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Observing Lent


Compared to many people, my first experience with Lent came relatively late in life; I was in my early 30’s the first time I was invited to observe a holy Lent. And I was enthusiastic. I observed so many fasts and added so many disciplines during my first several observances of Lent that I truly had a hard time keeping them all straight. I would inevitably forget that I had decided to fast from soda, or meat, or dessert, or any food on Friday (and there were more, but I think you get the idea) when it was offered to me, and then I would feel bad afterward that I messed up.


After doing this for about three years, Michelle finally asked me what I was trying to accomplish by throwing every discipline I could dream up into my observance of Lent. When I didn’t have a good answer for her, I realized it was time to reevaluate my relationship to Lent. I had fallen into one of the most vicious spiritual traps there is: Thinking that if I worked hard enough or did more, that I would somehow make God happier with me.


The truth I’ve come to realize about Lent is that our fasts and prayers and disciplines don’t move God or change God’s mind about us in the least—God is already completely devoted to us and there is nothing we can do to change that. Instead, those disciplines are designed to move us, to make us more like Christ. So, if giving up dessert for the next six weeks doesn’t make you feel like you’re following Christ a little bit closer, then why do it? And here’s the better question: What could you do instead that would make you feel like you’re acting more like Jesus?


During this season of Lent, we are going to be doing a lot here at Christ Church of the Ascension to help us all Know, Love, and Serve Christ a little better.


Consider joining us on Wednesday evenings for a soup dinner and a group study of The Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything by Fr. James Martin, SJ. It’s a wonderful book (and a fairly easy read) that is packed with straightforward guidance on praying, studying, serving, and discerning God’s will.


You’re invited on March 27th to our Choral Evensong service where we will welcome the young men of the Phoenix Boys’ Choir(including Elias Pauley!) to our church to sing beautiful hymns and sacred music with us.


And we’ll have opportunities to love and serve our neighbors throughout Lent.



·        For the next few weeks, we’ll be collecting supplies to make Easter baskets to deliver to kids in Central Phoenix.

·        On March 19th, a group will be building with Habitat for Humanity in the morning and another group will be sorting and packing clothing at Andre House in the afternoon.

·        On March 26th, we’ll have our church and school Service Saturday where we’ll pack lunches and blessing bags (hygiene kits) for the homeless, write cards and letters to our Service Men and Women, and assemble our Easter baskets.

·        Starting March 27th through Palm Sunday, the Daughters of the King will be collecting supplies for a refugee family here in Phoenix.


During this season of Lent, I invite you (once again) to join me in observing a Holy Lent through the most important discipline of all: trying to be a little more like Jesus. Let’s pray together, study together, serve together, and love together in the name of Christ our Savior.


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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