you in church.

Pastor Chris

Making Room

“And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.” ~ Luke 2:7

I read a story on the internet about a Sunday School Christmas Program telling the story of Mary and Joseph arriving in Bethlehem and looking for a room. In the program, a very pregnant Mary and Joseph move from place to place searching for lodging, but at each place they try, they’re told “there is no room for you here” and sent away.

During this most tense part of the story, one of the children playing an animal in the program stood up, strayed from the script, and loudly yelled, “Hey! Come over here by me, I’ll make room for you!”

Now I have no idea if this story is true or not, but it certainly illustrates a profound message for us during the Advent and Christmas seasons – Do I make room for Jesus? At my best, I hope the answer is yes. I hope and pray that my words and actions every day reflect Jesus, that my life is a witness to God’s love. I hope that I’m living out my faith, listening to those nudges from the Holy Spirit to take advantage of the opportunities God gives for me to love and care for my neighbors in Jesus’ name.

But I know my answer is not always yes. Life is busy, and I’m human. Even with the advantage of working in professional ministry, there are plenty of times when I miss chances to reflect God’s love or even find myself intentionally avoiding doing something I know God would want me to do. I suspect that’s true for you as well. It’s so easy for the busy-ness of life to push aside time with God. Ironically, perhaps that’s especially true in the Christmas season!

The Christmas story is a story about making room. Mary made room when she said yes to God – “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Joseph made room when he accepted the angel’s explanation of his fiancée’s pregnancy and changed his mind about ending their relationship – “When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took Mary as his wife.” The shepherds in the fields made room by taking a break from the demands of their job, leaving their flocks, and hurrying to Bethlehem to see the newborn baby in the manger, then spreading the good news all over town – “So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child.” The Magi made room by leaving their homes and traveling to a far-away land on faith that a star would lead them to a king – “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” And of course, God is the one who started it, who – “emptied himself…being born in human likeness.”

As you and I celebrate the season of Christmas this year, I pray that we will all make room for Jesus, opening ourselves to the Holy Spirit who helps us to make room for what God is doing in our lives and in our world.

Wishing you and yours peace and joy throughout the Advent and Christmas seasons!

Pastor Tony

How Does Ascension Do It?

Last month I had the opportunity to visit El Salvador again to participate in an event called Encuentro. This event is held by the Salvadoran Lutheran Church every three years. It brings together representatives from all the local Salvadoran Lutheran churches and their sister churches from the United States and Europe for a week. During this time together, the churches share experiences, evaluate, and identify new ways of mutual collaboration to continue transforming lives and praying together for the needs of our communities.

The Encuentro program included a visit to local communities. Our sister church, El Milagro de Dios (The Miracle of God) in San Jorge, was chosen as the location where the other churches in the area met to present and explain the areas in which partnerships are working together. Two members and Pastor Blanca from our sister church, El Milagro de Dios, presented and explained the bakery project, a project supported by all the members of Ascension. The members involved in the project shared that the profits are distributed to the church, to pay for their work, and the remainder goes toward purchasing more ingredients to continue baking. Pastor Blanca thanked her sister church, Ascensión, for supporting this project and for continuing to walk alongside the families and the community in multiple ways.

After the bakery presentation, the principal of the school next to the church noticed a group of foreigners visiting El Milagro de Dios Church. Thinking it was a group from Ascensión visiting, the teacher didn’t want to miss the opportunity to thank the Ascensión community for their help in building a small storage room for the school. This school originated on the church grounds. Over the years, with the increase in students, the government decided to purchase land next to the church and build the school. However, the construction of a small storage room wasn’t part of the original plans, even though they knew it was necessary. The Ascension delegation that visited El Milagro de Dios in August donated an offering to the school to begin construction of a small storage room. The school has been able to build the walls and hopes to raise funds for the roof this year, 2026. The teacher sent greetings and wanted to give thanks to the people of Ascension for their support. 

During the same week, I had the opportunity to speak with a pastor from Germany. We shared experiences with the ministries we serve. She was impressed by what Ascension as a Christian community is doing. She even asked me, “How does Ascension do it?” In November, I also had the opportunity to attend a pastors’ retreat, and one of my fellow pastors asked me the same question: “How does Ascension do it?” My answer to everyone was simple: “All of this is possible only through the work God is doing through all the members. Ascension is what it is because we have a membership that keeps its eyes on the renewing and hopeful light offered to us in the manger.” This identity allowed us to be chosen as the multicultural church where the presiding bishop of the national church recorded his Christmas message in our building.

Brothers and sisters, in this holiday season, I wanted to share this experience I had in November. The light of the manger continues to shine in the lives of others through the Ascension community. In our last council meeting Pastor Christ mentioned that when it is time to create a picture video presentation, it is hard to add all pictures with all the things that we do as a community. My hope is that seasons of gathering with family and friends, may the light of peace, love, joy, and hope continue to guide our lives. May that light help us in our weariness, free us from the anxieties of our past and present. May that light continue to renew us spiritually as we continue to respond to God’s call. 

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” ~ John 8:2

May the Peace, Love, Joy and Hope be with you and your family. Merry Christmas! Feliz Navidad!

Pastor Edwin