Advent & Christmas at Ascension

Join us for special worship and activities to celebrate the Advent and Christmas season.

Fourth Sunday of Advent, Dec. 24, 8:30 a.m. :

We will celebrate the fourth Sunday of Advent at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 24, before we move to Christmas Eve worship in the afternoon.

Christmas Eve Worship Dec. 24

Christmas Eve Worship on Sunday, Dec. 24, will be at 3, 5 and 9 p.m. Candlelighting, communion, and glorious music will be shared at all the services. If you can help with ushering or communion, please contact Tamie, tamie@ascensionelca.org, in the church office. 

Christmas Day Worship Dec. 25

The joyful sounds of Christmas Day worship is at 10 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 25.

PAST EVENTS

Welcome to Advent Worship Nov. 29

Join us on Wednesday, Nov. 29, at 6:30 p.m. for a beautiful worship service as we enter into the season of Advent. We will gather around the music of Holden Evening Prayer.

Deck the Halls Dec. 2

Deck the Halls of Ascension begins at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 2, to prepare the church campus for the season of Advent and Christmas. 

Advent Concert Worship “Rejoice and Sing!” Dec. 9 & 10

Choirs, handbells, praise band, and instrumentalists will present Rejoice and Sing! on Sat., Dec. 9, 6 p.m., and Sun., Dec.10, 9:30 a.m. followed by a potluck brunch. Invite a friend and join us in concert worship!

Annunciation Worship and Breakfast Dec. 12

Celebrate the visit of the angel Gabriel to Mary on Tuesday, Dec. 12, with a 5:30 a.m. Spanish-language worship led by mariachis, followed by a potluck breakfast.

Las Posadas Dec. 16

Las Posadas remembers the journey of the holy family through the streets of Bethlehem where they were turned away again and again until an innkeeper took pity on their plight. This event hosted by our Spanish-speaking members continues to grow year after year. Incredible food, a mariachi band, and a piñata round out the night. It is a glorious gathering of the community of Ascension. It begins at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 16, with hot cocoa and coffee. Children of all ages are welcome to be in costume.  

Children’s Christmas Program Children Run Joyfully! Dec. 17

The BLAST Sunday School children will share the story of Jesus’ birth in worship on Sunday, Dec. 17, during worship at 10:45 a.m. Dress rehearsal for BLAST children is Saturday, Dec. 16, 9-11 a.m.  The 8:30 a.m. service will be regular worship.

Ready for Advent

I am ready for Advent. For blue fabrics that wash over the altar and candles that are lit each week reminding us of the journey we will travel to the manger – walking with the companions of hope, peace, joy, and love. I am ready for Advent. I am ready for “Deck the Halls of Ascension” and the CRASH Progressive Dinner. I am ready for our Advent concert worship and Sunday brunch and the Children’s Christmas program and treasured carols and celebrating Las Posadas and being in the sanctuary on Christmas Eve all together hearing the Christmas story. I am ready for Advent.

Personally, it has been quite a journey these last three months. I am glad to be back in the routine of worship on Sundays and the “stuff” of ministry during the week. I want to offer my deep appreciation to you for the time and space for surgery and healing.

I am hopeful that the season of Advent will offer me the opportunity to rebalance my spiritual life. If the season of Advent offers us anything, it offers us the chance to begin again. I need that chance more this year than ever before. I wonder if you are feeling that way too.

Advent is the season of expectation. Advent is also about tending our hunger for all that God promises to make new in the birth of a Savior. If ever we have hungered for God to do a new thing it may be this year, this December, this Advent. I am hungry for God to usher in peace into our world: for an end to hostilities in Ukraine; for a ceasefire in Gaza; for tolerance between sides; for acceptance of those who are different; for joy in the midst of sorrow.

I sat with members of the church a couple of weeks ago in the ICU as we prayed around the bedside of someone we loved. It does not matter how many times I sit at the bedside of someone I know in the ICU, it never gets easier. At Waukesha Memorial, the ICU only has so many rooms. When I walk into the ICU, the memories of other bedside visits gather with me like a cloud of witnesses. Every name, every face is reminded to me – moments of laughter and tears. The ICU has become a sanctuary of holy ground. The sounds of heartbeats and heart monitors intermingle in the waiting space of the ICU. Every family walks their own journey through their days in the ICU. As always, being invited into such sacred space is more privilege than anything else.

Following in the footsteps of Mary and Joseph in these Advent days is also a privilege. One we often take lightly. A journey I wish to feel deeper this year as I reflect on the hardship of the census Mary and Joseph had to endure so close to Mary’s date of delivery. What Mary must have thought to herself about the adventure and journey God placed upon her heart and soul when the angel Gabriel visited Mary to share the news of what was about to take place.

It is my hope that these Advent days will offer you moments of reflection at the dinner table, over coffee, while washing dishes or wrapping gifts. Moments of reflection that would give you pause to remember and give thanks while also inviting you to reflect and reach out. Who do you know who would welcome a phone call, a text message, fresh baked cookies to bring a smile to their face? Especially those who are preparing to walk through their first Christmas without someone they love.

I am reminded that every one of us is on a journey in these Advent days. For some of us the journey is a choice – for others, the journey has been pressed upon us. Regardless of how we find ourselves setting out on the journey, I hope you remember that you are not alone. Thanks be to God!

May the blessings of your Advent journeys always lead you home this Christmas.

O come let us adore him! Christ the Lord. Peace and joy be yours.

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

When Pastor Edwin first introduced Las Posadas at Ascension I was intrigued because it’s a part of the Christmas story that’s not often focused on. Las Posadas is a Spanish religion festival commemorating the journey that Mary and Joseph made from Nazareth to Bethlehem in search of safe refuge where Mary could give birth to the baby Jesus. Mary and Joseph move from place to place searching for lodging, but at each stop they are told “There is no room for you here” and are sent away.

I was captivated by the energy being poured into telling this important part of the Christmas story because it illustrates a profound message for us during the Christmas season: Do I make room for Jesus?

At my best, I hope the answer is yes. I hope 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 and listening to the nudges from the Holy Spirit to take advantage of the opportunities God gives me to love and care for my neighbors.

But I know that my answer isn’t always yes. Life is busy, and I’m human. Even as a pastor in full-time 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 this may be true for you as well. It’s so easy for the busy-ness of life to push aside our connection with God. I find it ironic that this seems especially true during 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.” (Luke 1:38) Joseph made room when he accepted the angel’s explanation of his fiancé’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 her as his wife.” (Matthew 1:24)

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.” (Luke 2:16-17)  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.” (Matthew 2:2)  And of course, God is the one who started it all, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:16-17)

So, what are the ways we can make room in our heart, our calendar, and our lives for Jesus? Maybe it will be welcoming a new family moving into our neighborhood, or generously helping someone whose needs are greater than what they have to offer, or perhaps it will look like something in-between. Whatever it is, as you and I celebrate this Christmas season and beyond, I pray we will simply open ourselves to whatever the Holy Spirit is doing to help us make room for what God is doing in our lives and in our world. Merry Christmas!

Pastor Tony

Life’s Moments

The Advent season has arrived, and with it also the end of another liturgical year in this continuous journey of faith as Christians. But what has this year that we are about to end left us? The answers will of course be different because each of us experiences different moments in our lives. The book of Ecclesiastes of the Old Testament tells us: Everything has its time, moment of birth and moments of death, moments to plant and moments to harvest, moments to hurt and moments to heal, moments to cry and moments to laugh, moments to scatter stones and moments to pile up, moments to welcome and moments to say goodbye.

Surely many of us identify with some, if not all, of these moments as we come to the end of the year. I experienced many of those moments this year. Moments to laugh and celebrate when I clicked send to submit my final paper for seminary, moments to laugh and celebrate with my family and all of you at my graduation, moments to celebrate and laugh when you said yes to call me as your third pastor, moments of welcome, hospitality and celebration with the visit of the delegation of El Salvador for my ordination and installation. Moments of tears, death and farewell were present two months after my ordination with the death of my father. Moments to continue planting the gospel and continue harvesting in our ministry, moments to celebrate welcoming new members, moments to celebrate baptisms and welcome them to the body of Christ, moments to continue keeping our multicultural traditions alive in our ministry and more.

In the church, these moments of life are built into the church year with the different seasons: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent and Holy Week, Easter and Pentecost. We begin the church year with the anticipation of the birth of Jesus. As is tradition, our church celebrates Advent and Christmas in a multicultural way. It is the church’s moment of a time of  quiet reflection and anticipation, although expressed in different ways.

The Latino ministry will celebrate the Annunciation with mariachi at 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 12, as a way of bringing our Lutheran theology to the traditional festival of Guadalupe. If you would like to join us and learn about this tradition, you are invited to wake up early and bring a breakfast dish to share.

Another of the moments we will have is Las Posadas with mariachi. On Saturday, Dec. 16, at 6 p.m., we will hold a procession outside the church and accompany the Holy Family during their time in Bethlehem looking for an inn. At last, an innkeeper will welcome us with a banquet, music and piñata! We hope you will join us.

In the Latino world, the big party is Christmas Eve. Families gather and celebrate all night long. Some of their celebrations can last until dawn. Santa rarely visits homes in Spanish-speaking countries. Families may exchange a gift on Christmas, New Year’s or Three Kings Day, so without the arrival of Santa, there’s no need for an early Christmas Eve. Latino families in the United States are visited by Santa, but the tradition of an all-night party remains.

As I mentioned at the beginning, everything has its moment. It could be that this year for you has been full of many good and bad moments, loneliness, anxiety, mourning, joy, etc., but during this time of Advent and Christmas let us remember the phrases that the prophet Isaiah tells us: The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Regardless of where you find yourself this season, may it also be a season of peace for you.

Pastor Edwin

Advent & Christmas 2023

Join us this Advent and Christmas season for this inspiring activties and worship opportunities. Let the light of world shine in your life this season.

Deck the Halls of Ascension

9:30 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 2, to prepare the church campus for the season of Advent and Christmas. 

Jubilate Chorale Christmas Concerts

Usher in the Christmas season with the Jubilate Chorale and Friends as they present Song in the Night on Saturday, Dec. 2, 7:30 p.m., St. John’s Lutheran Church, Brookfield, and on Sunday, Dec. 3, 3 p.m., St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church, Wauwatosa. Tickets are available from Ascension members Scott Greger and Vicki Taylor, or jubilatechorale.org.

Advent/Christmas Concert Worship

The musicians of Ascension will offer Advent/Christmas Concert worship on Saturday, Dec. 9, at 6 p.m., and Sunday, Dec. 10, at 9:30 a.m. followed by brunch. Invite a friend and join choirs, praise band, handbells, and instrumentalists for concert worship on Saturday, Dec. 9, and Sunday, Dec. 10.

The Annunciation / Festival of Guadalupe

We will have a 5:30 a.m. worship in Spanish on Tuesday, Dec. 12, the day of Guadalupe, to remember the words of the angel Gabriel to Mary. Mariachis will lead the music and we will have a potluck breakfast following worship.

Children’s Christmas Program

BLAST children will share the joy of Jesus’ birth through story and song at 10:45 worship on Sunday, Dec. 17. Rehearsal for BLAST children’s Christmas program is Saturday, Dec. 16, 9-11am.

Las Posadas

Remembering the journey of the holy family through the streets of Bethlehem where they were turned away again and again until an innkeeper took pity on their plight. This event, hosted by our Spanish-speaking members, continues to grow year after year. Incredible food, a mariachi band, and a pinata round out the night. It is a glorious gathering of the multicultural community of Ascension. It begins at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 16, with hot cocoa and coffee. Mark your calendars.

Christmas Eve Worship

Sunday, Dec. 24, 3 p.m., 5 p.m., and 9 p.m. (Regular Sunday morning worship at 8:30 a.m. for Fourth Sunday of Advent; no 10:45 worship on Dec. 24). Spanish worship will only be offered at 1 p.m.

Christmas Day Worship

Monday, Dec. 25, 10 a.m.