Pastor’s Reflection

In early January, I received a card from a friend with the following quote on the cover: “And now let us welcome the new year, full of things that have never been.” The words were written by poet and novelist Rainer Maria Rilke. The quote has stayed with me in these first weeks of this new year.

Always – there is expectation, anticipation, hope at the ending of one year and the beginning of another. It is also an opportunity to evaluate and celebrate the journey that has unfolded during the past year. There are moments when I would rather ignore, dismiss, even deny challenges that have taken their toll on me in the past year. It is far easier to imagine the days ahead anticipating happier and easier days. Yet, I am reminded that in reflecting on the past, I will often find the moments of peace and even joy in remembering where God came near to my suffering or brokenness. It turns out that our reflection on days gone by is as important as the excitement of what may come in this new year.

Many of you know, I have learned to walk a new road over the past couple of years, with an unwelcome companion, in dealing with Acute Idiopathic Recurrent Pancreatitis. More simply stated – it is pancreatitis without cause or trigger that shows up whenever the pancreas decides it needs a break. At its best, this companion is a frustration and a nuisance in my life. At its worst, it is a “take your breath away” kind of pain and an “upset your life routine” kind of schedule. Though, I like to believe I am superhuman and can tackle anything. The last couple of years have been humbling to be forced to put your life on hold to deal with a body that has an internal organ that misfires on occasion. When you are the person who so often tends the needs and suffering of others, it can turn your world upside down to be faced with the prospect of needing tending yourself.

I share all of this with you because many of you have taught me how to walk with this new companion. Many of you have shared your own stories of struggle – the frustration, the anger, the betrayal of your body. I have listened to your stories and I have learned from you. I have done some listening to my own body also – to rest when a flare or episode arrives and to ask for help at the Emergency Department when managing at home is less than ideal.

What all this means, in my life, is that I can fight the episodes and push through the pain and do my best to ignore – and sometimes that is exactly what I do. And other times, I do my best to listen to what others tell me – rest, recover, renew. And in this new year – a fourth “R” is added – reflect.

In the midst of the struggles over the past year, God has been present in some most amazing ways. I have had friends come and sit at the hospital with me. A pastoral assistant or two have found their way to my hospital room. My mom came to visit and after I told her she did not need to visit, she said, “Are you kidding, this is the best way to get you to myself for an entire hour!” It turns out the quote up above speaks to me for a couple of reasons. In welcoming the new year, “full of things that have never been,” I am learning to be more present to myself, to others, and to our God. When I first read the quote, I thought the “things that have never been” would be new adventures, new possibilities and indeed those experiences are always available. However, I have also learned that “things that have never been” may also lead me to moments where I am more present, more available, and more attentive to myself and the world around me.

Yes, I have much to learn in this new year. Perhaps that is why Epiphany, as the season of light, offers so much possibility and anticipation. God comes into the world. The light of God overwhelms the darkness. And in reflecting on some darker days and challenging moments, I am reminded that God promises a year of “things that have never been.”

Bring it on God. Bring it all on. I am ready for the road ahead. I hope you are too. Remembering all the while that God is with us.

Peace my friends. See you in church.

Pastor Chris
(Reprinted from the February 2020 newsletter)

Latino Ministry Update

This fall, we celebrated our first Spanish language baptism in the barn at Green Meadows. In January, we had our first baptisms in the Spanish Sanctuary. It was a special event as I baptized two adults that I have known since they were teenagers in El Salvador.

The members of our Latino ministry have begun to feel that Ascension is their second home. They love the sense of community they feel here at church and are often the last to leave after worship on Sunday. In order to build on that feeling, we are going to start having a potluck lunch the last Sunday of the month. All are welcome to bring a dish to share and join us for fellowship.

We have had more Latino families with young children join our church, so we are exploring opportunities to add an adult education time to Sunday mornings while the children are at Sunday school.

Edwin Aparicio
Spanish Language Minister
(Reprinted from the February 2020 newsletter)

Merry Christmas!

The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. ~ John 1:9

Still in these first days of this new year we hear the words, “Merry Christmas” as the church celebrates the season of Christmas through January 6th with the feast of Epiphany celebrating the arrival of the Magi to greet the newborn king. It is an awfully full schedule for Mary and Joseph, for the Magi, for all of us. I wonder, “Have you had time to catch your breath?”

I am always hungry for the season of Advent to arrive. I enjoy the darkness, the candlelight, the quiet – when I can find it. Advent does not always cooperate. Even this year as Ileen and I completed much of our shopping earlier than usual, we still found ourselves engaged in the rhythms of preparation and celebration bringing us much joy and, well, pulling us in multiple directions.

As much as I commit to a “meeting-less” Advent, there are still more pieces to the church puzzle and the family puzzle and the life puzzle than usual. I think my heart and mind kind of expect Advent to be more intense – but still I try to carve out moments to light the candles of the Advent wreath and breathe prayers of hope, peace, joy, love into the lives of those I know are struggling in these long days of Advent – where the shadows can overwhelm. And before we know it, Christmas has come.

Even as I have counted down the days to Christmas, somehow, Christmas Eve arrives as if I have not been preparing at all. Still I try – to capture the moments of starlight in the night sky and angel song off in the distance. Even as I feel unprepared for Christmas Eve, or more to the point, pray for the night and the feeling to linger longer than it will – there will be a silent night that comes whether I am ready or not and it will last only as long as a night should last. And in the sunrise of Christmas Day, I will already find myself pondering what a year from now will bring when we gather, once again, to light candles to chase away the darkness. And with the arrival of the new year, we are greeted with the light of the season of Epiphany.

As much as Advent is the season of waiting, Epiphany is the season of light. From the shadows of Advent, we welcome the overwhelming light of God in the presence of a Savior sent to save the world. Epiphany provides each of us an opportunity to revel in the joy and presence of our God, come to be present with us.

What joy these words might offer to us. God comes to us. No longer a whispered prophecy. No longer a promised future. Now God comes to us – to live, to love, to laugh, to suffer, and to die. But for a season in this life, we dwell in the light of Christ. So enjoy the light dear friends. Christ is born. Emmanuel – God with us. And maybe, just maybe, each of us can find a moment to sit quietly awash in the light of Epiphany and rest, knowing that God is present with each of us – tending, healing, caring for us in ways we cannot imagine. Peace be with you.

See you in church.

Pastor Chris

Reprinted from the January 2020 newsletter.

Tutoring Update 2020

Tutors Needed
Do you like to work with preschool children? Are you a good team member? We are looking for several more tutors to work with our youngest English language learners. Guidance is provided. Contact Shirley Wehmeier if you can help.

We have recently had new families join our tutoring program with several young children who have limited English experience. We are looking to have more tutors in order to address the children’s specific needs.

Christmas Party
Our fall tutoring program culminated with an entire group event where students of all ages, tutors, and volunteers from the congregation met to make bird feeders, wreaths, aprons, bird houses, fleece hats and scarves, and Christmas ornaments. Our lunch of sloppy joes, fruit salad, and cookies was made by our middle school boys and elementary school children.

The boys made the sloppy joes from scratch – no canned sauce for them. They also cut up strawberries, bananas, grapes, and oranges for the salad. The elementary school students decorated cookies for dessert. This year, the youngest children made snowmen from empty milk jugs and made ornaments to take home. Led by Ron Marien, men made bird houses and bird feeders. They learned to use both power and hand tools. The women had a variety of options including aprons, and fleece wreaths, hats, and scarves. Enjoy the pictures as they tell the wonderful story of people of different ethnicities, ages, and backgrounds working together and having fun! Thanks to everyone who made this such a fun event!

Reprinted from the January 2020 newsletter.

Good Gifts 2020

A big “Gracias” and “Asante sana” to everyone that participated in our first ever Bethlehem Market in December, where we sold items from Tanzania and El Salvador that helped to provide sustainable employment to those in need. It was a big success and we hope to bring the market back again next Advent.

Sea turtles in El Salvador

Although we won’t be having our Good Gifts program in the narthex in the months to come, you are welcome to purchase a gift from our program anytime during the year. Visit the catalog online and contact Sarah Wehmeier to purchase a charitable gift.

100% of your gift goes directly to funding the projects!

Reprinted from the January 2020 newsletter.

The Invitation of Advent

The story of Jesus Christ is this:
The people of this earth waited for a Messiah…a Savior…and only God would send a little baby king. The child grew and began to question things as they were, and the man moved through his days and through this world, questioning the system of kings and priests and marketplace. He was called the New Creation, the new Covenant, the Son of God who brought to all who listened, who saw, who understood change and new life. But kings and corporations and churches of this world work very hard to keep things as they are…. And so they killed him: he who said, “Love one another,” he who said, “feed my sheep,” for they didn’t want to share their bread and their wine. Now the story should have ended there except that the story has always been that our God is the God of the covenant. The Good News is that in spite of our faithfulness God is faithful and Jesus Christ was resurrected, for God so loved the world that God gave his only begotten Son that whoever believed might have everlasting life. Listen, you who have ears to hear. Listen, and sit down to bread and wine with strangers. Feed his sheep…love one another, and claim new life in his name. — The words of author Ann Weems.

In the running around and preparing for Christmas, I sometimes forget that the story of Jesus is really this simple. The season of Advent is my reminder that the elaborate preparations of this life, though I take joy in them, are so much more than what I actually need to receive the Savior of the world. Like the story of the angel Gabriel entering into Mary’s world unannounced, I am also never ready and somehow, always ready to welcome the baby Savior into the manger of my life. God knows, my life is hardly filled with the warm, fresh hay of welcome or the sturdy foundation of hand-crafted legs leveled and grounded to welcome the Savior. More often than not, my world is a whirlwind of last-minute preparations and life hacks doing my best to cut the corners enough to get the job done and move on to what is next. It is not always pretty, but somehow God shows up anyways. I am grateful that God does indeed show up, not because I am ready and waiting, but because God’s arrival is both interruption and invitation. I need God to interrupt my life. I need God to show-up unannounced to remind me that I do not have it all figured out. And when I think I have everything figured out, God reminds me that there is so much more unfolding in my life than I honor with awareness.

What I believe to be interruptions actually turn out to be invitations. God invites me to listen more carefully; reach out more tenderly; appreciate more quickly; and be present more often. I certainly recognize the expected pace of the world, yet I find when I acknowledge the invitation, I am almost always surprised with the ability of my own whirlwind of life to slow down allowing me to linger in the moment. Grateful for a conversation that brings me up-to-date or shares the ups and downs in someone’s life. So very often, I am surprised that the supposed interruption truly is an invitation into someone’s story.

Advent feels the same way. When I am rushing to get everything done for the birth of Jesus, the interruptions can overwhelm. When in reality, the interruptions are invitations bringing me closer to a brother or sister in Christ, and through the course of those conversations, bringing me closer to my true self. A reminder that God blesses us with the season of Advent in order that we might linger in the starlight; listen for the angel’s song; and tend the cries of a newborn Savior announcing God’s arrival in the world. My friends, come let us adore him.

Advent is your interruption and your invitation. Do not waste this precious gift of God. Your soul longs for both in these days of preparation.

See you in church,
Pastor Chris

(Reprinted from the December 2019 newsletter)

Fall Homecoming: Rally Day

At Ascension, the month of September feels more like a month-long homecoming celebration than a kick-off Sunday of fall programming. It occurs to me after some nineteen Rally Day celebrations – planned, prepped, programmed, and celebrated in my ministry — that perhaps the entrance into church in a new way in September is not so much about the kick-off but more about the homecoming. For me personally, the idea is far more in-line with who we are as a people of faith always looking towards home.

I am always glad for the arrival of September. I see faces that have been absent from worship and the life of the community. “Welcome Home!” might be a far more fitting entrance back into the life-giving, overwhelming joy of what it means to be in worship and engaging in ministry in news ways in your own life. After all, you do not return to a pattern of BLAST, JOLT, CRASH, small groups, musical ensembles, GriefShare, and everything else without bringing along the stories of summer days divided in multiple directions.

I wonder: Are you hungry when you return to the normal patterns of fall and school year? Even those of us without children under our roofs recognize that our lives are shaped by the unfolding of a school calendar, season upon season. Are you hungry to be in worship regularly? Are you hungry to learn something new about your relationship with God? Are you hungry for a new understanding after a summer of events that may or may not have gone exactly as you expected? I wonder.

In the midst of September welcomes and reconnections, there are some incredible moments for us, as a faith community, to celebrate and anticipate. September 15 will call us to celebrate our 70th anniversary as a congregation. A mix of old and new will greet us that Sunday along with the gift of fellowship. (Watch Pastor Chris’ sermon from the 70th Anniversary here.)

On September 22, we will invite you to consider answering the question, “What happens when God doesn’t fix it?” If you have never known a situation in your life where it felt as if God left you hanging out to dry – then maybe this question and the studies to come are not for you. I suspect there are few, if any, within our midst who believe God has always come through our storms with dazzling displays of answers – exactly as we had hoped.

Even in our wandering, as we find our way home, we have much to celebrate this September. We will slowly enter into the journey of the Call Process this month. Our Spanish worship ministry celebrates its first anniversary on September 8! We give thanks for not only one seminarian beginning his fourth year of seminary but a second seminarian beginning year one! Your support of the ministries inside and outside Ascension have been generous providing a strong foundation for the days ahead. New landscaping in the front of the building and updated landscaping in the Memorial Gardens will greet you when you arrive. Two weddings in September in the Memorial Gardens will celebrate the miracle of life and love that God continues to reflect into the world. And baptisms – baptisms everywhere. A wonderful continuation of the story of God’s masterful artistry of creation in the midst of this life we live.

Come my friends! Come and see what God is doing in us and through us here at Ascension. And, just so you know, you are welcome here. Most welcome here! And when you enter into the doors of the church this September – look for a friendly face – my hope, our hope, God’s hope is that every face is friendly. And every person is reminded that they are welcome in this place. So dear ones – welcome home!

See you in church.

Pastor Chris

(Reprinted from the Sept. 2019 newsletter.)

Building God’s Church

My coworkers at my landscaping job asked if I was going to be building a church while we were in El Salvador. I answered “Absolutely!”

Edwin and a worker from one of our hardware stores in El Salvador

We were going to build the church in San Jorge by showing the people in the community that they were so valued and loved by God and the people of the Lutheran church in the US, that we were going to travel just to be with them. We were going to build the church by sitting side by side with the Salvadorans to learn ways we could work together to improve their lives. We were going to hear the stories about what people have overcome and what obstacles are still in their way. We were going to see the church in Usulutan that was being built by local builders, who were going to have a paycheck during building, thanks in part to Ascension. I don’t think my coworker was expecting such a long answer to his simple question, but building God’s church is more than building with bricks. And my coworkers are used to longer answers to their questions about God and church.

It is the same way we are building the Spanish ministry here at Ascension. We are slowly building this ministry by showing God’s love with hospital and home visits and working together with events like the Block Party and our summer lunches. We are excited to be celebrating our first anniversary this month and to see what God has planned for us in this next year.

We are grateful to everyone who attended our lunches this summer. It has helped our Spanish-speaking members to feel like they are a part of the bigger church body at Ascension.

¡Gracias!

Edwin

 

El Salvador Mission Trip 2019

Ascension’s seven delegates had an amazing trip visiting our brothers and sisters in El Salvador at the beginning of August. Upon following the Facebook updates on the trip, one of Paw Pa Soe’s friends messaged her and said “It looks like you’re on a field trip!” And so it was.

Together with the community from our sister parish, we traveled to Algeria and Jucuapa to Lutheran World Relief’s cocoa project to learn the latest about sustainable cocoa farming, from seed to pod, to fermenting and drying.

The next day, we all traveled together to Playa El Tamarindo where we learned about the endangered sea turtles that nest on the beach and what steps we can make in our lives to prevent these beautiful animals from going extinct. With this knowledge, we worked together to clean the beach at Espino later in the week. The community from San Jorge took the lead, stopping to speak with other beachgoers about the importance of keeping garbage out of the ocean.

We visited homes in San Jorge to see goats and trees from Ascension. We worshipped together on Sunday and we traveled to San Salvador where we were some of 4000 Lutherans marching through the streets to celebrate the 33rd anniversary of the Salvadoran Lutheran Church.
As we shared experiences side by side, our bonds of brotherhood and sisterhood where strengthened and tears were shed by both visitors and hosts when it was time for us to say goodbye.

(Reprinted from the Sept. 2019 newsletter.)

Final Fall Semester

Where do I begin? The last 18 months, and in fact the last five and a half years that I’ve been Ascension’s Director of Faith Formation, has gone by so quickly. And here we are – the end of my pastoral internship at Ascension has come, and as I reflect on this wonderful experience, I’d like to share a few thoughts from our journey together.

Throughout my internship, but also since I began seminary in the fall of 2016, and even since I began as Ascension’s Director of Faith Formation in February of 2014, you have patiently walked alongside me, supporting and encouraging me in my journey of pastoral formation. From worship and other church leadership, mission trips, preaching, celebrations, tragedies, and tender moments of pastoral care, we have grown together in our faith and our relationship has deepened along the way. I can recall countless moments where you have reflected the very grace of God that I’ve tried to proclaim in my sermons, and your joy and celebration over my accomplishments as well as support in my struggles has been a crucial piece of my pastoral identity.

Over the past several weeks, many of you have asked what’s next for Ascension; for me; for us. And while I wish I had all the answers for what’s to come, here is what I do know. This month I begin my final fall semester of seminary, while returning solely to my role as Director of Faith Formation. I’m thrilled to focus my energies here once again and walk alongside the children, youth, and families of Ascension – inspiring faith and love for the amazing God I have come to follow even more passionately. And I look forward to building excitement and encouraging the faith formation of Ascension’s families next summer when Ascension begins to look for a new Director of Faith Formation who will love, challenge, support and walk alongside you in faith and life.

I’m eager for my final fall semester to get underway and I’m excited that for the days ahead that we will continue to walk alongside one another. Now, I may not know what the future holds, but what I do know with absolute certainty is that the Holy Spirit is alive and active at Ascension and continues to call us all to a deeper faith and relationship with a God who loves us, desires us, and pursues us every moment of this incredible journey. I know that the Spirit is stirring, and lives are being transformed. I know that whatever God has planned for the future, we will not have to face it alone. And I know that my love for you has grown deeper because of God’s blessing of each day that we have been gifted together.

What I also know is that I am grateful beyond words for your tender care and loving compassion for me, for my family, and for our relationship throughout this journey. I want to encourage us all not to worry about what the future may hold for any of us. God has blessed us with days passed and days yet to come. Jesus our loving Savior has already shown us the way, and now we need to trust and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us to faithfully follow wherever we may be led.

Thank you for accepting, loving, challenging, and blessing me as your intern pastor and Director of Faith Formation. Thanks be to God for all that has been, all that is, and all that is yet to come.

Peace and love,

Tony

(Reprinted from the Sept. 2019 newsletter)