Sermon – June 25, 2017

The Rev. Christopher Montella
Our guest preacher for the last Sunday in June, the Rev. Christopher Montella, first came to the Church of the Ascension in 1996 as a parishioner and by the time he moved to Los Angeles in 2003 had been involved in a variety of ministries including serving on the vestry. After moving to Los Angeles, he began exploring a call to ordained life, cultivating seeds that were planted here at Ascension. In January of this year, after 25 years in the fashion industry, he was ordained a priest in the Diocese of Los Angeles where he serves as the chair of The Bishop's Commission for LGBTQ Ministry.

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Lessons

You can read the scripture for the Third Sunday after Pentecost here.

Audio

      Sermon - Third Sunday after Pentecost 2017

Preacher

The Rev. Christopher MontellaThe Rev. Christopher Montella first came to the Church of the Ascension in 1996 as a parishioner and by the time he moved to Los Angeles in 2003 had been involved in a variety of ministries including serving on the vestry. After moving to Los Angeles, he began exploring a call to ordained life, cultivating seeds that were planted here at Ascension. In January of this year, after 25 years in the fashion industry, he was ordained a priest in the Diocese of Los Angeles where he serves as the chair of The Bishop’s Commission for LGBTQ Ministry. Christopher currently lives in Burbank with his partner Erick and is serving the congregation of St. James-in-the-City with another Ascension friend, the retired Bishop Suffragan of New York, Catherine S. Roskam.

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Artwork: Pentecost - Many Flames
Newsletter

Parish News: May 24

In this week’s newsletter, the rector notes Pentecost’s reversal of Babel—not by restoring a single language, but by enabling understanding across difference as each speaks and hears in their own tongue. She treasures hearing parishioners read “God’s deeds of power” in many languages during worship, and invites us to consider what it means to speak of God in our own heart language—whether shaped by mother tongue, place, trust, or profound shared experience. In a time of contempt for difference, Pentecost reveals the blessing of many tongues and the Holy Spirit’s gift of mutual understanding across culture, faith, and ethnic background.

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