The theme on the third Sunday in Advent, December 11, will be Ministering with Refugees in Baghdad. Last fall, Ascension joined several other parishes in the Diocese of New York in helping to build a community center in a refugee camp in Baghdad, Iraq. This ecumenical work is sponsored in part by the Anglican Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf in the Episcopal Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East. On Sunday, December 11, the Ven. Bill Schwarz, Archdeacon of that diocese, will be our guest preacher and forum leader at Ascension, and will tell us more about the challenges and blessings of this vital work. For photos of an art workshop held last spring in the new space, see here. At the time, Archdeacon Schwartz wrote “It all looks so normal! For these girls, normality is a real treasure.” Here is a link to learn more about the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf.
Newsletter
Parish News: April 14
In this week’s newsletter, the rector offers thanks to those who made our Holy Week and Easter celebrations possible, and says: “Easter is 50 days long — longer than Lent. That’s because resurrection is harder to grasp than disciplines, mortality and loss. May the joy of this season continue to work on you, and may you meet the risen Christ in the most unexpected places.”
