With the rise in Covid infections, the 11 a.m. Sunday service will be live-streamed (only) through Sunday, January 29. We will resume the 6 p.m. Sunday service of Meditation and Sacrament in person on January 23. The church will reopen for weekday prayer and meditation during the week of January 16. For more information, read this message from our rector.
Worship on the Second Sunday after Christmas will be online-only at 11 a.m. (The 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. Eucharists have been canceled.) Use the link ascensionnyc.org/webcasts to join us! (And ascensionnyc.org/todaysservice for the bulletin.) Early in the week, we will assess the situation and make a decision about upcoming services currently listed in the newsletter.
The rector writes: “In the very middle of the Psalm 39’s fifteen verses is this affirmation: ‘My hope is in you.’ Where does such hope, such trusting hope despite doubt, even despite so much that is wrong in the world, come from?”
Reminder: Due to health safety protocols, pew reservations are required for both the 5 PM Family Eucharist and the 9:30 PM Preludial Music and Festal Eucharist on Christmas Eve this year. You can reserve a pew for you and the people you feel comfortable sitting with at ascensionnyc.org/ChristmasEve.
The rector writes: “What call to gritty, hopeful action is stirring in you this Advent? Where do you sense God in it?” Also in this newsletter: Information about in-person worship, how to worship online with us, news of a new “Women’s Spirituality” group, and the first announcement of our scheduled Christmas Eve services. (Note: due to health safety protocols, pew reservations are required for both the 5 PM Family Eucharist and the 9:30 PM Preludial Music and Festal Eucharist on Christmas Eve.)
The last Sunday of Pentecost is also known as “Christ the King Sunday,” and the scripture lessons and music all address the reign of Christ on earth and for all time. This week, with the ingathering of our annual pledges to be good stewards of this community in the year ahead and the U.S. celebration of Thanksgiving, the rector also reflects on gratitude.
Also: Sunday evening in-person worship resumes next week with the first Sunday of Advent, at 6 p.m. (not 7 p.m.)
This Sunday, in-person worship (masks required) at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., and for our online worshipers, an improved experience using a professional webcasting service called “Local Live.” You can watch the webcast of the 11 a.m. service by going to ascensionnyc.org/webcasts — or continue to join a community of online worshipers at 11 a.m. via Zoom by going to ascensionnyc.org/sunday.
Dr. Dennis Raverty, an art historian at New Jersey City University, contacted Ascension last fall to ask permission to photograph Edwin Howland Blashfield’s Angel With a Flaming Sword, the dramatic painting on the rear wall of our nave. He has written an article about Blashfield which appeared in this week’s Living Church.
This Sunday, we celebrate the Feast of All Saints. This past week, we celebrated All Souls, known in Latin American cultures as Dia de los Muertos. In this week’s newsletter, Mother Posey shares a picture of the quilt displayed as a pulpit hanging that day and gives us some background on how it came to be.