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Living into Rituals of Hope


I am grateful for the ways that we mark the seasons of the church year and the seasons of our lives with rituals. This past week, on the day that we remember the Baptism of our Lord, we baptized three new members into our parish family: Owen, Bennett, and Roman. Baptism is a rite that is full of meaning, and the truth is that I get chills every time we proclaim over someone that they are sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever.


I love weddings almost as much as I love baptisms, and this week, our lessons are full of references to weddings and marriages. Isaiah uses the image of a groom rejoicing over a bride to provide an illustration of the extent to which God rejoices over us. And Jesus performs the first miracle of his ministry at a wedding, turning jars full of water into (very good) wine. We’ve celebrated a few weddings in our community recently with a few more on the horizon.


We have also held our fair share of memorial services in the past several months, remembering those people whom we love but see no longer and giving thanks for their lives and legacies. My favorite part of our Burial liturgy—a beautiful line that brings tears to my eyes every time—comes in the Eucharistic prayer: For to your faithful people, O Lord, life is changed, not ended; and when our mortal body lies in death, there is prepared for us a dwelling place eternal in the heavens.


What all of these rituals have in common—in fact, what most of our rites and liturgies have in common—is that they are forward looking. We look at new life in Christ and proclaim purpose and belonging. We share in the joy and expectation of the marriage that follows the rite we call a wedding. And even at the end of this life, we look with anticipation to the life of the world to come. We are a forward-looking people, brimming with hope that life is more than just what we see with our eyes. We look to what is possible and speak life into that reality.


Hope comes from many places, but one of them is community. When we gather, one of the things that we experience is that the hope we feel individually multiplies in community. I know that I have been strengthened by the hope that we share in worship, Bible study, and fellowship. So if you’re in need of some hope today, join us. Participate in a study. Worship with us, in person or online. And if you have hope to spare, show up and share it with others.


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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