Services will be held at 8:00 am a
nd 10:30 am this coming Sunday with a sermon by guest preacher The Rev. Catherine Nichols. This Sunday is also Episcopal Relief and Development Sunday, check out info in your bulletin. We also continue the United Thank Offering drive this Sunday. Boxes are available in the narthex and chapel.
There will be nursery care and Children's Church this Sunday. However, the Godly Play I class will continue to be relocated to Room 213 (the Garden Room).
Make sure to check out the details about the Sunday School options and upcoming programming below.
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Options for Adult Sunday School
The open presentation series will continue
in the parish hall at 9:15 am. The Forum, Video, and Searcher and Explorer class will be combined into the Ubuntu Class.
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Beginning This Sunday:
Ubuntu: I in You and You in Me
Sunday March 10, 17, & 24, 9:15 am, Parish Hall
If the community of the holy people of God is about nothing else, we must be about truly loving our neighbors as ourselves. We must understand and celebrate our inextricable links to each other always walking with Jesus our Beloved. This book is an introduction to a way of life that asks us to venture together into a new understanding of individualism and community. Make sure to get your book ordered before the series. The Rev. Pat Wingo will lead this discussion class in the Parish Hall.
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Centering Prayer
Library, 9:15 am
This small group meets together to practice and teach centering prayer, facilitated by Pam and Allan Douglass. Centering Prayer is a method of silent prayer that prepares us to receive the gift of contemplative prayer, prayer in which we experience God's presence within us, closer than breathing, closer than thinking, closer than consciousness itself. This discipline emphasizes prayer as a personal relationship with God and as a movement beyond conversation with Christ to communion with Him.
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Wednesday Evenings
"Food for Body and Soul"
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Parish Supper
Wednesdays, 6:00 pm, Parish Hall
An Ascension tradition is to have soup on Wednesday evenings for the parish supper during Lent. Julie Teglas features two soup recipes each week. This week we will have Chili-Ditalini soup, potato soup, salad, bread, and cookies. Pricing is $10/adult, $5/child, and $25/family maximum. To RSVP, visit the reception counter in the parish office or email
announcements@knoxvilleascension.org.
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Wednesday Night Series: Journeys of Faith
Beginning Wednesday, March 13, 6:45 pm, Parish Hall
Journeys of Faith is not a program, but a pilgrimage that explores the faith journeys of well-known, and not so well known, people throughout history. The evening begins with a shared meal in the parish hall (make sure to sign-up for the parish supper above), followed by a brief presentation that shares the story of healing and reconciliation. Afterwards, the gathering breaks up into small groups. Led by facilitators, the participants not only discuss the presentation, but also have an opportunity of exploring and sharing their own stories of healing and reconciliation.
The five-week Lenten pilgrimage begins Wednesday, March 13, and concludes Wednesday, April 10. Sessions last from 6:00 to 8:30 pm. We ask that those signing up make a commitment of attending all five sessions. Unfortunately, childcare is not an option. To sign up, send an email to
tristen@knoxvilleascension.org. You may also call the church office at 588-0589. Be a part of this unique gathering that is both reflective and communal. Let it be a time to uphold one another as we move forward together along our collective journey of faith so that we all may grow closer to God and one another.
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Fridays in Lent (Except Good Friday)
Stations of the Cross will be held on each Friday in Lent at 5:45 pm in place of Evening Prayer. Come walk through each station in our nave in a short service.
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Save the Date: White Oak Community Playground Clean Up
April 13th from 9:00am-3:00pm
Join us for the joint venture with the White Oak Community in Campbell County as we renovate and update the playground. Many families use this spot for get-togethers as it is one of the few places available. There is something for everyone to do. Please email Megan for details: megan@knoxvilleascension.org
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Tweens
March 31, After Services
The Tweens are going on a hike at the Ijams Nature Center. We will leave right after church and return by 3:00 pm. Come join the fun!
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Save the Date
Family Easter Service and Easter Egg Hunt, April 20, 3:00 pm.
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AYG: Ascension Youth Group News
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KEY: Celtic KEY Event
Please plan to join us this Sunday, March 10 from 4:00-6:00 pm when Ascension hosts KEY, Knoxville Episcopal Youth to learn more about St. Patrick, St, Brigid, and to participate in a Celtic Worship. This will be in place of High School Youth Group.
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Middle School Girls’ Reading Club
The Middle School girls have expressed an interest forming a reading club as a continuation of the children’s girls reading club. We plan to meet about an hour prior to our regular Wednesday night youth group. We will begin by reading
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. Girls interested in participating in this program should contact GiGi to be added to a reminder list.
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Dinner Angels
Dinner Angels is a program in which parents and other parishioners are invited to sign up to serve dinners to our youth and share in a wonderful fellowship opportunity. Want to try out a new recipe? Have a flair in the kitchen? Just willing to feed a small crowd? We welcome home-cooked meals and catered meals and we welcome and encourage our dinner angels to attend youth with us after serving so that our youth may connect with our adult parishioners, and vice versa. Our sign-ups, details, and schedule are available online:
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High School Youth Retreat
March 29-31
Our High School Youth Retreat will be March 29-31 at Grace Point. This is open to all our High School Youth grades 9-12. Plans for this event are still firming up, but we will be staying at the retreat house at Grace Point and the theme of this event will be “sabbath.” Cost is $50 and teens may register by turning in their fee and consent forms.
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Cancellations and Spring Break
Due to Spring Break, there will be no Sunday School or High School Youth on March 17, and there will be no Middle School Youth on March 20. There will be no High School Youth on March 31 due to the High School Retreat.
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New Beginnings #4
Middle School is a challenging time both in social and faith development. With so many questions (Who are my friends? Where is my faith? Is it okay to be me? How does this all tie together?), it can be tough to find a safe space to work through it all. New Beginnings provides time and place in Christian community to explore those questions and more. New Beginnings #4 is April 5-7. Registration (deadline is March 31) is available online:
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The deadline for signing up (or dropping out) is March 10
The Foyer Groups will be reshuffled in March and the new listing sent to all participants so that you may get your group going as early as April before the summer vacation scheduling problems begin.
Foyer Groups are small groups of about eight people who meet once a month for dinner and fellowship. Someone in the group serves as Convenor and hosts the first meal. After that, each participant (couple or single or singles working together) acts as host for the succeeding months. Groups are newly formed every six months. It’s a wonderful way to meet new people in a large church and find friends among folks whose paths might otherwise never cross yours in our large setting!
1) If you are in a foyer group in the current rotation and wish to continue in foyer, you
DO NOT need to do anything
(other than update any new e-mail address or phone number).
2) If you are not in the current foyer group rotation but would like to join for the Spring/Summer rotation, please register at
bcorey41@comcast.net
. This applies to people
who have never participated in foyer and people who have been in foyer in earlier times but not in the current groups functioning now.
Please give your name (and, if you are a couple, both names) and an e-mail address and phone number.
3) If you are in a foyer group in the current rotation but wish to drop out for this upcoming Spring/Summer schedule, PLEASE LET US KNOW by emailing Bettie Corey at
bcorey41@comcast.net
.
If she does not hear from you, you will be assigned to a new group.
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Take a Hike with the Trekkers!
Saturday, March 16
The Ascension Trekkers will drive to the NFG trailhead of Sugarland Mountain near Clingman’s Dome and hike mostly downhill via Huskey Gap Trail to Little River Trail in Elkmont for a total of about 8 moderate miles. We will take two vehicles, leaving one at Elkmont and driving everyone in the other vehicle to the trailhead. This mountain was badly damaged by the November 2016 fire and the trail was only recently reopened. It will be interesting to see changes in the terrain and new forest growth. Contact Emily Vreeland for questions, to RSVP, or to offer to drive one of the cars (
emilyvree@aol.com).
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Preparing to Launch an Evening Celtic Service at Ascension
Our committee is formed and we are studying Celtic Christian liturgies. If you want to learn more about this, please consider joining us for a trip on Sunday, March 10, to Trinity Episcopal Church in Asheville, NC. The service is at 5:30 pm. Those who want to carpool should be ready to go from the Ascension parking lot no later than 2:30 pm. After the service, you are invited to spend an hour with the committee as we eat together and talk about the service. Please check in with The Rev. Sara-Scott Wingo,
sara.scott@knoxvilleascension.org, about possible changes in time of departure due to recent road closures.
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Church of the Ascension is hosting The Very Rev. Michael Battle for a Lenten workshop weekend on March 30-31 called “Following Jesus in a 21st Century Wilderness.” Battle’s book
Ubuntu: I in You and You in Me will be a focus of the weekend. Two main events will be open to the public, the Saturday workshop and the Sunday School presentation. Below are details about the Saturday workshop that promises to be highly engaging and enlightening.
Saturday Workshop Details // Saturday, March 30th, 9:00 am
// The focus of the workshop will be the book
Ubuntu: I in You and You in Me. “Ubuntu” is an African concept of personhood which emphasizes the communal and spiritual dimension of human identity, which of necessity poses a challenge to persons thinking of themselves as individuals. Dr. Battle will use this concept to talk about ways of cultivating this concept in our daily Christian lives. For more information and to purchase your lunch tickets at
www.knoxvilleascension.org/battle
Lunch and Refreshments // Lunch will feature a boxed lunch from Honey Baked Ham. When purchasing your ticket, you can choose either the ham, turkey, or vegetarian option. Light breakfast and afternoon refreshments will be available throughout the day in addition to lunch.
The ticket price, which includes the workshop, lunch, and refreshments, is $10. You can purchase tickets online, in the parish office, and at the door.
Sunday School // Sunday, March 31st, 9:15 am // Dr. Battle will also speak and answer questions in an Adult Sunday School Forum on March 31st at 9:15 am, and preach at both services.
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April 26-28, 2019
This year we are hoping for an even larger crowd for the annual parish retreat! Established in 1928 and affiliated with the Episcopal Church, Kanuga is a conference, retreat and camp center serving 25,000 guests annually. Nestled on 1,400 peaceful acres in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Hendersonville, NC, Kanuga’s historic setting features a 30-acre lake with 20 miles of hiking.
In addition, Kanuga offers fitness swimming, boating, paddle boarding, and fishing, hiking, basketball, volleyball, and ping-pong, indoor and outdoor climbing (fees apply), a lit playing field, high and low ropes (fees apply), labyrinth and meditation garden, and much more.
The pricing is $216.71 per double and $299.97 per single. This price includes lodging and 5 meals and full use of facilities.
Janet Slabbekorn will be in the Foyer answering questions and providing helpful information booklets and registration fliers. To register, head to:
Please register each person attending either as a single or as a double. Families will register all family members attending. You will not be charged fees for the children as the church will cover their cost. Kanuga accepts all major credit cards. If you have an interest in sharing a cabin with another family, you can indicate this during registration. Please register as soon as possible so that housing and planning can be refined.
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Episcopal Church Women (ECW) March Meeting
Tuesday, March 12, 11:30 am, Old Transept-Parish Hall
Come get involved in a new women’s group with exciting plans! Every church woman who’s interested is invited! The March ECW meeting is set for March 12, 11:30 am, in the Old Transept of the Parish Hall. Our program will include a talk from Sylvia Peters about the Change Center that we visited in January and how we can get involved. We’ll also have a presentation about Joni and Friends, a disabilities ministry with area camps and services in our area. Please bring a bag lunch. Beverages will be provided. Contact Karen McKinney at
karen.mckinney7@icloud.com or 865-548-7429, if you plan to attend.
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Connor's Steakhouse
10915 Parkside Drive
Monday, March 18, 6:00 pm
The Sisterhood will have their March “Ladies Night Out” at Connor’s in Turkey Creek, 10915 Parkside Drive, Knoxville. We had such a great group in February. Please RSVP to Charlotte Wood, seebyrdfly@aol.com or 865-594-1781.
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Beginning March 28
Ascension is hosting a Grief Recovery class series by Caris Healthcare. It is a two hour class that will meet at 2:00 pm each Thursday beginning March 28 and ending May 17. The series will be led by Tabith VanVranken, a certified Grief Recovery Specialist who can assist in recovery from grief from more than 40 different life experiences (death, divorce, loss of a child, personal injury, loss of trust, dismissal from work, pet loss, etc.).
The book used in the series,
The Grief Recovery Handbook by John W. James and Russell Friedman, can be acquired from Tabitha or your own preferred outlet (Amazon, Google, Apple, etc.). The price from Tabitha is $13.
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Stephen Ministers Complete 50 Hours
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Thank You for Your Time!
Thank you to: Tom Ladd, Phyllis Pace, Sandy Daniels, Charlotte Wood, Sallie Gray, and John Threadgill for completing over 50 hours of training to become Stephen Ministers.
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Dedications for Chancel Flowers Needed
We have several Sundays throughout the year (almost all of July and all of the month of November) including one to two Sundays a month for which we have no dedications for the Chancel Flowers. Each arrangement costs only $75.00 to enhance our worship service.
Please help us by dedicating an arrangement or two and contributing to a beautiful worship space. You may sign up for the Sunday flowers in the book on the reception desk or email Linda Hawley at Linda@knoxvilleascension.org with your information. Thank you!
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Unique Hosting Opportunity
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There is a hosting opportunity associated with the concert being given by the Men and Boys’ Choir of New College, Oxford, on April 2nd. Parishioners in a position to provide overnight hospitality for the choral scholars and lay clerks (Oxford University students and professional singers who sing alto, tenor, and bass with the soprano boys) would be doing the music department a tremendous favor. If interested, kindly call Jim Garvey at 588-0589.
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