This Sunday Oct. 4th is the Blessing of the animals!

This Sunday Oct. 4th is the Blessing of the animals!

Ascension Happenings Sept 28, 2009

AND A LITTLE CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM

Dear Friends, September 28, 2009

Yesterday, Fr John Andrews was with us to preach and celebrate. His sermon, punctuated with anecdotes, reminded us to refrain from quick judgments and to welcome those who are not against us, and against Christ, because "if they are not against us, they are for us".

Sr. Warden, Don Taylor, announced that a meeting is scheduled with the Diocese for this Tuesday to advance our clergy discussions. At its meeting last Thursday, the Vestry resolved to ask the Diocese to assist us in the hiring of a full time rector to lift up and grow the parish. Please keep this process and the parish in your prayers, that we may receive excellent leadership.

Next Sunday will include the Blessing of the Animals, in honor of St. Francis Day. Bring yourself, your pet, your friend with a pet, a picture of your pet, or even a stuffed animal to be blessed at the 10 AM service! It is always a lot of fun. Elephants and tigers should stay outside, though....

Fix-Up Day is Saturday, October 10. Come one, come all. There will be fun and fellowship as we prepare our "campus" for the autumn. Lunch will be provided!

Look at your calendar and sign up for the Magnetic Church seminar @ Trinity, Greece, Fri Oct 26 6:30-10PM and Sat Oct 27 8:30-4PM. If we want to grow our parish and see it thrive, we need to know how... Cost is only $35 per person in groups; Sat lunch is included. Call church office for details 458-5423. This is a bargain we need! Please make the time!

Remember our servicemen and women in your prayers. Their names are in the bulletin each week. Are you participating in an outreach ministry? Speaking of which...

Urban Ministry Fair on October 25th at Ascension. Come and see what you can do to help in our community! Find outreach and ministry opportunities within local organizations needing your assistance.

Please visit or call a friend who is not able to get out or whom you've been meaning to call. There are many who would love a phone call and an invitation to church or an inquiry as to when you might pay a visit.

Join us on Thursday at 9 AM for Bible Study and fellowship. There is no homework, but lots of conversation, and the group is friendly. We look for the meaning of the gospel lessons in our lives and for the parish. This week we will read the passage shown below.

Please call a friend and invite her or him to church next Sunday and also to an upcoming parish event. For many people, all it takes to answer God's call is the voice of a friend. Won't you be that voice? A congregation first grows individually in the heart of each faithful person, and only then can it spread. If we want to grow, we must love God, love our friends and then speak to them. God will help us share the Bread of Life.....

Do you have a pocket card to hand to a friend who asks about Ascension? Cards are available in the back of the church. Please take a few, and be ready to share.

Blessings, all best, and great peace,.....See you on Sunday!

Dyson

P.S.: We will sing "I am the Bread of Life" at communion on Sunday. Here is a video - please turn on your sound -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=totpqAGpCSA
P.P.S.: If you know of anyone who would like to receive this weekly e-letter, please send me their email address. Thank you.
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Mark 10:2-16

10:2 Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?"
10:3 He answered them, "What did Moses command you?"
10:4 They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her."
10:5 But Jesus said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you.
10:6 But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female.'
10:7 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,
10:8 and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one flesh.
10:9 Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate."
10:10 Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter.
10:11 He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her;
10:12 and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."
10:13 People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them.
10:14 But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, "Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.
10:15 Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it."
10:16 And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.