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Christmas at Christ Church of the Ascension

I hope you’ve made your plans for Christmas Eve this Saturday to be here at CCA to celebrate Christ’s birth!


·        Our 4:30pm Carol Sing followed by the Pageant worship at 5pm will inspire your hearts thanks to our young people preaching the Good News for all to hear.


·        The 7:45pm Carol Sing followed by our traditional worship at 8pm with candles and choral offerings will nurture your spirit as we look ahead to the coming year.


Bring your friends! Bring your neighbors! This is the time to share the story of how Christ Church of the Ascension is a safe, warm, welcoming place for one and all.


·        Christmas Day and New Year’s Day will be a bit quiet but still joyful celebration at 10:30am on each of those Sundays.


Find what worship works for you and we’ll see you there!


Finally: we’ll be closed during the week between Christmas and New Year’s and will re-open on January 3. This will give our wonderful staff a week of rest, though a few of our team will be in to close the end-of-year books and make sure your donations are processed in a timely way! Their diligence never ceases!


If you haven’t had a chance yet, please send your thanks to the lay staff – 2022 has been an incredible year of change and adapting—and your lay staff have held down the fort every step of the way. Their passion and care for this community is unsurpassed. Their ability to remain creative, optimistic, open-minded, and collaborative has been a ceaseless gift. It’s been such a tremendous privilege to partner with Allison, Jody, Shana, Tom, Armando, and Gloria each day – they are each a treasure and I count myself very lucky to not only have such remarkable clergy colleagues in Deacon Jean and Chaplain Erin, but a lay staff who works together so beautifully.


We have much to be thankful for at CCA at this time of year. And while there are mountains to climb in the coming months, we will do it together. And for that, I am in awe and humbled by the opportunity.


See you in church, beloveds. Let us continue to grow our discipleship together. Merry Christmas.


Mother Erika

The Rev. Canon Erika von Haaren

Interim Rector, Christ Church of the Ascension

Merry Christmas!

By The Rev. Fr. Rod Hurst+ • January 4, 2024
Merry Christmas! Today, this Eleventh Day of Christmas (for us who begin counting on December 25th), I’d like to share some wisdom from the pen of Michael Ramsey, the 100th Archbishop of Canterbury. As Bishop of Durham, he was part of the episcopal entourage and inner circle of bishops surrounding Queen Elizabeth II at her Westminster Abbey Coronation in 1953 and, later, Archbishop of York before his elevation to Canterbury in 1961. In the 1980’s, after his retirement from Canterbury, Ramsey was a regular presence at my seminary in Wisconsin where I first learned about him years later. The following is an excerpt from one of Bishop Ramsey’s annual letters to his diocesan clergy on New Year’s Day. This is also good advice for all the people of God and us at Christ Church of the Ascension as we go into 2024 expectant of what lies ahead and grateful for all our many blessings, past, present and future. Here are The Baron Arthur Michael Ramsey’s five tips for the new year. 1. Thank God. Often and always. Thank him carefully and wonderingly for your continuing privileges and for every experience of his goodness. Thankfulness is a soil in which pride does not easily grow. 2. Take care about confession of your sins. As time passes the habit of being critical about people and things grows more than each of us realize. [He then gently commends the practice of sacramental confession.] 3. Be ready to accept humiliations. They can hurt terribly but they can help to keep you humble. [Whether trivial or big, accept them he says.] All these can be so many chances to be a little nearer to our Lord. There is nothing to fear, if you are near to the Lord and in his hands. 4. Do not worry about status. There is only one status that Our Lord bids us be concerned with, and that is our proximity to Him. “If a man serve me, let him follow me, and where I am there also shall my servant be” (John 12:26). That is our status; to be near our Lord wherever He may ask us to go with him. 5. Use your sense of humor. Laugh at things, laugh at the absurdities of life, laugh at yourself. Through the year people will thank God for you. And let the reason for their thankfulness be not just that you were a person whom they liked or loved but because you made God real to them. *** Amen! and Happy New Year !!  Grace & peace, Fr. Rod+

Rector's Note for 12/21/23

By The Rev. Fr. Rod Hurst • December 21, 2023
Rector's Note for 12/21/23 As we enter this season of giving in celebration of the Incarnation of our Lord, I want to thank you for your generosity to Christ Church of the Ascension during 2023 in your gifts of time, talent and treasure. I want to say a special thank you also to those who have pledged for 2024! As our 2024 Stewardship Campaign continues, if you haven’t yet completed your pledge card or pledged online, I encourage you to do so as an act of spiritual worship and tangible prayer for the future of the Church in thanksgiving for all of God’s many blessings these past 60 years. Please join me in giving from the heart for the building up of this community of faith to inspire hope and love through worship and service in the Church and in the world. Make Christ Church of the Ascension part of your daily spiritual practice as you prayerfully discern what God is calling you to give in 2024 starting now. PLEDGE HERE Grace and peace, Father Rod+

A Note for Thanksgiving

By The Rev. Fr. Rod Hurst • November 16, 2023
A Note for Thanksgiving My series on the Collects of Thomas Cranmer will continue at a later date; but today I’d like to share with you one of my favorite stories by pastoral care pioneer Howard Clinebell. It speaks to us about the fact that the Church, our church, is not only a house of worship and prayer but a hospital for the broken, where Christ welcomes each person, where they are and for who they are. As Christ's hands and voice we then bring the healing arts of spiritual friendship and Christ-like love to all Christ brings our way. If we were all Christ-like all the time we would have no need for Christ and his Church; but everyday experiences tell us all that we have need of Christ each and every day of our lives—the healed and the healers alike. This charming and cautionary tale tells us what we are meant to be, and what we could become if we lose sight of our mission; but it is a reminder of our potential when we retain and, as necessary, reclaim our Christ-centered focus. Thus we give thanks! Please touch or click the link below to read the story. Lifesaving Station Grace and peace, Fr. Rod+
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