Goodbye 2023, Welcome 2024

Last year when we discovered New Year’s Day was going to be a Sunday, it created a challenge. New Year’s Eve is perhaps the biggest holiday in Latino culture, with staying out all night being the norm, regardless of age. I wondered what to do about worship that Sunday. Should we move it to Saturday, make it later in the day? Cancelling wasn’t any option for me. I decided that we were going to stay with the 10:45 time, but we weren’t going to even try to have a normal Sunday service. Instead of rows of chairs, everyone was seated at a table. The welcome table had pastries and hot chocolate. We started worship with paper to write prayer requests. At the conclusion of worship, we headed outside where we prayed as we sent our petitions to God in the flames of a fire. Everyone appreciated the worship so much that we returned to a similar format again this year. Those of you who were at 10:45 service this year on December 31 were probably wondering what was happening in the parking lot.

I believe that our New Year’s prayers transcend culture and you can pray them, even if it’s not January 1 on the calendar when you read this article.

Prayers for Letting Go of Pain
In the past year, we experienced moments of both physical and emotional pain. We experienced loss and worry. Living Lord, Your love has held us as you walked alongside us during our moments of suffering. Even in our darkest moments, you never left our side. Now may your hope and healing lead us to a place of restoration. Help us to be strong enough to forgive those who have hurt us. Help us to see that forgiveness is a gift we give ourselves. Help us to be free from resentment and anger. As our prayers of pain turn to ash, may we also let go of our pain from this past year and beyond.

Prayers of Thanksgiving
In the past year, we have had moments of blessings big and small. Help us to remember to approach life with gratitude. We thank you for the small moments that brought us quiet moments of beauty: a painted sky at sunrise, shared laughter, and a million moments that we have already forgotten. We thank you for the big moments: the arrival of babies, marriages, success at work, and other things we lift up to you. We send our prayers of thanksgiving to you.

Prayers of Hopes and Dreams
Dear God, With the new year, we have the opportunity for a fresh start to achieve our goals and dreams. We ask that you give us the wisdom to make the right choices to achieve these dreams and the strength to persevere. While we hope for a path without obstacles, allow us to learn from the difficulties we face. Teach us to understand that what we hope for may not be what is best for us in the long run, and to have faith in your plan. Help us to maintain our goodness in our efforts to achieve dreams. We know that you want what is best for us and we are grateful for the blessings that will come to us in the next year. In our prayers and in the flames, we send to you our prayers for our hopes for 2024. 

May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice. (Psalm 141:2)

Happy New Year!

Pastor Edwin

New Beginnings

“So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”   2 Corinthians 5:17

Do you ever stop and think about why we celebrate New Year’s Day? Afterall, it’s really just another day, so why is it so important for people to mark a date change on a calendar?

I would guess it’s because a new year offers a new beginning, the chance to start fresh. There’s a reason January is the most important month of the year for gyms and diet programs because it seems like a fresh chance to start again and improve yourself. It seems like a natural time for beginning something, which is why I think lots of people make New Year’s resolutions (whether they stick to them or not is another story).

The Christian life offers lots of opportunities for fresh starts, for changing what we’ve been doing or beginning to live differently. In worship, we regularly begin with a time of confession where we admit what we’ve done wrong. We admit to God and to each other that our lives aren’t perfect, that we’re not living the way we should live, that we’re doing things we shouldn’t do and failing to do things we should do.

Then, immediately after confession, we hear God’s response. We hear the good news that because of God’s forgiveness, because God loves us, we all get a fresh start. The slate is wiped clean. We don’t need to carry the weight of our sins or guilt with us anymore. We are forgiven!

And then we run into the next week (or maybe just the next day…or the next couple of minutes) and it doesn’t take long before we stumble again. It doesn’t take long for us to forget about what God has done for us. We take the burden that Jesus has taken from us, and we pick it back up and start trying to carry the weight of our own faults and failings again. But we always have another opportunity to remember God’s love because God never gets tired of forgiving us!

News flash…we don’t have to wait for a new year to have a fresh start. Each day offers us the opportunity to wake up and remember that we are a child of God. We have been claimed, redeemed, forgiven, and set free by Jesus Christ.

Today we have the opportunity to say goodbye to the old and welcome in the new. Today we have the chance to start over again and begin to live a new life in Christ. With this in mind, I pray that your resolutions and mine will all lead toward the peace and joy on earth that we celebrate in the birth of Jesus at Christmas. And perhaps our new beginning can start with learning more about God’s grace and love for us, and then sharing that love with one another.

Blessings on all your new beginnings!

~Pastor Tony

Merry Christmas!

“Still in these first days of this new year we hear the words, Merry Christmas as the church celebrates the season of Christmas through January 6th when the feast of Epiphany arrives, and the Magi arrive at the manger. It is an awfully full schedule–from the travel arrangements to Bethlehem to lost hotel reservations and a stay in a manger to a birthing room without medical insurance or assistance to early visitors smelling of sheep. Finally, just as we expect Mary and Joseph to take some time to rest from their journey—the Magi knock on the door. “More visitors,” shouts Joseph. Mary pulls herself together one more time and pastes on a plastic smile to greet the visitors from the East. The Magi come bearing gifts, but more importantly, they arrive with stories of a star in the sky that appears around the time of the birth of Mary’s son. A star that shines brighter than the rest and calls the Magi to follow. It is the same star that calls us to follow. Once again, we have followed the star to the manger. Once again, we pray for the hope of God to overwhelm us. Epiphany is the season of light. And after 2016, I am in desperate need for the light of God’s promise to continue to call us and the rest of the world—first, to the manger and then to go into the world to tell the story of God’s love and promise.

I find it amusing that the words above were written to you in the first days of 2017. It is amusing that I would easily write these same words to you in these first days of 2024. Apparently, I am still in desperate need for the light of God’s promise to overwhelm us. Some things change. Some things never change. Maybe what is needed to change is me. In that spirit, I offer you this prayer for the new year. No resolutions to promise and break. No, this year, a prayer to “make something new in me, in this year, for God.”

From Guerrillas of Grace by Ted Loder …

Patient God, the clock struck midnight and I partied with a strange sadness in my heart, confusion in my mind.

Now, I ask you to gather me, for I realize the storms of time have scattered me, the furies of the year past have driven me, many sorrows have scarred me, many accomplishments have disappointed me, much activity has wearied me, and fear has spooked me into a hundred hiding places, once is which is pretended joy.

I am sick of a string of “have-a-nice-days.” What I ant is passionate days, wondrous days, dangerous days, surprising days. What I want is you!

Patient God, the day teeters on the edge of waiting and things seem to slip away from me, as though everything were only memory and memory is capricious. Help me not to let my life slip away from me. O God, I hold up my life to you now, as much as I can, as high as I can, in this mysterious reach called prayer. Come close, lest I wobble and fall short. It is not days or years I seek from you, not infinity and enormity, but small things and moments and awareness, awareness that you are in what I am and in what I have been indifferent to. It is not new time, but new eyes, new heart I seek, and you.

Patient God, in this teetering time, this time in the balance, this time of waiting, make me aware of moments, moments of song, moments of bread and friends, moments of jokes ( some of them on me) which, for a moment, deflate my arrogance; moments of sleep and warm beds, moments of children laughing and parents bending, moments of sunsets and sparrows outspunking winter, moments when splinters shine and rocks shrink, moments when I know myself blessed, not because I am so awfully important, but because you are so awesomely God, no less of the year to come as of all the years past; no less of this moment than of all my moments; no less of those who forget you as of those who remember, as I do now, in this teetering time.

O Patient God, make something new in me, in this year, for you. Amen.

Perhaps this can be your prayer, as well, in this new year. Happy New Year People of God. Be Well!

Pastor Chris

Merry Christmas! Welcome 2023!

What a year we had in 2022. Ascension has continued to thrive in telling the story of the love of Jesus and I am grateful for your faithfulness and for your dedication to our God and this community of faith.

We continue to lift the importance of children in our midst. The joy of multi-generational gathering in worship and ministry. We are also celebrating the journey of living in this “holy experiment” of one congregation worshipping in two languages. Our Advent Concert Worship and Children’s Christmas Program Worship were two examples of hearing voices raised in praise of our God in both English and Spanish. One of the highlights of the last part of 2022 was the number of visitors we saw joining our community in worship and at other events. Journey to Bethlehem and Las Posadas offered wonderful opportunities to welcome new faces into our midst to experience the joy of sharing in the excitement of this community of faith.

As we enter the season of Epiphany, we find ourselves reveling in the light of Christ. Where the star of Bethlehem was leading us toward the manger in the season of Advent, the light of Epiphany surrounds us and invites us to live in the light. What joy to gather in these weeks of Epiphany to hear the stories of the life of Jesus and to reflect on how we learn from Jesus how to live and love.

How we live and love is our reflection of God’s light in our lives. I am grateful to be among so many who live out God’s love by inviting, welcoming, and tending those around you. I am humbled to continue to serve God and Ascension as one of your pastors. What joy to hear you tell the stories of introduction and welcome, moments of hospitality and excitement meeting someone new. Dear friends, we should always be ready to tell the story of God’s love, our faith, and the journey God continues to bless. Revel in the light, people of God, the joy of the Lord is our strength.

We expect to welcome new members to our community on Palm Sunday in early April. If you know someone who is considering looking for a church or is ready to join our community, please let Pastor Tony or me know. We are happy to reach out to connect and answer questions.

Blessings to you in these new days of Christmas on our way to Epiphany.

See you in church.

Pastor Chris

Love God & Love Your Neighbor

Happy New Year! Now that we’ve got that out of the way, what’s next? Well, one of the irritating things about a new year is this business of new year resolutions. For many people it’s typical to step into the new year by setting new goals and aspirations. It’s something that tends to require a reordering of priorities and usually involves writing goals down on paper or creating cell phone reminders or encouraging notes on our computer home screen and then aligning our daily habits to those goals. We all make them – or at least feel like we should make them. But like new Christmas toys, too often they soon end up broken and tossed aside.

I think it’s safe to say if we gathered a list of resolutions from Ascension members we’d no doubt see goals ranging from the ever-popular losing weight, to sticking with an exercise program, to developing a more regular prayer life to being more kind, to being a better spouse, parent, sibling, or friend. All things that are intended to improve our lives.

Recently when I led a study on the Book of Joy, I asked group members, “What brings you the most joy?” Their consensus answer was “relationships and connections with others.” If this is indeed true, and I believe it is, then as we look ahead to this new year, I wonder if we might move relationships to the forefront of our minds as we ponder setting our new year resolutions. First in our relationship with God, and then in our relationships with others. Because if I remember scripture correctly this sounds familiar to something Jesus said – love God and love your neighbors.

As we step into this new year I wonder if each of us would consider these words every time we encounter the clerk at the post office, the receptionist at the doctor’s office, the people who clean your office building, and pick up your trash and recycling. The cashier, bagger, or stock person where you buy groceries, or the people who deliver your packages along with every other person in this world regardless of their race, religion, political affiliation, financial status, language spoken, skin color, country of origin or anything else and remember all of them are God’s children and deserving of love, welcome, acceptance, respect, and compassion.

With this in mind, I pray that your resolutions and mine will all lead toward the peace and joy on earth that we celebrate in the birth of Jesus at Christmas. May the joy of Christ be with you always throughout this new year and beyond.

Pastor Tony

Pastor’s Reflection

In early January, I received a card from a friend with the following quote on the cover: “And now let us welcome the new year, full of things that have never been.” The words were written by poet and novelist Rainer Maria Rilke. The quote has stayed with me in these first weeks of this new year.

Always – there is expectation, anticipation, hope at the ending of one year and the beginning of another. It is also an opportunity to evaluate and celebrate the journey that has unfolded during the past year. There are moments when I would rather ignore, dismiss, even deny challenges that have taken their toll on me in the past year. It is far easier to imagine the days ahead anticipating happier and easier days. Yet, I am reminded that in reflecting on the past, I will often find the moments of peace and even joy in remembering where God came near to my suffering or brokenness. It turns out that our reflection on days gone by is as important as the excitement of what may come in this new year.

Many of you know, I have learned to walk a new road over the past couple of years, with an unwelcome companion, in dealing with Acute Idiopathic Recurrent Pancreatitis. More simply stated – it is pancreatitis without cause or trigger that shows up whenever the pancreas decides it needs a break. At its best, this companion is a frustration and a nuisance in my life. At its worst, it is a “take your breath away” kind of pain and an “upset your life routine” kind of schedule. Though, I like to believe I am superhuman and can tackle anything. The last couple of years have been humbling to be forced to put your life on hold to deal with a body that has an internal organ that misfires on occasion. When you are the person who so often tends the needs and suffering of others, it can turn your world upside down to be faced with the prospect of needing tending yourself.

I share all of this with you because many of you have taught me how to walk with this new companion. Many of you have shared your own stories of struggle – the frustration, the anger, the betrayal of your body. I have listened to your stories and I have learned from you. I have done some listening to my own body also – to rest when a flare or episode arrives and to ask for help at the Emergency Department when managing at home is less than ideal.

What all this means, in my life, is that I can fight the episodes and push through the pain and do my best to ignore – and sometimes that is exactly what I do. And other times, I do my best to listen to what others tell me – rest, recover, renew. And in this new year – a fourth “R” is added – reflect.

In the midst of the struggles over the past year, God has been present in some most amazing ways. I have had friends come and sit at the hospital with me. A pastoral assistant or two have found their way to my hospital room. My mom came to visit and after I told her she did not need to visit, she said, “Are you kidding, this is the best way to get you to myself for an entire hour!” It turns out the quote up above speaks to me for a couple of reasons. In welcoming the new year, “full of things that have never been,” I am learning to be more present to myself, to others, and to our God. When I first read the quote, I thought the “things that have never been” would be new adventures, new possibilities and indeed those experiences are always available. However, I have also learned that “things that have never been” may also lead me to moments where I am more present, more available, and more attentive to myself and the world around me.

Yes, I have much to learn in this new year. Perhaps that is why Epiphany, as the season of light, offers so much possibility and anticipation. God comes into the world. The light of God overwhelms the darkness. And in reflecting on some darker days and challenging moments, I am reminded that God promises a year of “things that have never been.”

Bring it on God. Bring it all on. I am ready for the road ahead. I hope you are too. Remembering all the while that God is with us.

Peace my friends. See you in church.

Pastor Chris
(Reprinted from the February 2020 newsletter)

A Star Shining in the Night

The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. ~ John 1:9

Merry Christmas! Still in these first days of this new year we hear the words Merry Christmas as the church celebrates the season of Christmas through January 6 when the feast of Epiphany arrives and the Magi arrive at the manger.

It was an awfully full schedule: travel arrangements to Bethlehem, lost hotel reservations, a stay in a manger, a birthing room without medical insurance or assistance, and early visitors smelling of sheep. Then, just as we expect Mary and Joseph to take time to rest, the Magi knock on the door. “More visitors,” shouts Joseph. Mary pulls herself together one more time and pastes on a plastic smile to greet the visitors from the East. The Magi come bearing gifts, but more importantly, they arrive with stories of a star that appeared around the time of the birth of Mary’s son – a star that shines brighter than the rest and calls the Magi to follow. It is the same star that calls us to follow.

Once again, we have followed the star to the manger. Once again, we pray for the hope of God to overwhelm us. Epiphany is the season of light.  And after 2016, I am in desperate need for the light of God’s promise to continue to call us and the rest of the world – first, to the manger and then to go into the world to tell the story of God’s love and promise. As the star shines in the sky, may the light of Christ shine in us and through us. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it!”
Peace be with you,
Rev. Christian Marien

(This article first appeared in the January 2017 newsletter).

Come, Lord Jesus

Dear People of God,
“Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest.” The familiar table grace many of us learned as children is also an Advent prayer full of hope and longing. In Advent, although we are preparing for the annual Christmas celebration of Jesus’ birth long ago in Bethlehem, we are also keenly aware of the need for Jesus to come again, bringing the fullness of peace and justice with his promised reign. The story we tell begins with the God of Israel, who saw the suffering of the people enslaved by Pharaoh and came down to deliver them. This same God sees the suffering of people today and will come again bringing freedom from death and sin. The coming of Jesus promises life to all creation and assures victory over all God’s enemies.  

The challenge we face as Christians is to tell the Advent story and be heard when we are surrounded by a multitude of competing stories distracting and confusing us. The Jesus whose coming we proclaim in Advent is the “joy of heaven,” God’s love sent to earth for the sake of all creation.

The words of author Blair Meeks: “We are entering into the new church year under the banner of Advent. God has heard the cries of God’s people. John the Baptist will call us from the river Jordan. Mary, the mother of Jesus, will sing to the glory of God. A star will light the sky on fire and stop to rest over a stable.” Come, Lord Jesus. I am ready for all of these moments. I am hungry to hear the stories, renewed in my own ears, of God’s tending of our lives once again. Come, Lord Jesus.

I wonder – are you hungry? Do you hunger for peace? Do you hunger for joy? Do you hunger for hope? This is the time of God’s choosing. Are you ready?

Poet Ann Weems writes these words:


Our God is the One who comes to us in a burning bush,
In an angel song, in a newborn child.
Our God is the One who cannot be found locked in the church,
Not even in the sanctuary.
Our God will be where God will be with no constraints, no predictability.
Our God lives where our God lives,
and destruction has no power and even death cannot stop the living.
Our God will be born where God will be born,
But there is no place to look for the One who comes to us.
When God is ready God will come even to a godforsaken place
Like a stable in Bethlehem.
Watch…for you know not when God comes.
Watch, that you might be found whenever, wherever, God comes.


My prayer for each of you is to let your hunger for God call you to new life in this season of Advent. As we move toward Christmas, you are invited to join us on Sunday morning for an Advent Bible Study on Dec. 4 to help you get more through the season of Advent. Advent Concert Worship services happen on Saturday, Dec. 10 at 6 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 11 at 8:30 and 10:45 a.m. Children’s Christmas Pageant Worship services happen on Sunday, Dec. 18 at 8:30 and 10:45a.m. Christmas Eve worship services, at 2:30, 4:00, 5:00, and 11:00 p.m., will arrive with candlelight, communion, and carols to give glory to God. Join us in one of these moments or in every one of these moments.

Watch, that you might be found whenever, wherever, God comes.

Peace and joy be yours in these days of Advent,
Pastor Chris Marien

(This article was first published in Ascension’s December 2016 newsletter).

Days of Light

What joy to celebrate the birth of our Savior once again in these Christmas days. It always fills me with wonder and awe to see the body of Christ gather to sing the old songs while experiencing the story and love of God in new ways through the journey of Advent darkness to Christmas light. Even as the world often does not know what to do with the birth of our Savior, you and I hear the call of God to be witnesses to the light of God coming into the world.

Now we find ourselves on the edge of the season of Epiphany – the season of light. I am filled with peace in these days of light – each day a reminder of God’s presence in my life and in the life of the world. When we see the difficult and painful realities of our world, our hope in Jesus gives us strength to face the days before us.

Some of us are experiencing a broken relationship; some of us are living with the consequences of a decision made long ago; some of us are afraid to reach out to someone in need; some of us are wondering how we will get through one more day; and some of us are fearful of the seemingly downward spiral of a world in turmoil. Through all of these fears and worries, the light of God in Jesus Christ shines chasing away the dark night of our fear.

Our invitation is to trust God and follow God from the manger to the temple to the River Jordan to the healing and saving work of God on the cross and through the gate of death to the other side of the empty tomb. The old Norwegian hymn, “I Am So Glad Each Christmas Eve” reminds us of God’s promise.

I am so glad each Christmas Eve, the night of Jesus’ birth! Then like the sun the star shone forth, and angels sang on earth. The little child in Bethlehem, he was a king indeed!
For he came down from heaven above to help a world in need.

“He came down from heaven above to help a world in need.” This is not a future promise to God’s creation, it is a promise already fulfilled. Thanks be to God! In our daily lives, our invitation is to trust what God is doing because of what God has already done. Now there is a promise fulfilled that I can take comfort in during challenging days.

After the Advent Concert Worship weekend, a member of the congregation sent a reflection to the office. I found her words full of the faith we are invited to engage trusting that God is at work in the world. Here are her words.

When I attended the Christmas concert on Dec. 13, I was so moved by [the] production and message I received of Christ’s coming to earth to be among us, I felt I had to say something about it. We had the children singing to the glory of God, the choir at its best singing the joy to the world, instrumentalists playing, the Bell Choir ringing their hearts to God, the Folk Choir singing, and Ben and the Praise Band singing for us. The message Pastor Angela read to us was the message that means Christmas to me. I was overwhelmed with joy. As I sat there, I pondered the budget cuts and the many changes in our church in the past several years and I feel that our church is going in the right direction. There is no way we can make changes for the future without stepping on someone’s toes. Unfortunately someone gets hurt.

My prayer for 2016 at Ascension is that we all can work together and we can nd ways to make up the shortfalls in our budget. We all need to listen to our Lord who speaks to us through the holiday season and all year. Remember my favorite Bible verse, ‘I can do anything through Christ who gives me strength.’ We can do it, I know we can! ~ Arlene Davis

What I appreciate most about Arlene’s words is her unwavering trust in God. In the midst of worship and praise of our God, Arlene saw the light of a manger overflowing with God’s love for a world in need. We will never know a day in our lives without a deep and definite need for God’s presence. I am grateful to serve among a community of faith where joy is shared; where faith is active; and where our faith finds grounding and strength through the worship of God.

May these days of light in this season of Epiphany bring you joy and peace.

~ Pastor Chris Marien

(This article was originally published in Ascension’s January 2016 newsletter).

The Light of Epiphany

Dear People of God,
I am borrowing the words of one of my favorite poets, Ann Weems, to share with you the hope of this new year. She has an incredible gift to describe with such clarity my feelings of these days after Christmas. She writes:

3 wise menI must admit to a certain guilt about stuffing the Holy Family into a box in the aftermath of Christmas. It’s frankly a time of personal triumph when, each Advent’s eve, I free them (and the others) from a year’s imprisonment boxed in the dark of our basement. Out they come, one by one, struggling through the straw, last year’s tinsel still clinging to their robes. Nevertheless, they appear, ready to take their place again in the light of another Christmas. The Child is first because he’s the one I’m most reluctant to box. Attached forever to his cradle, he emerges, apparently unscathed from the time spent upside down to avoid the crush of the lid. His mother, dressed eternally in blue, still gazes adoringly, in spite of the fact that her features are somewhat smudged. Joseph has stood for eleven months, holding valiantly what’s left of his staff, broken twenty Christmases ago by a child who hugged a little too tightly.The Wise Ones still travel, though not quite so elegantly, the standing camel having lost its back leg and the sitting camel having lost one ear. However, gifts intact, they are ready to move. The Shepherds, walking or kneeling, sometimes confused with Joseph (who wears the same dull brown), tumble forth, followed by three sheep in very bad repair. There they are again, not a grand set surely, but one children (and now the grandchildren) can touch and move about to reenact the silent night. When the others return, we will wind the music box on the back of the stable and light the Advent candles and go one more time to Bethlehem. And this year, when it’s time to pack the figures away, we’ll be more careful that the Peace and Goodwill are not also boxed for another year!

The days of Epiphany call us to bask in the light of Christmas. Not the light of a star, but the light of a Savior. Here, the darkness is chased away by the promise of new life. The long nights of winter are beginning to give way to days filled with increasing moments of light. For many of us, the darkness seems to overwhelm us. It is only when we remove our hands covering our eyes and lift up our heads that we are able to see the light of Christ that surrounds us. May you be blessed by the hope that God has already placed within you in these days of Epiphany – these days of light.

Peace be with you,

Pastor Chris Marien