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Finding Faith in Unexpected Places


The lessons we will read in church on this Sunday bring many things to mind, but one of the most notable things I see is something we have been grappling with in our education and formation classes this year: Finding faith in unexpected places.


This is the kind of faith we read about in Nehemiah. A group of Jewish settlers have returned from exile to the homeland they had only heard about in family stories. The remnant of those left behind during the Babylonian exile have been living in the ruins of Jerusalem, and over the course of about 100years, people slowly started returning to Judah to join them. Nehemiah joined relatively late in the process, but he became the instrument that God used to bring safety and security to the people. Getting there alone was an act of faith; when word reached Nehemiah of the destruction and devastation, he prayed and then went to King Atraxerxes (of Persia) and said, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor with you, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my ancestors’ graves, so that I may rebuild it.” And so, a courtier (the wine-bearer) to the King of Persia became the spark of faith that led to restoration and revival.


Finding faith from unexpected people in unexpected situations is the story we’ve heard over and over in Fr. Gregory Boyle’s book Tattoos on the Heart. In a neighborhood known for violence and poverty, in the midst of families whose primary means of interaction are abuse and neglect, in a sea of people feeling lost and hopeless and forgotten, hope comes from the unlikeliest of sources: a Jesuit priest surrounded by the support of angry moms and grandmas fighting for their children’s futures. It took courage and faith to see something different, and with grace (and patience, and a good sense of humor),Fr. Gregory stepped into Boyle Heights and began a project of bringing hope and healing through job training, education, tattoo removal, and lots and lots of prayer.


In Luke’s gospel, Jesus announces his ministry by personally claiming the vision of healing from Isaiah 61. That prophetic message from Isaiah is a beautiful vision of hope and healing for exiles who are weary, a group who has not experienced much hope for generations. It is unexpected. And Jesus, a carpenter’s son from a remote fishing village on the Sea of Galilee, is an unexpected person to take on this mantle.


In our own ways, in our own times, I wonder how we too are called to be unexpected sparks of faith for those in need of fresh hope and a different perspective. I will leave you with a short prayer from the Iona Community that is popular at Pentecost, a prayer of courageous faith and dedication:


God of fire and beauty, warm us.
God of peace and justice, disturb us.
God of wind and wonder, amaze us.
God of Pentecost, kindle your love in our lives.   


The Rev. Dr. Perry M. Pauley

Associate Rector, Christ Church of the Ascension

Paradise Valley, Arizona

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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