Welcome ~ Bienvenidos!

Join us on Sunday, Sept. 10, for one special, bilingual worship service combining all our worship communities. Invite your friends and family! Stay for fun, food and fellowship following worship! This is the kickoff for a busy fall schedule of worshiping, learning, serving, and caring for one another and our Waukesha community and across the globe. What a wonderful time to be welcomed back to Ascension!

Before Sept. 10

  • Stop at the table in the narthex to let us know you’re coming or RSVP online. There is no charge, just a free will offering for lunch but we do need to know an approximate number to plan for food.
  • At the registration table you can also pick up a special Welcome Home card to give to someone you would like to invite. Be sure to check out the Sign-Up Genius to tell us how you would like to help. There are a lot of opportunities to serve in easy ways and get to know others in the church.

Who is it we are welcoming?

  • Those who have been away from church for the summer or longer.
  • Those who got out of the habit of going to church since the pandemic.
  • Those who are looking for a place to fit in.
  • Those who are looking for a church where God’s love and grace are shared every week.
  • Those who are looking for a church where children or teens are not only welcome but are a part of the fabric of the congregation.
  • Those who are looking for a church where older members serve when they can and are served in love when that is what they need.
  • Those who are looking for a church where God’s Word not only is taught but is lived.
  • Those who are looking for a church where everyone is welcome because it is truly the Family of God.

We will welcome each other in a bilingual worship service and then in bi-culture fellowship. There will be activities for all ages and a chance to get to know each other better. This is the kickoff for a busy fall schedule of worshiping, learning, serving, and caring for one another and our Waukesha community and across the globe. What a wonderful time to be welcomed back to Ascension!

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