Ascension Connections 2019-Join Us Saturday

at 1:30 PM!

 

This exhibition will include new color prints of 

The Nativity,  St. Nicholas, Our Lady of the Rosary  and

Our Lady of Guadalupe.  In addition to showcasing 20 new color prints, 

a selection of  Csicsko's black and white series Saints in the  Garden  (1990- 1997) will also be on view.

- From the website for the Loyola Museum of Art

 

Hello, and Happy New Year!

     Please join me and others as the end of the Christmas season nears and the New Year begins with a special Ascension Connections outing. All are welcome!

     On Saturday, January 5, we'll visit the Loyola University Museum of Art (LUMA), 820 N. Michigan Avenue, right across the street from the Water Tower. Please arrive timely if you can, and meet at 1:30 in the front lobby. Otherwise, find us at the exhibit.

     If you don't know it, LUMA is a gem. The annual "Art and Faith of the Creche" exhibit is a big draw. Alongside of it this year is "The Art of the Season, David Lee Csicsko. He will join us by prior arrangement to discuss his works and answer questions. Some follow-up time together at nearby Argo Tea will give us an opportunity to share thoughts about the exhibit.

     I hope this will be the first of numerous lively, meaningful and well-attended Ascension Connections in 2019! We're using the name not so much to designate a formal organization but to indicate a common interest in social and cultural opportunities, fellowship and building on long-term relationships here at Ascension and forming new ones. I welcome your thoughts, interest and participation.

     My thanks to Vestry member Gary Alexander for arranging our time with the artist this Saturday, and my thanks in advance to all of you who can join us.

PS Don't hesitate to be in touch: czperrizo@gmail.com. 

And in case you missed them, the highlighted portions of the letter above link to the LUMA website and to the website for artist David Lee Csicsko.  Guests are welcome at Saturday's David Lee Csicsko outing to LUMA! Click here to view a flyer that you may download and share with others!

January 27 Annual Meeting - First Notices

 

+ Those presented to the Vestry for nomination (by the Vestry Nominating Committee) include Gary Alexander (Warden) and Marilyn Evans, Lynette Hector, David Reeves, and Amber Zelazny (Vestry Members). Aims in the nominating committee's deliberations included overall qualifications and willingness and also those representing diverse constituencies, demographics and/or experiences of and at Ascension. Additional nominations may still be made and are to be received by the end of parish office hours on Monday, January 14, for inclusion with Annual Meeting materials in the Wednesday, January 16 newsletter. Our bylaws also allow for nominations at the meeting itself.

- Click here for a copy of the Warden/Vestry Member nomination form.

- Click here for an overview of the Vestry's roles and leadership.

- Click here for a copy of the parish bylaws (wherein provision is made with regard to Voting Members, the Vestry, Nominations and the Annual Meeting

+ The 2018 preliminary year-end financial statements and 2019 operating budget will not be available until after review of and/or approval by the Vestry at our 1:15 p.m. January 19 meeting.

+  So far, no indication of Russian interference ... although it's not uncommon for there to be a few bumps on the way to a parish annual meeting. Please pray for smooth planning and a positive, productive meeting.

PRaymond@AscensionChicago.org

We have David White to thank for knowing of the essay below and recently sharing it with me. I pray the wordsmiths and scrooges among you will relish it. - Patrick +

EB White on Christmas and Relative Pronouns

We had a Scrooge in our office a few minutes ago, a tall, parched man, beefing about Christmas and threatening to disembowel anyone who mentioned the word. He said his work had suffered and his life had been made unbearable by the demands and conventions of the season. He said he hated wise men, whether from the East or from the West, hated red ribbon, angels, Scotch Tape, greeting cards depicting the Adoration, mincemeat, dripping candles, distant and near relatives, fir balsam, silent night, small boy sopranos, shopping lists with check marks against some of the items, and the whole yuletide stratagem, not to mention the low-lying cloud of unwritten thank-you letters hanging just above the horizon. He was in a savage state. Before he left the office, though, we saw him transfigured, just as Scrooge was transfigured. The difference was that whereas Scrooge was softened by visions, our visitor was softened by the sight of a small book standing on our desk - a copy of Fowler's "Modern English Usage."

"Greatest collection of essays and opinions ever assembled between covers," he shouted, "including a truly masterful study of that and which."

He seized the book and began thumbing through it for favorite passages, slowly stuffing a couple of small gift-wrapped parcels into the pocket of his great coat.

"Listen to this," he said in a triumphant voice, "'Avoidance of the obvious is very well, provided that it is not itself obvious, but, if it is, all is spoilt.'  Isn't that beautiful?"

We agreed that it was a sound and valuable sentiment, perfectly expressed. He then began a sermon on that and which, taking as his text certain paragraphs from Fowler, and warming rapidly to his theme.

"Listen to this: 'If writers would agree to regard that as the defining relative pronoun, and which as non-defining, there would be much gain both in lucidity and in ease. Some there are who follow this principle now; but it would be idle to pretend that it is the practice of either the most or of the best writers.'"

"It was the practice of St. Matthew," we put in hastily, "Or at any rate, he practiced it in one of the most moving sentences ever constructed: 'And lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.' You've got to admit the which in that sentence is where it ought to be, as well as every other word. Did you ever read a more satisfactory sentence than that in your whole life?" "It's good," said our friend, "It's good because there isn't a ten-dollar word in the whole thing. And Fowler has it pegged, too. Wait a minute. Here. 'What is to be deprecated is the notion that one can improve one's style by using stylish words.' See what I mean about Fowler? But let's get back to that and which. That's the business that really fascinates me. Fowler devotes eight pages to it. I got so excited once I had the pages photostatted. Listen to this: 'We find in fact that the antecedent of that is often personal.' Now, that's very instructive."

"Very," we said, "And if you want an example, take Matthew 2:1 '... there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews?' Imagine how that simple clause could get loused up if someone wanted to change that to who!"

"Exactly," he said, "That's what I mean about Fowler. What was the sentence again about the star? Say it again."

We repeated, "And lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was."

"You see?" he said, happily. "This is the greatest damn book ever written." And he left our office transfigured, a man in excellent spirits. Seeing him go off merry as a gig, we realized that Christmas is where the heart is. For some it is in a roll of red ribbon, for some it is in the eyes of a young child. For our visitor, we saw clearly, Christmas was in a relative pronoun. Wherever it is, it is quite a day.

- EB White, "Relative Pronouns" from  Writings from The New Yorker 1927 - 1976 ,

edited by Rebecca M. Dale (New York: HarperCollins, 1990).