Welcome September

“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)

Programs Resume!

Children’s Ministry Resumes

  •  JAM (Jesus And Me, birth – 4K)
  • BLAST (Believing, Learning, And Sharing Together, 5K – 3rd grade)
  • JUMP (Jesus Understands Me Perfectly, 4th & 5th grade)

We are excited to begin Children’s Ministry at Ascension where we will have family events and children specific activities to grow family faith formation this year. We will share all of this information at our kick-off on Sunday, Sept. 13! Please complete the Google registration form, if you haven’t yet, so we know who will be joining us for all the fun.

JOLT (6th-8th grade)

JOLT, our Confirmation ministry at Ascension, begins on Thursday, Sept. 17 with a student/parent kick-off event from 6-7:30 p.m. We will fill-out/update registration forms, pay fees, take pictures, and share the schedule for the year along with a couple of games to test our knowledge and win some prizes. If there are schedule conflicts, reach out to Pastor Chris. JOLT meets Thursday nights, 6-7:30 p.m., in September and October, no JOLT Oct. 22.

We begin with large group games, break into small groups, and end with communion worship from 7:15 -7:30 p.m. If you need a little lift in your week, anyone is welcome to join us for communion.

CRASH (9th-12th grade)

We have our kick-off meeting on Sunday, Sept. 13, after the second service. Parents and students are invited to the meeting. We will provide you with all the information about the program. And also, we will share information about the ELCA Youth Gathering 2027 from June 28-July 2. We will have a light lunch for you. Our second meeting in September will be on Sunday, Sept. 20, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Hope to see you all! We are very eager to begin a new journey as Christians Reaching and Sharing Hope! Questions? Contact Pastor Edwin.

Ascension Choir and Ringers Resume Sept. 9

 The Ascension Choir, ages high school and adults, begins rehearsals on Wednesday, Sept. 9, at a new time, 7 to 8:15 p.m. This choir provides musical leadership in worship approximately three Sundays per month, primarily at the 8:30 service (occasionally at 10:45), and at special evening worship services.

Ascension Ringers, our handbell choir, resumes Wednesday, Sept. 9, at the new time of 5:45 – 7 p.m. The handbell choir, for high school through adults, provides music in worship once per month, primarily at the 8:30 service (occasionally at 10:45), and at special services. Joining the Ascension Ringers does not call for previous experience with handbells but some level of music literacy is helpful. Reading music is an acquired skill and those interested in learning to read music with the goal of joining the handbell choir are encouraged to contact Vicki Taylor.

Handbell Music: The Story Behind Ascend!

Many of you may not realize that much of the choral and handbell music that is performed at Ascension has actually been commissioned. There is generally a dedication line at the top of the score that often gives context to the piece. We often thought about what an awesome experience it would be to commission a piece “someday.”

You also may not realize that the equipment we have collected over the years is really quite the envy of other church handbell choirs. When the handbell choir was conceived 25 years ago, we only possessed a 3 octave set of handchimes. Since that time, we have increased our ensemble to 7 octaves of handchimes and 5 octaves of handbells. The cost of all this was many tens of thousands of dollars and was made possible only through generous donations from members of Ascension. Beyond that, we are very fortunate to continue to have committed choir members that help these beautiful instruments come to life and reach their full potential. 

With this church season marking the 25th anniversary of our handbell choir, we believed that “someday” to commission a piece had come! In anticipation of this anniversary, we actually started the process of commissioning a piece several years ago. We quickly found that it is more of an undertaking than what we first envisioned. The biggest challenge we faced was the process of selecting a composer that we could work with and one that would be able to come up with something that reflected our specific vision.

As luck would have it, we attended a weeklong handbell camp in the summer of 2024 where Sandra Eithun, the renowned composer of over 600 handbell pieces, served as the clinician. Over the years, we have enjoyed ringing a variety of her pieces. The layers of her compositions can be on the tricky side, but that is why her pieces are fun to ring and she has become a personal favorite. We were excited to be under her direction and instruction for a week. We met Sandy and enjoyed working with her. By the end of that week, we were confident she was the composer for our commissioned piece.

When we met with Sandy to collaborate on our piece, we made some rather simple requests for what it should represent and accomplish. Since we originally started with only handchimes and lacked ringing experience, we wanted the piece to reflect that by starting the song with handchimes. From there the music builds into a joyous celebration reflecting the evolution of our handbell choir. The crescendo is intended to reflect the growth of our ensemble of instruments and performance skills as well as the joy we feel whenever we make a musical offering to our Lord.

When we heard Ascend! for the first time, it was evident that Sandy used her musical expertise to create the piece we envisioned from the beginning. She incorporated the wide array of our handbells and handchimes. Many of the ringing techniques you have experienced throughout the years are woven in and out of the piece. If you have a musical ear, you might even notice a temporary shift to a minor key early after the handbells start playing that pays homage to our first performance when we fell apart like a house of cards and had to regroup and finish the piece. The charter members of the handbell choir still reminisce about that to this day!

On Sunday, Oct.12, we will perform our commissioned piece, Ascend! (Together We Rise!) for the first time at Ascension at the 8:30 service. It is our prayer that you experience all the joy that was intended with our inception of this commission. We hope that you are able to share in the joy and celebration of Ascend!

Steve & Carol Spieker
 

Worship With Ascension

Summer Worship Schedule Begins!

We start our summer worship schedule on Memorial Day, May 25. Join us for worship at 8:30 a.m. in the sanctuary and 10 a.m. in the Memorial Gardens, weather permitting. Bring a chair! The Spanish-language service also moves to 10 a.m. starting May 25.

Can You Imagine Ascension Without Music?

Each week we would sit in our “usual” spot. (You know the one!) Sometimes we felt a bit left out because we longed to be a part of the musical offerings the musicians made to our God. Although we both had musical backgrounds, somehow our skills didn’t seem to have a place.

One day, it was announced that Ascension was forming a handbell choir. (Truth be told, it was actually a handchime choir with aspirations of becoming a handbell choir some day.) We inquired about the possibility of joining and were welcomed with open arms. As they say, the rest is history.

For a short time, we rehearsed with the handchimes, which were quickly replaced by a three-octave set of handbells. We were hooked! The joy that we felt from being a part of the Ascension musicians was like nothing we had felt before! We now had the opportunity to make our own offering to God using our time and talent. It’s very easy to make a monetary offering, but there is something so unique and special from an offering of one’s time and talent….and we were doing it! We won’t lie, when we are able to take a fleeting glance away from our handbell music, it is such a joy to see the congregation’s expressions when they are experiencing a performance of the handbells.

After nearly a quarter of a century, we, along with the handbells have shared some really unique experiences. We have played many times outside of the walls of Ascension. Together we have “gone on the road” and have been a part of many educational handbell camps and mass ringings in a variety of venues. Stay tuned for something on the horizon that will literally take our handbell ministry to the world!

We speak for all the Ascension musicians when we say THANK YOU for the opportunity to make a joyful noise unto the Lord! We are truly humbled and are grateful for your support!

Steve & Carol Spieker

October Worship News

Worship at the Farm Oct. 6

Just a reminder that on Sunday, Oct. 6, there will be no late service held at Ascension. Everyone is invited to Green Meadows Farm to celebrate worship with our BLAST families and Latino community. Registration is required. Register online at https://tinyurl.com/RSVPgreen. The cost is $15 per person (under 2 free) and includes sandwich, drinks and petting farm. Please also sign-up for a dish to pass, https://tinyurl.com/ALCGreen24. Please register and pay by Sept. 29. Questions? Contact Pastor Tony, tony@ascensionelca.org.

Introducing a New Youth Choir

We’re beginning a new Youth Choir for students in grades 6-8 on Thursday, Nov. 7, 5:45-6:30. This is a short-term commitment with rehearsals on Nov. 7, 14, 21 and Dec. 5 and 12. The Youth Choir will then sing for the Advent Concert Worship services on Saturday, Dec. 14, at 6 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 15, at 9:30 a.m. To sign-up, please contact Director of Music Ministries Vicki Taylor, vicki@ascensionelca.org.

Children’s Choir

Children’s Choir for children in grades K-5 returns on Thursday, Nov. 7, 5 to 5:40 p.m. Children’s choir will rehearse on Nov. 7, 14, 21 and Dec. 5 and 12 and will sing for the Advent Concert Worship services on Saturday, Dec. 14, at 6 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 15, at 9:30 a.m. Email vicki@ascensionelca.org to join. 

Sing for a Season

Love to sing but not sure about a year-long commitment? Sing with the Ascension Choir for the Advent/Christmas season. Rehearsals are from 7:15-8:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov 6; Saturday, Nov. 9, 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.; Wednesdays, Nov. 13 and 20; Tuesday, Nov. 26; Wednesdays, Dec. 4 and 11. The choir will sing for the Advent Concert Worship services on Saturday, December 14 and Sunday, December 15. Please contact Director of Music Ministries Vicki Taylor, vicki@ascensionelca.org, with questions or to join!

Music Opportunities

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing. (Psalm 100:1-2)

Come and sing or ring a new song with Ascension’s music ensembles! Rehearsals resume in September. Contact Vicki Taylor with questions or to sign up.

Ascension Choir 

The Ascension Choir provides musical leadership in worship approximately three Sundays a month, primarily at the 8:30 service (occasionally at 10:45), and at special evening worship services throughout the church year. 

  • Ages: high school through adult
  • Rehearsals: Wednesdays, 7:30-8:30 p.m., Sanctuary
  • Begins: September 6

Ascension Ringers Handbell Choir 

Joining the Ascension Ringers does not call for previous experience with handbells, but does  require the ability to read music. Reading music is an acquired skill and those interested in learning to read music with the goal of joining the handbell choir are encouraged to contact Vicki Taylor, Director of Music Ministries to arrange learning opportunities.

The handbell choir rings 5 octaves of Malmark handbells and 5 ½ octaves of Malmark handchimes. Ascension Ringers provide music in worship once per month, primarily at the 8:30 service (occasionally at 10:45), and at special services throughout the church year. 

  • Ages: high school through adult
  • Rehearsals: Wednesdays, 6-7:15 p.m., Sanctuary
  • Begins: September 6

Ascension Children’s Choir

The Children’s Choir sings approximately every 4-6 weeks, rotating between the 8:30, 10:45, and Spanish Language worship services.

  • Ages: Grades K-7
  • Rehearsals: Thursdays, 5-5:40 p.m., Music Room
  • Begins: September 21

Sing for a Season

Love to sing but not sure about a year-long commitment? Sing with the Ascension Choir for the Advent/Christmas season (rehearsals begin in November).

Instrumentalists

Instrumentalists of all ages and stages are invited to offer their musical gifts in worship. Contact Vicki Taylor to indicate an interest. 

Music Ministry Begins

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing.

Psalm 100:1-2

 You are invited to join in making a joyful noise with the Ascension music ensembles! Join us in September, or at any time throughout the year. Contact Vicki Taylor with questions or to sign up.

Ascension Choir Begins Sept. 7

The Ascension Choir provides musical leadership in worship approximately three Sundays per month, primarily at the 8:30 service (occasionally at 10:45), and at special evening worship services throughout the church year. 

Ages high school through adult
Wednesdays, 7:30-8:30 p.m., Sanctuary

Ascension Ringers Handbell Choir Begins Sept. 7

Joining the Ascension Ringers does not call for previous experience with handbells, but does  require the ability to read music. Reading music is an acquired skill and those interested in learning to read music with the goal of joining the handbell choir are encouraged to contact Vicki Taylor, Director of Music Ministries to arrange learning opportunities.

The handbell choir rings 5 octaves of Malmark handbells and 5 ½ octaves of Malmark handchimes. Ascension Ringers provide music in worship once per month, primarily at the 8:30 service (occasionally at 10:45), and at special services throughout the church year.

Ages high school through adult
Wednesdays, 6:00-7:15 p.m., Sanctuary

Ascension Children’s Choir Begins Oct. 6

The Children’s Choir sings approximately every 4-6 weeks, rotating between the 8:30, 10:45, and Spanish Language worship services.

Grades K-6
Thursdays, 5:00-5:40, Music Room

Instrumentalists

Instrumentalists of all ages and stages are invited to offer their musical gifts in worship; contact Vicki Taylor, vicki@ascensionelca.org, to indicate interest.