Worship:
Saturday 6 PM
Sunday 9 & 11 AM
This Week At Ascension
Called to create opportunities for all people to become devoted followers of Christ
April 23, 2023
Grace and peace to You my family in Christ!
It’s going to be a great weekend at church. I’ll be giving the Saturday evening sermon, and we’re happy to have Reverend Scott Hamilton Adams, the campus pastor at Cal Lutheran, as our guest preacher for both the 9 am and 11 am services on Sunday morning.
During our services, we’ll be diving into the story of Jesus appearing to two travelers on the road to Emmaus. They did not recognize him until they broke bread together, as you probably remember from Luke’s gospel. We’ll explore the significance of this encounter and just what it means that the men’s “eyes were opened.”
And don’t miss out on the informal meet and greet with Reverend Scott during adult ed time between services. He’ll share insights about the happenings at CLU and discuss faith matters within the university’s diverse student and faculty community.
Come and learn and be inspired.
Blessings,
FROM FOURS TO AN 88:
Here is a little taste of goodness from Pastor Steve’s council report. Arnold Schwarz receives a succulent plant and a heartfelt Easter card from our ECC four-year-olds’ class on his 88th birthday! Our school and Early Childhood Center sent Easter cheer to other Ascension seniors as well. Photos by Pastor Steve. Find out more by reading his report.
Get the inside, in-depth story of goings-on at Ascension by reading our Pastors’ and Director of Administrative Ministries’ Reports, HERE.
Baptism This Weekend
Levi William May
Born 2-4-2021
Welcome, Rev. Scott Hamilton Adams!
California Lutheran University Pastor Reverend Scott Hamilton Adams is our guest pastor this week. Reverend Scott serves students, faculty, staff, and administrators at CLU with spiritual leadership, while promoting a multicultural and intergenerational approach to ministry. His primary focus, per his university bio, is to “create safe and empowering spaces of belonging for spiritual growth, service to neighbor and building strong interpersonal relationships towards the realization of Beloved Community.”
Previously, he was Senior Pastor of Heritage United Church of Christ. He also served as Assistant Director of Interfaith and Ecumenical Ministries at Loyola University, Maryland.
Reverend Scott’s eclectic and deep educational background includes a bachelor’s degree in psychology from James Madison University, and master’s degrees from St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore and from Duke University’s School of Divinity. At the University of Texas, he completed coursework to become a Certified Executive Coach. He also completed significant coursework in Clinical Pastoral Counseling at Loyola University in Maryland, and Clinical Pastoral Education as a hospital chaplain at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
He and wife Tanya have two sons. As his bio notes, he considers his role as a husband and father his greatest gift in life and first ministry.
Thank you for coming, Reverend Scott!
Save the Date, April 30, for Great Music!
Great Music at Ascension is excited to present organist Matthew Daley, April 30 at 4 PM. Matthew is a rising star in the field who is just about to get his doctoral degree from USC’s Thornton School of Music. He received both bachelor’s and master’s degrees with emphasis in classical piano from the University of Maryland. He earned a second master’s degree from Yale’s Institute of Sacred Music. He has also studied organ with William Neal of the National Symphony Orchestra and John Walker, former president of the American Guild of Organists. Matthew is the recipient of the Julia R. Sherman Memorial Prize for Excellence in Organ playing and was selected as a finalist in the National Association of Negro Musicians Scholarship Competition. His passion for the organ and for church music has led him to play for churches including the National Presbyterian Church, New Haven Seventh-day Adventist Church, and Westminster Presbyterian Church of Los Angeles.
Adult Education April 30:
Bread for the World Sunday
At our April 30 class we will observe Bread for the World Sunday. Join the class to learn about the Farm Bill, and then to write letters to Congress. Personalized letters and emails stand out. They tell senators and representatives that you, as a constituent, really care about an issue.
The impact of the Farm Bill is significant. It not only affects the agriculture and food sectors – it can play a huge role in ending food insecurity and hunger in the U.S. and save the lives of millions abroad. Tell your senators and representatives to support reauthorization of the Farm Bill in order to build healthy, equitable, and sustainable food systems. We know how important feeding the hungry was to Jesus in his ministry, and now for us as well.
The class will be led by Pastor Steve and our Global Ministries Team, at 10:10 AM in Founders Hall. We thank Eloise Cohen for leading our partnership with Bread for the World.
In Need Of Prayer
SPRING UPGRADE:
While our school was on break last week, Jeff Hengst and Cam Lorentson were putting in extra-long hours on campus projects. In this photo by Pastor Steve, they’re painting primer on the playground bounce wall after replacing the old plywood.
Other projects last week:
- Seven old HVAC units got replaced with new units donated by the Dickey family!
- Repairs were made on some other AC units.
- Roofing work was done on the nursery, library, Founders Hall kitchen, and music room.
- Stucco repair was done.
- Sealing was done on roof tiles on the sanctuary.
Thanks to Cam and Jeff and the Dickey family!
Coming up in Adult Ed:
On Poetry
With Pastor Jack Ledbetter, Poet, Author, and CLU Professor of English, Emeritus
When archeologists discovered “The Epic of Gilgamesh” in Mesopotamia, written in cuneiform script on clay tablets in the Third Millennium B.C., who knew “Mary Had a Little Lamb” was coming? Or “The Star Spangled Banner” or “Jesus Loves Me” were coming as sure as Liddle Lamzy Divey?
Poetry is as much a part of the human makeup as music, dance, painting– or rearranging your books on the shelf, or a leaf you picked up along with a few pebbles on your desk or table. The urge to create is God-given and comes in a myriad of manners. Sunday, May 7, we will read some poems that may touch a chord in the reader or remind you of something you wrote years ago and have saved because you were moved to put it down on paper. That’s creativity at work and play.
10:10 AM in Founders Hall, Sunday, May 7, 2023
Chat GPT and Us
For those who couldn’t make it to School Board President Scott Bean’s talk about Chat GPT/Artificial Intelligence, Principal Rich Gregory provided a discussion summary. We share it HERE.
Fair Trade Road Trip … to California Lutheran University!
Ascension’s Fair Trade Ministry is on the road to the CLU campus – pack your bags & join us! Our friends at the Center for Global Engagement at CLU have organized a great event and they’ve invited us to join them. We’ll be joining the Center for Global Engagement, the CLU Earth Society Club and Tlalipani in Kingsmen Park for Fair Trade fun & fellowship on Friday, April 21st.
The event starts at 11 AM and will run until around 2 PM. We thank our friends at the Center for Global Engagement for this opportunity to be messengers of hospitality for Ascension and Fair Trade.
We’ll need help packing and unpacking our bags and boxes – if you’d like to help out for some part of that day, send us a note. We’re at . Never helped out at an event like this before, you say? No problem -everyone’s qualified. Bring your wonderful selves and a spirit of welcome and we’ll figure the rest out as we go. Let’s wear our Ascension name tags too! (We will bring some “do it yourself” name tags just in case.)
Pastor Chamie’s Garden Class
This past December, Pastor Chamie completed a year-long program through the Horticultural Therapy Institute at Colorado State University to earn her certificate in horticultural therapy.
She loved reading about healing plants and how science shows what we already know to be true about God’s good creation… time digging in soil and holding seeds and clipping flowers and tending plants is good for our health. It lowers our stress levels and helps our anxious hearts find some rest.
Join Pastor Chamie four Wednesdays in a row this spring: April 19, April 26, May 3, and May 10— at 6:30-7:45 PM. Sign up HERE.
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Call for Worship Help
Click HERE to check out what help is needed in worship, and sign yourself up any place you see a need.
Living Easter
Did you know that the Season of Easter is actually 50 days on the church calendar? How might you continue to live in the spirit of Easter?
Join Pastor Chamie in reading Eugene Peterson’s book Living the Resurrection. She will be doing weekly blog posts on the book at www.pastorchamie.com. A book club discussion will take place on Tuesday, May 23, in the Delkeskamps’ backyard garden.
ATTENTION SPACE EXPLORERS
This summer’s Stellar VBS is looking for a few good builders to construct two primary set decorations for the week-long program in July; a LUNAR LANDER, and a ROVER.
Ideally, pieces for each item will be created and assembled by a two-person team. Instructions, specs and materials will be provided. Some tools and experience are necessary.
Soon, we’ll also be looking for crafters to help us build stars, portholes, etc., from home.
Sign on to the job by visiting the display in the narthex after service, or contacting Pastor Julie: . Mission command thanks you!
AL School Food Drive
Ascension Lutheran School is pitching in to help our food pantry with a food drive – and we can pitch in to help them help, too! May 17-24, bring your donations to the church office during the week, or drop them off at church when you come for weekend services. The need is great. In one recent Friday alone, our pantry gave away more than 60 bags of food to our neighbors who came asking for help. Above is the list of most-needed items. Remember, we can’t give out any expired food.
Offerings & Attendance
The services in the total are Saturday night, Sunday Sunrise 7AM, Sunday 9 AM, and Sunday 11 AM. Additional services through Holy Week were Good Friday at 301, and Maundy Thursday at 98.
Our Prayer
We pray that you may once again meet the Risen Christ through the Word and Sacrament ministry, and through the fellowship of this family of faith.
If you do not have a church home, we would like to invite you to worship with our Ascension family again.
All people who are baptized and believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are welcome to receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion.
May God bless you in your worship!
Pastors Tim Delkeskamp, Julie McCain, and Steve Herder
Don’t miss another TWAA
Pericopes
This Week:
Acts 2:14a, 36-41
Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19 (13)
1 Peter 1:17-23
Luke 24:13-35
Next Week:
Acts 2:42-47
Psalm 23
1 Peter 2:19-25
John 10:1-10
