as I have loved you, you also should love one another

I give you a new commandment.....as I have loved you, you also should love one another.
John 13:34


WE WELCOME ALL VISITORS AND SEEKERS OF GOD.
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ALL BAPTIZED CHRISTIANS ARE INVITED TO RECEIVE THE HOLY COMMUNION.

LORD, LET US PRAY AND WORK TO HEAR YOUR WORD, CHANGE OUR HEARTS
AND GO FORTH TO DO YOUR WILL, EMPOWERED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT


Dear Friends, April 26, 2010

Yesterday was the fourth Sunday of the Easter Season - Good Shepherd Sunday. If you weren't present and if you love the 23rd Psalm, you missed another great sermon, full of insights. Jesus was not the Good Shepherd so we wouldn't need to help others, he was the Good Shepherd to show us how!

Please keep in your prayers those in need of healing, and all who serve in our military forces. Please pray that we may have a successful rector search. Kindly also pray for the Wardens and their work in this time of search.

Last Call...Michel Bouvard, Professor of Organ at the Paris Conservatoire, will perform an All-French organ recital Friday, April 30th, 8:00 p.m., at Sacred Heart Cathedral, 296 Flower City Park. Tickets at the door: $10 adult, $5 student - cash or check. Fine player, fine instrument in our own neighborhood.

Last, last call..The Chicken & Biscuit Dinner is next Saturday, May 1. Call Pat Frasca at 615-6790. Tickets are a bargain at $8.00, $4.00 for children - any under 6 are free. Come and see...

Last, last, last call...The CROP Walk is next Sunday, May 2nd. If you would like to participate or contribute, please see or call Jan Wills. 621-3900

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 call and an invitation to church or an inquiry as to when you might pay a visit.

Tuesday and Thursday Bible Study are in the Library at 9 AM. Please 'Come and See'. In this season of Easter, the lessons confirm the unity of the Father and the Son, the glory of Jesus and what we are to do as his disciples. There is food for thought and often refreshments to share. The study is of the Gospel Lesson for next Sunday, found below. If we wish to share our love of God, we need to know the stories of the Bible. Here is a good way to begin.

A congregation first grows individually in the heart of each faithful person, and only then it can 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.....We never know how ready a friend may be to hear a word of encouragement in faith.

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. We have pocket crosses to hand to those who answer the call to "Come and See"..

In the next day or two, Paul Schwartz will post this e-letter on our blogspot. http://ascensionroch.blogspot.com/

If you have a new or better email address for yourself, or know someone who might like to receive this weekly e-letter, please email me that information.

Blessings,

Dyson
D. Dyson Gay
585-317-4039

P.S. The anthem for next Sunday will be The Lord is Risen Indeed!, by Wm Billings; neat video at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exIEZQEoEOI
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Gospel for Sunday - John 13:31-35
13:31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him.

13:32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.

13:33 Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, 'Where I am going, you cannot come.'

13:34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.

13:35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

WE WELCOME ALL VISITORS AND SEEKERS OF GOD. ALL BAPTIZED CHRISTIANS ARE INVITED TO RECEIVE THE HOLY COMMUNION.

LORD, LET US PRAY AND WORK TO HEAR YOUR WORD, CHANGE OUR HEARTS AND GO FORTH TO DO YOUR WILL, EMPOWERED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT

Dear Friends April 13, 2010

Many thanks to Laurie Phillips for the picture of the Flowering Cross above the doors. This Cross tells us and our neighborhood that Christ is alive and flowering in the hearts of each of us who loves him.
The sermon on Sunday by the Rev. Carolyn Lumbard shared with us three gifts of Christ to his disciples as they marveled at his appearance to them - The Gift of his Peace; the Gift of his healing and of his touch; and the Gift of his breathing the Holy Spirit upon them. We are now his new creation - hands and arms of welcome to the world. Let us now invite others to "Come and See".
Please keep in your prayers those in need of healing, and also all who serve in our military forces. Please pray that we may have a successful rector search. When you have an opportunity, please call the Church Office for a moment, or drop in to say hello to Mary Vasquez, our new Administrative Assistant. Mary lives in the neighborhood and is the sister of Carol Morris.
The Chicken & Biscuit Dinner is fast approaching - Mark your calendar for May 1 and sign up or call Pat Frasca at 615-6790. Tickets are a bargain at $8.00, $4.00 for children - and those under 6 are free. If you would like to volunteer to help, Patty and her team will thank you!
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 call and an invitation to church or an inquiry as to when you might pay a visit.
Tuesday and Thursday Bible Study are in the Library at 9 AM. Please 'Come and See'. There is food for thought and often refreshments to share. The study is of the Gospel Lesson for next Sunday, found below. If we wish to share our love of God, we need to know the stories of the Bible.
A congregation first grows individually in the heart of each faithful person, and only then it can 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. We have pocket crosses to hand to those who answer the call to "Come and See"..

In the next day or two, Paul Schwartz will post this e-letter on our blogspot. http://ascensionroch.blogspot.com/

It is wonderful to be back in Rochester and have a chance to greet many friends on Sundays...if you have a new or better email address, please do drop me a line with that information.

Blessings,

Dyson

P.S. The anthem for this coming Sunday will be Lift Thine Eyes, by Felix Mendelssohn, of which a video is attached: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQnAoks_ZX8&feature=related
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Gospel for Sunday - John 21:1-19
21:1 After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way.

21:2 Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples.

21:3 Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We will go with you." They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

21:4 Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.

21:5 Jesus said to them, "Children, you have no fish, have you?" They answered him, "No."

21:6 He said to them, "Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some." So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish.

21:7 That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea.

21:8 But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.

21:9 When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread.

21:10 Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish that you have just caught."

21:11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn.

21:12 Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, "Who are you?" because they knew it was the Lord.

21:13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish.

21:14 This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

21:15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my lambs."

21:16 A second time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Tend my sheep."

21:17 He said to him the third time, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" And he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep.

21:18 Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go."

21:19 (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, "Follow me."

News Item Mark Lattime

Mark Lattime was an assistant at Ascension while a student in the late 1990's, I think. He most recently was rector at St. Michael's in Geneseo. Here is a news item on his latest. Congratulations and best wishes to Mark Lattime http://www.wfn.org/2010/04/msg00051.html

Proof Positive

In the world of today where skepticism and faith often clash, we are reminded that this was also true at the time of Jesus.

John 20:19-31

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe."

A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

As we proceed though the Easter season, let's keep asking how we at Ascension can help bring God's Message of Love and Hope to those we deal with daily. This week at Ascension, Bible Study on Thursdays at 9AM.

Upcoming is Chicken and Biscuit Dinner, on the first Saturday of May. Thanks to Rev. Lumbard and those who joined in for the Lenten Discussion of Sr. Chittester's Cry Hope! Cry Justice! essays. Nazareth College is hosting an Interfaith conference this weekend where Sr. Chittester is one of the keynote speakers. There is lots to be understood in the good works of God's people around the world. Thank you for prayers for my mom's return to health. She is now home and doing much better. Here's another prayer request:

Thank you, Lord for your Easter blessing on us two millennia ago, and today, and tomorrow.But we are weak and fearful followers, like the apostles. Doubt and worry eat away at our faith. Help us in our doubt, Lord, to remember that You love us and care for usno matter what our sins, no matter how badly we fail and no matter how fearful we are. Keep us ever mindful that we are to believe and proclaim Your salvation in our cubes, our modules, our cells and in the yard.

We're wondering what you'd like to highlight in the Church's communications this spring and summer. Are there any special topics that you'd want to contribute to or learn about? Think about it and reply or get your thoughts to someone on Vestry or in the Church Office. Thanks,

Ascension Happenings,

Church of the Ascension
2 Riverside St.
Rochester, NY 14613
585-458-5423