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)

El Salvador & Tanzania News

Pastor Julio Visiting from El Salvador

Pastor Julio will be at Ascension the first week of October. On Sunday, Oct. 8, you are invited to join us for a potluck lunch following late service to share Wisconsin hospitality with him and to hear more news from our brothers and sister in Usulután.

There is also interest in El Salvador in hosting a Bible study based on the book Grace by Max Lucado. Pastor Tony and Pastor Edwin have both been leading book studies on this book at Ascension. The Spanish-language versions of the book are $12 each. If you are interested in sponsoring a book that Pastor Julio can take back with him, you can connect with Pastor Edwin.

School Lunches for Tanzania

We hope to collect enough money in the month of October to provide all 1100 children and teachers with lunch for the 195-day school year. Because of the drought and world-wide high food prices, we need to raise $18,576. For $100, all of students and teachers in our three partner schools will have a day and a half of lunch. It is only $16.84 to feed a child for the year. Give on Sundays, but it is even easier to give online now.

October Missions

Afghan Refugees

There has been a lot of media coverage on the Afghan refugees and how it will impact Wisconsin. Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) is the primary agency of the Lutheran Church to coordinate nationwide work with refugees and immigrants. Their website explains the national efforts by LIRS to support the Afghan Allies arriving in the US. At this time, advocacy and donations are greatly needed. Lutheran Social Services (LSS) is the local agency that resettles refugees as they come to Wisconsin. The LSS website explains the LSS Wisconsin efforts to support those Afghans who will be resettled in the Milwaukee area after being released from Ft. McCoy. Please check out the “Fact Sheet” on that page for even more detailed information. Currently, financial donations to LSS are the greatest need.

Afghans can only be released from Ft. McCoy into the care of LSS after they have passed screening and LSS is able to guarantee one year of support (all rent, food, transportation, etc.). There is a “Supply List” outlining what is needed for each home set up by LSS. At this time, LSS cannot store items, and does not yet know how many apartments, how many bedrooms, what size beds, and what age of individuals will be relocated. Once they know that information, they will have a very short period of time to set up homes. Ascension or LSS does not have storage space to store donated items at this time.

Information is changing quickly, based on Federal decisions so Ascension will try to keep current on announcements. LSS is focusing on the long welcome after Afghans are released from Ft. McCoy. Several Ascension members serve on the synod Immigration and Refugee Committee and will be able to keep you informed if you have questions. Contact Shirley Wehmeier, shwehmeier@gmail.com.

Tutoring Program

After an 18-month hiatus, our tutoring program re-started on Sept. 18. We are continuing to encourage volunteers to step forward so that we can ensure that all tutor groups have at least two tutors for 2-4 students to provide flexibility for the tutors. We still need helpers with the children. We know from prior years that the program continues to grow as the weeks progress. Several students are involved in sports or school activities that limit them from starting until October. We are pleased to see that they are becoming more active in other activities, so we want to be prepared to welcome them when they return. We have heard from others in the community that they are interested in our program so if we can get additional tutors, we can do more outreach into the community.

Our program provides tutoring classes for adults and kids. Our adults are mostly Burmese and Latinos who are beginning English learners or those who want to advance their English skills. The children range in age from pre-school to high school. The little ones may not have heard much English at home, so they are new to the language. The older children will need help with their homework or more advanced English skills. We will support you in planning how to best work with the students. You will be blessed by working with these amazing people. Contact Barbara Nordberg if you are interested or would like more information.

Thank You!

Thank you to all who have continued to donate to our various partners in the community. During the summer we donated over 1000 bottles of water and six large boxes of Blessing Bags for the homeless to the Hope Center. We have been able to provide food, paper products, snacks and cleaning supplies for the neighbors through our Blessing Box every week throughout the summer. The Little Library continues to provide books for those in our community. Donations to the Food Pantry were delivered twice a month throughout the summer. We delivered six bins of donations to Cross Food Pantry. This is an amazing testimony of faith that in spite of all that is happening in people’s lives, Ascension remains generous with their donations for those who have so much less. When you fed the least of these, you fed Me.

Mt. Meru Coffee Project

Supporting Farmers, Growing Futures, Changing Lives is the mission of the Meru Coffee Project. Established in 1999, the Project enables the small coffee farmers living on the slopes of Mount Meru in Tanzania to have funds available to send their children to school, access and pay for health care, and to support local farm villages, markets, and merchants.

The Project provides small farmers with a fair price for their premium coffee. A fair price provides an increase in farm income, allowing the farmers to support their families with dignity. The coffee project is a part of our partnership in Tanzania. Purchasing and drinking Mt. Meru Premium Tanzanian Coffee is the single most important way in which individuals, congregations, and businesses can support thousands of family coffee farmers in Tanzania.

How can you help? Purchase coffee for your home use, give it as gifts, volunteer to set up, serve and clean up coffee for church on Sundays. Serving and selling Meru coffee has been a long tradition at Ascension. Since the pandemic, we have gradually re-introduced the coffee on Sunday mornings. Your help is needed to continue to do this. Contact the church office or Shirley Wehmeier to volunteer.

NAMIWalks

The date for the annual walk for mental health programs provided by NAMI is October 9. See their website on all the options for participating. NAMI is one of our community partners and provides education, prevention and support for individuals and families impacted by mental illness.

Creation Care

Plenty of beneficial pollinators overwinter in gardens, using plants and debris that are left behind to survive. Hollow canes and dead flower stalks, leaves and ground vegetation, old wood & bark and undisturbed soil are natural shelters for non-migrating bees, butterflies, beetles and other pollinators. How can you do your part?

  • Don’t give away or compost your raked leaves! Keep them in your yard. Spread them about 2” high on all your garden beds and place branches over them to keep them from blowing away. Place the rest in the woods.
  • Postpone pulling up your dead annuals and perennials until spring. They’ll trap whatever leaves blow by, creating their own enriching mulch while shielding insects throughout the winter.
  • Don’t disturb areas of bare soil where many wild bee species, including bumblebees, overwinter in small nests.
  • Leave dead logs where insects may overwinter under peeling bark.

For those of you who think this may be too messy, consider cleaning up just the front edge of the most visible areas and leave the back section until spring. Your eyes will be drawn to the neat edge and you will save your own energy while providing critical winter habitat and shelter for the beautiful moths, butterflies, pollinators and insects that you work so hard to support in the warm months. Your overwintering pollinators will thank you by emerging in the spring and delighting you all over again. Contact Lynn Parkhurst with questions. (Source: University of New Hampshire Extension.)

(Reprinted from the Oct. 2021 newsletter)