Category: Newsletter

Join us in person for the Ash Wednesday liturgy at 8 am, noon, or, with full choir, at 7 pm. Ashes will also be imposed at the front gate throughout the day from 9 am to 6 pm. To watch the 7 pm service online, go to ascensionnyc.org/webcasts.

This week, in anticipation of Ash Wednesday, the rector writes: “This week’s e-news offers a robust list of Lenten possibilities at our parish: study, worship, community, prayer and service. Please peruse them and see what calls to you this year. It’s a joy to be able to return to some of the Lenten practices that have meant a lot to us as a community in the past, while also exploring new ones.” Nevertheless, on this last Sunday of Epiphany, the music will be transporting (Grand Dialogue in C, Marchand; O for a closer walk, Stanford; Exsultate Justi, Viadana; Horn Pipe from Water Music, Handel), befitting our Gospel lesson: Matthew’s recounting of the Transfiguration.

This week: The rector describes the spirit and energy of last weekend’s vestry retreat, and says: “May we all dare to offer our gifts, no matter how small they seem, for the nourishment of our community and the life of the world.” Also this week: News about upcoming events in our parish and the diocese, as well as parishioner Barbara Matovu’s contribution to this year’s Queens Short Play Festival in a few weeks!

This week: The rector shares a poem reflecting on part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount as relayed in Matthew: “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.”

This Sunday, following the 11 am service, Ascension will hold its annual meeting. All are welcome to attend, whether or not you’re a pledging member of the parish. For this special Sunday, we will have three very significant pieces. Starting at 10:45 am, the Prelude will be perhaps the greatest masterpiece of César Franck, his Choral in E Major. The Offertory Anthem will be the highly dramatic and inspiring “In the Year that King Uzziah Died” by David McK. Williams. And the Postlude will be Bach’s formidable “We all Believe in One God.”

This week: The rector explores the Epiphany theme of vocations and what God may be calling us to do. Also: links to ballots will be emailed this week to pledging members to vote in the vestry and warden elections, which take place online in advance of next Sunday’s (in-person) Annual Meeting.

This weekend, when we honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., his prophetic legacy, and the call to work for racial justice in our own day, participants in our Racial Justice Group will offer a forum after the 11 am service to discuss their experiences, what they have learned, what they hope for, and what they are trying to do by focusing on the racism in our own lives, our church, and our broader communities.

This week: “A Poem for the Epiphany,” by Jan Berry. Also this Sunday, following the 11 am service, the Sunday Forum will discuss the recently released “The Call to the Churches to Confront Antisemitism,” from the Council of Centers on Jewish-Christian Relations in the face of the rise in white Christian nationalism.

This Sunday: The Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, celebrated with a service of Lessons and Carols at 11 am and Holy Eucharist. (Holy Eucharist with sermon will also take place at 9 am and the service of Meditation and Sacrament at 6 pm.)

The rector writes: “Our fears for our dear ones and our world — in the midst of violence, war and ecological destruction — run deep. More than ever, we need to hear the angels say ‘don’t be afraid,’ and join their song of glory to God and peace on earth. More than ever, we need to open our hearts to the good news that God has come to be with us in the flesh, come what may.” Please join us for worship this Christmas Eve or Christmas Day — in person or online — and discover again the peace and joy of Christ’s incarnation among us.