“Are you breathing?” Someone asked me a couple of Sundays ago. I confess, the summer has been a whirlwind of quick, gasping breaths and long, deep restorative moments of breathing as the days have flown by. When the last shout of “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!” had been lifted, I looked to the summer schedule and thought to myself, “how did I let this happen?’ My wife would tell you that I loved every minute of it. Perhaps. But I did get a bit tired of living out of a suitcase and/or backpack a time or two. From Adventure Camp to Pastor Tony’s send-off to the CRASH mission trip to a youth gathering meeting to Tanzania to vacation to a concert at US Bank Stadium to experience the host building for the youth gathering to the visit of a college friend to the last final weeks of August to prepare for the Fall. The summer was fuller than usual.
In a moment of pure joy, our delegation to Tanzania, experienced the beautiful gift of hospitality and love of our siblings at our sister churches – Samaria, Neema, Galilaya, and Kijenge.
Fall at Ascension brings about the sights and sounds of a community alive and fully returning to routines and schedules around the school year. The sanctuaries fill in the rest of the way and the joyful noise of children praising the Lord come in every decibel. It is a time for invitations to friends and neighbors who might be looking for a spiritual home. The gift of talented musicians and livestreams and communion offered every Sunday in both English and Spanish languages offers so much to the community around us.
September at Ascension is pure joy and all life to the glory of God. Worship returns to our program year schedule on September 13th, with worship in English at 8:30 and 10:45 a.m. and worship in Spanish at 10:45 a.m. JAM, BLAST, JUMP, JOLT, and CRASH all return the week of September 13th. And if you are unsure of one or more of the acronyms for ministry among our children and junior and senior high school students – keep reading – all is explained later in this newsletter. What a gift it is to share in the leadership of this church as one of your pastors!
Claim your seat. Find your place to serve. Bring your worship to the sanctuaries of Ascension and let your voice join others to the glory of God. September is shaping up to be all that we would expect Ascension to be. We will gather in worship with choirs and bands and instruments tuned. Handbells will ring and children’s sermons will go too long (at least until Pastor Tony returns). We will serve God through organizations like the Waukesha Food Pantry, Healing Hearts, Family Promise. Ministries among our young people will relaunch with all of the energy and enthusiasm we expect to be on hand. If you need help finding your place in this ministry, ask a pastor – we will happily help connect you to a place to service to the glory of God.
See you in church.
Pastor Chris
(Reprinted from the September 2026 newsletter)