You Can Go Home Again

You never truly leave your home country behind. A sense of belonging remains tied to the sights, sounds, and flavors of your childhood. This feeling of a deep, ancestral connection resonated with my nephew. Last month, he returned to El Salvador with Ascension’s delegation, visiting the country he left when he was only 8 years old. The idea of going back was both comforting and overwhelming. While his excitement was clear, his true joy came from experiencing and sharing the country’s changes with the others from Ascension who were visiting El Salvador for the first time.

The delegation’s journey began with a powerful and emotional moment. We accompanied my nephew to his brother’s grave as he visited it for the first time. His brother had passed away in the U.S. and was repatriated to be buried in El Salvador. What a profound way to begin our trip. We walked with him, offering comfort and support during the difficult visit to the cemetery. While Jhonson’s loss was the most profound, many in our delegation had close ties to Fabricio and his death, so we all laid flowers on his grave as we spent time in meditation and prayer at the grave of a young man who had been one of Ascension’s youth.

After that visit, the trip was filled with new experiences with the community. We had the opportunity to interact with children and adults, and to visit new places. Activities like a children’s game day, an art workshop, a Student Day celebration, and our 10-year fellowship anniversary helped us get to know each other better. We also sought out new ways to continue our journey of learning together. During the trip, the delegation and the three pastors from Ascension also had the honor of standing with Pastor Blanca during her first baptism as a diakonal pastor. It was a special moment for me personally, to see Ascension be part of such a significant milestone in her ministry.

Every time I return to El Salvador, I’m amazed by the hidden beauty of my homeland, and what a gift it is to experience it with others. For example, during all the years I lived there, I never had the opportunity to hike the Chaparrastique Volcano or visit the monkey sanctuary. I am so grateful to continue discovering new things with our partnership, El Milagro de Dios in San Jorge, and with the people of Ascension.

Brothers and sisters, embracing the new is a skill that allows us to adapt and thrive in an ever-changing world. It’s a mindset of openness and flexibility, a readiness to accept the unknown. When we resist change, we feel stuck and overwhelmed. But when we learn to navigate it with ease, we discover new opportunities for growth. As we journey through this new season in our schools, jobs, churches, families, and communities, let the light of Christ guide us. He will help us rediscover and find the new things God has waiting for each of us.

Pastor Edwin

Reprinted from the September 2025 newsletter.

A Season of Change

For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. – Isaiah 43:19 (NLT)

September is upon us once again and for many it signifies a time of change. For children, teens, and young adults it means an end to summer vacation, a return to school, or perhaps entering the world of full time work. For older adults it might involve sending a child off to college or needing to adjust their own routines because kids, grandkids, or friends schedules and needs have changed. Regardless of what adjustments are taking place, for many people September can be a month of both anticipation and anxiety.

Whenever change takes place, whether it’s a shift in what was into something new or different, or just returning to something that was previously familiar, the anticipation of doing something new or different can bring a mix of emotions – excitement and apprehension, and this can also be an uncomfortable, sad, and even scary time for some.

These life, schedule, or other changes can undoubtedly produce anxious feelings, but they also offer us new opportunities to engage our faith, develop and strengthen relationships, find new meaning and perspective, and experience something new and unexpected.

For instance, this fall as we continue to reimagine children’s ministry at Ascension and better serve the needs of our students and families, we’ve redeveloped BLAST (now K-3rd) and created two new ministries that will offer more age-appropriate faith formation. JAM, for families with birth to 4K kids, and JUMP, for 4th and 5th graders. In addition this has also created new opportunities to raise up faithful leaders – Kelly Schoon (JAM) and Amy Koenig (JUMP).

For more than a year now your pastors have been sensing that something incredible is happening at Ascension – we can’t put our finger on exactly what it is, but there’s an energy that’s building, an excitement that’s growing – God is up to something, and we don’t want to miss it!

But sometimes we get so comfortable in our routines and the way things are that we forget God is always on the move, always doing a new thing. Often that new thing is taking place all around us and we simply miss God’s invitation to take part in and experience whatever it is God is up to.

In the Book of Isaiah the prophet reminds us that not only is God up to something new, but also that God will make a path forward. And this should bring us reassurance and hope, especially in the moments when our anxiety gets the best of us. God never leaves us, nor does God leave us unprepared. Because God not only makes a path, but God also provides all that’s needed for the journey ahead. Sometimes we just need to take a deep breath, open our eyes and trust.

The gift of new ideas, new volunteers, new members, new excitement and energy, along with new opportunities to grow, live, and share our faith are beautiful and powerful reminders of God’s immeasurable love for us and the world. So as we enter into yet another September, I hope we might all feel less anxious about whatever lies ahead, even if it remains unclear, because it’s already begun and God is making a path and creating everything we need along the way.

Pastor Tony

Reprinted from the September 2025 newsletter.

God Is in Control

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” ~ Ecclesiastes 3:1

This past week, I figured it was finally safe to take the snowbrushes out of our cars, but as luck would have it just a few hours later – it was snowing! It wasn’t much, but I’m sure we can all agree we’ve seen enough of that white stuff until next winter!

The season has begun to change over the last few weeks, and between the warmer weather and greener grass, it’s been a welcome change. But the changes in our weather aren’t the only seasons that we experience in our life. In fact, King Solomon wrote in the third chapter of Ecclesiastes that “for everything there is a season.” Solomon gives many examples of “changing seasons” in that chapter and here are just a few examples: our life is merely a season in the wholeness of time. There’s a planting season and a harvest season, times of sadness and times of laughter, seasons to save and store, and there are times to spend and give.

However, for many of us, the warmer weather isn’t the only change of season happening right now. Some are getting married in the next few months. Others are expecting babies. Many are entering into a time each year defined as “lake season.” There are graduating seniors who are ending this season of life and heading off to college in the fall, and college seniors who are graduating, finding jobs, and maybe moving to a new place. And some are entering into a new relationship or beginning a new job. These are just a few of the many ways our lives change over time, and these kinds of things happen throughout our life!

At the end of his list of seasons in Ecclesiastes 3, Solomon says that this is the business God has given to us and that he has made everything beautiful in its time. 

And while many of the changes that we experience are wonderful, there are also changing seasons that are painful and filled with worry, sadness, and grief – an unexpected illness or diagnosis, a changing work environment or job loss, the end of a relationship, or perhaps the death of a loved one. Those seasons can last days or weeks, months or even years. One of the main points of the book of Ecclesiastes is that God is in control through all these seasons of life and that he is good to us – even if it may not always look like it. But we must remember God sees things from a different angle, a better and eternal perspective and he makes everything beautiful in its time!

Because of that, Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 3:12-13 that the best thing for people in whatever we do in any season is to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we live. He says that this is God’s gift to us. In other words, God’s in control so enjoy yourselves!

Sometimes changes in our life cause us fear, stress, or anxiety. By nature, we don’t always like change. If that’s you, whether you’re graduating from high school or college, getting married or having a baby, moving or retiring, going through a job transition, having a change in relationship, or experiencing any of the countless things that happen in our daily lives, just remember God is in the midst of all of it and working in all things for our good.

It suggests that the best thing for humans is to be joyful, do good, eat, drink, and take pleasure in our work, as these are God’s gifts. The verses encourage a mindset of contentment and gratitude for the good things in life, rather than focusing on what’s missing or unattainable. God is good to us and promises to always take care of us, so take time to enjoy whatever God has in store for your next season of life because God will make everything beautiful in its time.

Pastor Tony