Category: Newsletter

This week, our 10 am Sunday service moves into the air-conditioned Parish Hall…which leads Mother Liz to reflect on the record-breaking temperatures both last year and now this year, and our stewardship (or lack thereof) of the natural world.

In this week’s newsletter, the rector remembers her first encounter with the music of Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon (1942–2024), a cofounder of the Freedom Singers in the 1960s and, later, Sweet Honey in the Rock, and considers the role of music in the work of justice, liberation and wholeness.

In this week’s newsletter, the rector reflects on Sunday’s Gospel lesson from Mark: “As he went ashore, Jesus saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things.” When have you been moved to compassion? When have you experienced compassion from another?

This week, Mother Liz lets us know about her and parishioner Elizabeth Adams’s participation in the College for Congregational Development conference being held this past week at the Franciscan Center in Garrison, NY. The Sunday Eucharist service is at 10 am; the evening’s Meditation & Sacrament service at 6 pm. Join us!

In this week’s newsletter: a poem from Joy Harjo, the first Native American named U.S. Poet Laureate; an updated note about the passing of our 11^th rector, the Rev. Andrew Foster; and the start of our summer schedule, with a single Sunday morning service at 10 am. (Our evening service continues at 6 pm.) See you in church!

This Sunday: Happy Pride! Our guest preacher will be Nick Gordon, who has served most recently as director of special projects for the Diocese of New York; in the fall he will be a student at Yale Divinity School as a postulant for the priesthood. Following the 11 am service, volunteers for our annual water table will serve water to the marchers in the Pride March. Note: There will be no 6 pm Meditation & Sacrament Service this Sunday, due to the high traffic volume.

In this week’s newsletter, an update from the vestry on various initiatives underway in our parish and opportunities for people to get involved in making Ascension an inviting place for all, in seeking justice in our community and the wider world, and in maximizing the use of our spaces to better support the church and its mission. Also this week: the Rev. Larisa Shaterian — recently serving as a seminarian in our parish and even more recently ordained a priest — will be the celebrant for Eucharist at both this Sunday’s 11 am and 6 pm services. And on Thursday, June 27, at 6:30 pm the first summer parish barbecue in the gardens! Join us!

This week, the rector reflects on the 159th anniversary of Juneteenth, the day in 1865 when federal troops finally reached Galveston, Texas, the last place in the country to hear the news that slavery was ended in the United States. Also this week, on Sunday at the coffee hour following the 11 am service, the parish will have a special send-off for Mother Posey Krakowsky, who ends a mutually enjoyed seven-year association with our parish as she and her family enter a new season of life. Join us!

In this week’s newsletter, Mother Liz shares a poem inspired by Sunday’s Gospel lesson (Mark 3:20-35) which, as we begin this month of Pride celebrations, reminds her of “how many different ways people make family.” Also in this week’s newsletter: information about the upcoming day of appreciation for Mother Posey as we bid her farewell and God’s protection in the next phase of her and her family’s life.