Church of the Ascension

When we stop objectifying God and focus on God as the subject of our lives, we discover that our relationship with God and one another deepens—not just with family and friends, but with stranger, with those who are the other, who understand the world in vastly different ways than we do.  We stop seeing God as a good shepherd and start experiencing life in the flock in which our shepherd is willing...

We can take comfort in knowing that Jesus is with us and that when two or three are gathered in His name, He will be in the midst of them. We help each other to seek and to see Jesus by helping each other to be Jesus in the world. Fear never has the last word because fear is born out of isolation and when we invite our Lord into the middle of our messy lives, we are simply acknowledging what has a...

"Life is short and we do not have much time to gladden the hearts of the faithful, so be swift to love and make haste to be kind and go in peace to love and serve the lord."

How will your write your story?

On Good Friday God, clears out our hearts and minds and begins the task of renewing and reestablishing his relationship with man. God knows that we too like those old houses need a little bit of love. God has humbled himself and taken on flesh in Jesus and will now establish that new relationship with man. A relationship grounded in love and grace that no one can break and that is forever life-giv...

We tell the story of salvation and freedom and promise, and just as the story of the Passover begins with bitter herbs, our story of the Passion begins in that same bitter place.  The ugliness of captivity is not simply the story of the oppressor and the oppressed, it is the story that lays claim upon our own hearts when we are imprisoned by fear and anger and suffering.  It is the story of what J...

We are all the beloved creations of God made in his image. In our Baptismal Covenant we commit to serving Christ in all others. That is an unqualified statement making no distinction between anyone. We are stronger together and meant to be one body loving God and each other.

The eyes of blessing and judgment gaze upon us, into us, and we are known by God at our most basic sense as an expression of God’s own love.  This is the Pantocrator—the all-powerful—the one who will hesitate a moment in his ego and respond from his soul as the two become one unity, ordered in the divine/human offering he makes for us. 

We have been reflecting on what sources of technology we use, why we use them and then trying to moderate our engagement with our screens or other tools of technology. Now at this midpoint in our journey we will begin to look at ways to improve our relationships with those tools.

We have no power in ourselves to help ourselves—but we can choose to focus on God and call upon him for our protection and defense such that our souls may not be hurt or assaulted. 

This Lent we are being called to remember that we are created in God’s image and made for relationship with him. Our collect this morning is reminding us that God is gracious to all who have gone astray. Understanding ourselves is all about understanding our place in Holy Fellowship with Him and with each other.

Change your background chorus from “I want my MTV” (or whatever worldly thing that calls your name) to “I want my mighty God.”  Make that your covenant this Lent and through all the days of your wandering life.

God always loves us—no matter what—and hatest nothing he has made.  Linger not in depravation this Lent, lamenting that which you have given up or not given up, but turn your hearts to God. 

Timing is everything.  And on that mountain in that moment of transfiguration, God is revealed.  I want to yell, “Peter, stop!  Don’t miss it.”  And then I realize, that is because we are all so like Peter—distracted by the world and our desires to control that which we do not understand rather than bearing witness to the revelation of God all around us.  The Transfiguration is about Jesus, but I...

I have many wonderful memories and maybe more importantly, I am the person I am today thanks in large part to my involvement in Scouting. Thank you all for what you do and most importantly for who you are and for sharing your light with one another and all those whom you serve.

We take comfort in knowing that our God is continually seeking us out, until we say here I am Lord.

Jesus didn’t tell the four fishermen to stop being fishermen.  He invited them to fish for something different—to fish for people, to grow in relationship.  Jesus continues to invite us to come and follow him even today.  He doesn’t tell us we have to be something different, only that we reconsider and reorient our purposes so that they align with his—that they focus on relationships; our partneri...

Epiphany is a season of light, a time to reflect on how our hearts and lives can be a light to others. One thing about this light is that it's not meant for us to keep it to ourselves.  We aren’t meant to hide the light away and keep it a secret.  It is meant for all so that all might see the gifts of creation.

It seems to me that Jesus’ baptism is maybe more about the revelation of his true identity and his commissioning into God’s shared earthly ministry here on earth rather than on a need for repentance. As beings created in God’s image, Jesus is modeling for us what our new calling here on earth will be. That the repentance in our baptisms is maybe less about our personal need for forgiveness and may...

For as the earth brings forth its shoots, And as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up. So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise  To spring up before all the nations.

To trust God is to recognize that Advent is about trusting in God’s promise of renewal and hope.  It is not the time of the ending of all things, but a time of new hope, new possibility, new beginnings. 

Isaiah reminds us that we are called to remember the past while embracing the future. This is embodied in Jesus. In this season of new beginnings let us reflect on our past while embracing all the hope and joy that the future has to offer as we walk hand in hand with Jesus and with each other.

If we think we are living in act five—the end times—and allowing fear to drive our beliefs and choices, then we are missing out on the joy, opportunity, and creative nature that is the church. Most of all, we are missing out on nurturing our relationship with the one who shapes us as the work of his hands: the Father in which we are the clay and he is the potter.

When we feed, give drink, visit, welcome, and cloth the stranger we do this to Jesus because we are all created in our beloved maker’s image and so are created with his light and life in us. While we all are a little bit goat and we all are a little bit sheep, I think Jesus is calling us this morning to be his sheep in the world as we seek to spread his love in a world full of goats.

That is the invitation we are always being offered by God. The invitation to live in this world from a position of hope instead of fear, from possibility instead of doubt.