This Week at Ascension + May 26, 2021
"Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." - Psalm 96
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New this week: Additional easing of pandemic-related safety measures and protocols.
Please read the feature and follow the link below.
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Wednesday, May 26
Commemoration of
Augustine of Canterbury
6:30 p.m. Live-streamed Mass
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Sunday, May 30
The First Sunday after Pentecost: Trinity Sunday
10:00 a.m. Live-streamed Mass
Image: Detail, the Holy Trinity, Book of Planets, 1464
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Note: After clicking on the link, you will be able to see how many spots, if any, are still available for a particular mass.
When you register online, you will be sent an email confirming your online registration. This same link will also have a
blue CANCEL THIS RESERVATION tab.
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Pantry @ Ascension Update from Deacon Farrell |
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Dear sisters and brothers,
As many of you know, our Pantry @ Ascension has adapted during the pandemic to continue serving our sisters & brothers in need. I’m grateful that we’ve not missed a single first-Saturday-of-the-month.
Recent monthly distributions have focused on a) primary distribution of toiletries and b) intentionally depleting nonperishable foods previously accumulated in storage (across from the restrooms in the parish house). The toiletries are appreciated by our guests and not available through other nearby pantries, feeding ministries or government programs. I hope they will be a long-term feature of the Pantry @ Ascension. With good success, we have also recently moved our distribution to the door in the alley off of Michael Hall.
Based on diocesan and city guidance, we are now poised for further change. For the June and July pantries I hope to add 2-4 volunteers to help prepare bags of toiletries and food for distribution. In coming months, we hope to again provide sack lunches and to welcome additional volunteers. (I am evaluating the menu with an eye to increased nutrition.) Whether or not you’ve done so before, I hope you may be interested in volunteering sometime in coming months (June 5, July 3, August 7). If so, you will need to:
- be fully vaccinated and wear a mask, even if vaccinated;
- be hospitable to our guests (and kind to fellow volunteers);
- be able to lift somewhat heavy boxes;
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contact me by email (soon if for June).
I regret sharing that food donations to the pantry are, for a number of reasons, problematic. But please consider a financial donation to support the pantry, by way of a check (made out to the church) or through the DONATE feature on Ascension's website. (Please indicate your intention.) Your prayers for this ministry and our guests are, of course, always welcomed.
Thank you again for your support of this long-standing and important outreach ministry! Wishing you every blessing, I remain your servant in Christ,
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Your attention, please!
Pandemic-related safety measures and protocols, including those for in-person worship, are easing and will continue to change.
Updates for this week include:
Communion + Singing + Reading
Choir + Clergy + Lectors + Lay Ministers + Masks
This feature will be updated weekly as conditions and restrictions continued to change. Please keep up to date as we continue to seek to keep you and all safe.
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Worship Notes for Trinity Sunday and Corpus Christi |
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As with other major feasts over the past year, we're unable to include all of the liturgical features familiar to every feast at Ascension. But we've done our best to preserve familiar elements and to make clear the intentions-in-faith of the rites. For Trinity and Corpus Christi we'll be blessed with a fuller (vaccinated) choir. Sunday's Trinity mass will include the traditional (glorious) Te Deum after the Postcommunion Prayer, accompanied by copious incense arising from two thuribles. The Corpus Christi liturgy (June 6) will include a procession inside the nave, as we hear this traditional (and sublime to my ear) setting of Thomas Aquinas' Sacris Solemniis. It is one of several devotional texts that Aquinas wrote for Corpus Christi, and from it come the several well known settings of the Panis angelicus.
Yes, but what about food and fellowship?
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We'd like to offer and enjoy food and fellowship outdoors, in the Our Lady of Victory garden, following the June 6 Corpus Christi mass. If you can help with planning, food and drinks, or clean up, please contact Br. Nathanael in the parish office no later than end of day on Tuesday, June 1. Next week's newsletter will reveal if we have enough help to pull it off.
PS No prior hospitality experience required! No prior volunteer experience at Church of the Ascension necessary! But respect for current health and safety guidance a must. Thank you.
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There being no recent confirmations in our diocese, and no date for any in coming months, Bonnie Scott and Joey Keegin were confirmed on Pentecost by Bishop Douglas Sparks of the Diocese of Northern Indiana, at Gethsemane Episcopal Church, Marion Indiana. Special thanks to Fr. George Arceneaux, for making the drive down to sponsor and present the confirmands.
Defend, O Lord, your servants Bonnie and Joseph with your heavenly grace, that they may continue yours forever,
and daily increase in your Holy Spirit more and more, until they come to your everlasting kingdom. Amen.
- BCP p. 309
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Also on Pentecost ...
... the Holy Baptism at St. James' Cathedral of Yara Magdalene Evelyn, born February 16, daughter of the cathedral's Associate Priest for Outreach Mother Anna Broadbent and her husband, St. Edmund's, Chicago, Priest-In-Charge Shawn Evelyn. Regretfully we have no photo of Yara, but many at Ascension will recall that Mother Broadbent assisted at Ascension and lived in the Ascension coach house 2018-2020, and Sean joined her in the coach house 2019-2020 (during which year this photo was taken).
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Pentecost is also the annual liturgical anniversary of the dedication of the Garden Cross behind the Altar in the OLV Garden. Designed by John West and installed by JW Landscapes LL, it was commissioned by the Ascension Vestry and dedicated and blessed by Fr. Gary Fertig at a service of Evensong &Benediction with an outdoor procession on Pentecost, 2008 -- part of Ascension's year-long 2007-2008 Sesquicentennial celebration.
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The Music Cure: An inept politician unwittingly engulfed in a financial scandal. A weary doctor attempting to help his anxiety-prone patient. A world-renowned concert pianist called to the rescue. Enjoy G. B. Shaw’s wacky and little-known gem, The Music Cure, in this radio play from Misalliance Repertory Theatre. Directed by Gary Alexander, this fast-paced, music-filled romp features Matt Gall, Doug MacKechnie, Kate Young, musical accompaniment by Tom Bachtell, and sound effects/audio editing by George Zahora. Shaw himself stated that The Music Cure was “a piece of utter nonsense” and “not a serious play.” Nonetheless, it is filled with Shaw’s biting wit, brilliant language, and keen-eyed critical characterization of the privileged British ruling class.
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Organ Repertoire for May 30, 2021
The First Sunday after Pentecost: Trinity Sunday
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ORGAN
Fantasia: Ut, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol La
FVB 118 “The Hexachord”
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621)
Hymn at the Offertory 370
ST. PATRICK'S BREASTPLATE/DEIDRE
ORGAN
Pièce d'Orgue BWV 572
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
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About our 2021 Repertoire
As I develop a long-range plan for repertoire each year, I choose a theme or area of emphasis, often complete works or a complete large-scale work by one composer. During 2021, organ music by women composers and African-American composers is being and will be featured in voluntaries and recitals throughout the year. There are some little-known gems waiting to be discovered, as well as music by major composers, with whom works for the organ are not generally associated. Enjoy!
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From Benjamin Rivera
Greetings!
In keeping with Diocesan guidelines, we have had a live vocal presence since Holy Week. Recent updates to this guidance will allow us to celebrate Pentecost, Holy Trinity, and Corpus Christi with an in-person quartet, supplementing our (now usual) recorded music. I am grateful that we are able to move forward safely, if slowly, and I pray that choral and congregational singing aren’t too far off.
Peace and good health,
Benjamin
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Forward Day by Day
Copies of the May-June-July 2021 Forward Day by Day: Daily Devotions for Disciples are now available by emailing the parish office. We have both regular and large print editions while supplies last.
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Due to COVID-19, Church of the Ascension’s Treasurer and Bookkeeper are limiting the amount of time they spend working in the parish offices. All checks received at Ascension via the United States Postal Service, not always a reliable service in our area, will be bank deposited approximately every 4-6 weeks. You may contact the Treasurer by email anytime at Finance@AscensionChicago.org.
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Ascension Connections
(with your click and God's help)
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Meeting ID:
792 031 7452
Password: 1133
Join-by-Phone Option: (312) 626-6799
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Weekly Ascension Schedule
For connections:
except for Morning Prayer,
SUNDAYS
9:30 a.m. Virtual Morning Prayer
10:00 a.m. Live-Streamed Mass
11:00 a.m. Virtual Coffee Hour
MONDAY-FRIDAY
6:00 p.m. Evening Prayer via Zoom
WEDNESDAYS
6:30 p.m. Low Mass
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Yes, but I still haven't Zoomed ... |
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Please give generously as you are able.
Treasurer Susan Schlough has asked me to remind you of Ascension's ongoing expenses at this time. To the extent that you are able, payment on your pledges or the offering of Holy Day or other special gifts will be greatly appreciated. You may still write a check and mail it to the church, or online payment is possible through the buttons at various places on our website. Thank you!
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For our prayers: August 'Augie' Alonzo, Jim Berger, David Byerly, Steven Wallis,
Sarah Ponder, Taffy Wehe, Carnola Malone, Marvin Files, Amy Peterson, Stephanie, Gwen Clark-Mason, Barbara Wischmeier, The Rev. Canon Paula Clark, Lee Gould
Anniversaries:
Jay & Cheryl Peterson, 5/26/1967; Tim & Mary Jane Kowalski, 5/26/1985
Requiescat in pace:
William Floyd Ware, 5/23/1985; Kiyono (Kay) Maruoka, 5/26/2004; Dolores M. Baran, 5/27/2008; Fr. Wilton Bunch, M.D., Ph.D, 5/16/2021
Rest eternal grant unto them, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon them;
May their souls and the souls of all the departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.
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The Rev. Patrick Raymond, Rector
Susan Schlough, Treasurer
Br. Nathanael Deward Rahm BSG, Parish Office
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Vestry of Church of the Ascension
Cheryl Peterson, Sr. Warden; Kenneth Kelling, Jr. Warden; Kelly Colomberti, Marilyn Evans, Lynette Hector, Jim Lo Bello, George Pineda, David Reeves, Samuel Sommers, Enrique Vilaseco, Amber Zelazny
Approved minutes of Vestry meetings are always available online to parishioners who request the link. If you would like Internet access to these Vestry Minutes, please email the Parish Office and request the link. Once you access the web page, you can read all recent Vestry meeting minutes.
The link remains live indefinitely. Any parishioner who has the link will not need to request a new link from month to month.
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