CHURCH OF THE ASCENSION 13216 Detroit Avenue Lakewood, Ohio 44107 www.ascension_lakewood.org

Inside this issue

Father Vincent’s Message……………..…….…..1

Senior warden’s Message…………………………2

Reflection for Bishop Hollingsworth ..…......3 Music ‘notes’……………………..…………………….4

Outreach for the Parish…...……………………...5

Outreach flier……….…………………………………..6

Frankfurter Fridays, Free Lunch…………6

Helpful Ascension, Concert Sundays………….7

Afternoon Guild, Shawl Ministry………. …….5 Hospitality Roster, Greg Stark……………....….7 Ascension Night Out Buildings & Grounds, Celebrations:……………………………………….…...8 Anniversaries Birthdays

New Faces at Ascension...……………………….10

Photo Gallery……………………………………….…11

Calendar………………………………………………...12

August NEWS IS DUE BY

July 20th

July 2015

FROM FATHER VINCENT:

As you receive this addition of the Spires I will still be in Salt Lake City for the General Convention of The Episcopal Church. I have been asked to serve as the chaplain to the Official Youth Presence at General Convention, a group of eighteen high school students cho-sen from across the Church who have seat and voice at Convention. I am deeply humbled to serve in this capacity and to work with such amazing young people who boldly follow Jesus Christ as committed members of The Episcopal Church. I look forward to sharing my ex-periences of General Convention with you at church in July.

The gospel lesson for the last Sunday in July is from John, chapter six. It is the story of Jesus feeding five thousand people with fives loaves and two fish. And the people have more than they need, the leftovers surpass the amount with which they began. That very same miracle is what God does with each and every one of us when we offer ourselves completely to God, holding nothing back. When we are willing to do as God asks and give what we have it is always more than is needed.

That miracle is happening right here at Ascension. As we live in a spirit of trust and confidence that God is at work here, we come for-ward to be God’s hands and those hands are multiplying and doing amazing things. My brothers and sisters in Christ, the Power of Evil wants nothing more than for us to say “stop”. Evil wants us to be-lieve that we do not have enough and to clutch at our possessions and cling to them with clenched fist and to live in fear. But that is not what Jesus wants or how it works when we trust in him. The more we give, the more we have to give. It is a miracle and it is true.

Thanks be to God.

News from Gil Newlands, Senior Warden:

Last month I told you about some of our plans for the summer months, so this month, we’ll have an update on how those plans/projects are going.

The exterior painting of the church building and Ascension House has been completed, and the improvement is fantastic. I didn’t realize in what bad con-dition the wood portions of both buildings were until I saw the work in progress. With the new win-dows in place, and the beautiful grounds (thanks to the Buildings & Grounds folks), Ascension is re-ally a showplace in the Lakewood community. It’s hard to believe it is almost 100 years old!

The Free Summer Lunch program is well under way, as we’re into our second week, as of this writing. Numbers are not as great as we had hoped for, but this is only our first year doing this, and we do have some experienced competition from other churches in the neighborhood. Thankfully, we have no shortage of volunteers, and our thanks are extended to Margie Hildebrandt, Ann Beyer, Joe Sgambellone, Fran Richardson, June Madden, Cheri Paisley, Sue O’Donnell, Sue Foster, Pat Hanen, Pat Tomblinson (who comes all the way from West 65th via public transportation!), John Mohlar, Mary Staley, and crafts fby ‘Aunt Linda and Grandma” Marian for all their efforts.

The first of our Sunday afternoon concerts turned out to be great a success, with a lovely program performed by our own very talented Anna Risch and members of her string quartet. On the 12th of this month there will be another concert following a luncheon in the Undercroft. On this Sunday (the 12th) there will be only one service, that being at 10:30.

I’m also pleased to report that the first Frankfurter Friday – last Friday – was a success, with about 50 people in attendance. That’s the largest number we’ve had for the first Frankfurter Friday since we started the program four years ago.

Finally, attendance seems to fairly steady, which is a good sign for the summer months, when his-torically attendance drops off. It’s comfortably cool in the sanctuary now, thanks to the new air con-ditioning, and don’t be afraid to come as you are. After all, our founder often wore sandals.

Sincerely,

Gil Newlands

Senior Warden

A REFLECTION FROM Rt. Rev. Mark Hollingsworth, Jr.

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, Our hearts ache for the nine faithful souls murdered while worshiping Wednesday evening at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, and for their families, friends, and loved ones who mourn the loss of their precious lives. I join you in prayer for the souls of the departed, and for the soul of the young man who killed them. In the futile attempt to make some sense of so senseless an act of evil, I am wanting to categorize this as an isolated act of a solitary and deranged individual. But of course I cannot separate myself from it; it is a reflection of a social system in which I am complicit, by my action and my inaction alike. The depth of my heartache and yours is a measure of the inherent connectedness of the lives God has given us. These nine Christian martyrs will have died in vain if our heartache does not lead us to challenge the culture of violence in which we all participate, in ways we are often unable and sometimes un-willing to recognize. In the fierce light of this tragedy, if we do not multiply our efforts to place the tolerance of others high above our tolerance of hostility, and place society’s responsibility to pro-vide safety to all her members high above the individual’s access to tools of violence, we are abdi-cating our primary vocation to bring the kingdom of heaven to life. May the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace, and may we not rest until that same peace reigns on earth. Your companion in Christ, The Rt. Rev. Mark Hollingsworth, Jr. Bishop of Ohio

TIMES FOR SERVICES!

Services are at 8:00 and 10:30 am unless noted

Help us Grow!

Have any of you noticed that Jon Peterson has been subbing for Linda lately?

So nice to see him around!

When you sing you pray twice!

Come join the fun!

Be joyful in the Lord, All you lands;

Serve the Lord with gladness,And come before his

presence with a song. (Psalm 100)

REMINDER: Next Service, Lunch & Concert

Sunday, July 12th

Organ Recital by Buck McDaniel

Originally from Columbia, Mississippi, Buck McDaniel is a composer based in Cleveland, Ohio. He holds the

position of Organist & Choirmaster at St Andrew’s Church: an historic, Episcopal parish in the inner-city; Direc-

tor of Music at St John’s, Ohio City: the oldest church in the city of Cleveland; and Assistant Organist at St John

Nepomucene Parish in Cleveland’s historic Slavic Village neighborhood. Recent commissions include an ar-

rangement of Nico Muhly’s Bright Mass with Canons for the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Festival

Chorus, and a new work for organist Todd Wilson (Trinity Cathedral, Cleveland) which was premiered at the

2014 Pipeworks Festival in Belfast, Ireland. Organist James McVinnie (Clare College, Cambridge) has performed

his work, Three Voices, both in recital at Hereford Cathedral (UK) and as part of choral evensong at Lincoln Ca-

thedral (UK). McDaniel studies composition at Cleveland State University (Cleveland, OH) with Andrew Rind-

fleisch and Gregory D'Alessio, organ with Todd Wilson, and privately in New York City with Timothy Andres.

Tech Hints

Have you checked out our website lately??????? Pretty cool! http://ascension-lakewood.org

You can print out the whole Spires if you like, or when you print it, print

only the pages you’d like by entering the numbers!

Outreach at Ascension

Community Meal The community meal this month will be on Thursday,

July 9th. Our dessert will be brownies with powdered

sugar. Let Margie know if you would be willing to help

out by baking! I will need 3 bakers. Thanks.

Due to the excessive amount of food that is leftover,

and the amount of work it takes to unload the 1000lbs

of food, sort the useable fruit and veggies and deliver

the leftover food, we have decided to cease passing out

the food.

What a team we have!!!! Our summer lunch program has

kicked off very successfully. So far we have from 5 — 17 kids

eating lunch with us. These well behaved kids have been

appreciative of the food, but also the wonderful crafts from

“Aunt Linda and Grandma (her mom)”. Thank you to the

wonderful crews who have made this venture fun and

rewarding! If you would like to help, sign up in the undercroft.

News for the Parish

Would you like to help?

There are many opportunities for you to do so!!

FRANKFURTER FRIDAYS began on June 12th and will continue every other Friday during

the summer. Help is needed to set up, cook and clean up. We also could use help with activi-

ties for the kids. Let Gil know if you can help in any way. The next one will be on July 10th.

Our free Lunch for kids began on June 15th and continues through August 14th. Helpers to set

up tables, pass out lunches, keep records, clean up or organize crafts can still be used. You can

sign up for a day, a week, a month :-)…. down in the Undercroft. Thanks to those who have al-

ready signed up and are helping. You are such a blessing!

Help is also needed on the first Saturday of the month to tidy up our grounds. Building and

Grounds would love to see you!

CHURCH TO LUNCH TO A CONCERT!

There will be one service at 10:30, no 8am service on these days

Join us for lunch at 12 and concert 1-2pm.

Forest Park String Quartet - June 14 ******* wonderful! Organ Recital by Buck McDaniel - July 12

Kasper and the Friendly Ghosts Jazz - August 9th Baldwin Wallace Alumni Brass Collective - September 13

Hospitality Roster

June – Ascension House

July – Vestry

August – Music

Dear Friends at the Church of the Ascension, I started writing this to you from Camp Mitchell, where I was helping out some old counselor friends direct the Senior High Session. Camp Mitchell is the diocesan camp for Arkansas where I served as a counselor for two summers during college. It has been two years since I have been here and three since I served as a counselor. Camp is an amazing offering for these youth, a chance for them to open up and become vulnerable. It was a privilege to be a part of creating this community, and very exciting to know that our bishop and diocese are so supportive of camp ministry. Now I'm writing from England, where I have been traveling for about five days now. I attend-ed the ordination of two of my friends to the diaconate this past Sunday and am off to an-other one this Saturday. Then I head to a monastery in France called Taizé. Over the past sev-eral months, I have been thinking about what makes a community healthy, especially com-munities of faith. I realized this past year just how blessed I was to have been a part of Church of the Ascension the year I lived in Cleveland. You are an amazingly hospitable com-munity. You are brave to invite people into community, to open yourselves up (quite literally with the Rectory) to near total strangers. Brother Emmanuel of Taizé writes in his book, "Love Imperfectly Known," that we need worshiping communities to remind us that we are indeed loved, perfectly and unconditionally, by a God who is always present. The deep and engaging conversations in the EfM group and the always tasty and well-attended coffee hours may not seem grand at first, but they are the very means of grace where we are re-minded of God's abundant love for us. Every time I return, I fee the extraordinary warmth of a community that cares deeply about all who enter. Thank you for genuinely asking about what is going on in my life, for sharing your own joys and sorrows, and for delicious plates of cookies and cheese. I always look for-ward to returning. Keep sharing your food and your stories. Keep welcoming those who wan-der in your doors. God is doing amazing things among you! Know that you are always in my prayers, as I know I am in yours. Much love, Gregory (Stark)

‘Many happy returns of the day to you!

Happy Birthday to: Please send me your birthday if you

would like it to be remembered:

07/03 Carrie Schopf

07/05 Joe Hildebrandt 07/06 Nancy Dittebrand

07/06 Alivia Welfley

07/13 Doris McQuistion

07/20 Lauren Dockery

07/27 Joseph Spada 07/28 Joanne Dusenbury

Happy Anniversary to:

07/10/2005 Jennifer & Joseph Spada

07/17/2005 Owen & Christine Jones

****Please send me your

Anniversary if you’d like it to be included here!

BUILDING AND GROUNDS MEETING,

Tuesday, July 7 6:30pm

Please send corrections and additions for the Church of the

Ascension Directory to Chris Deibel at c.deibel@cox.net. Thank you.

To add your birthday or anniversary to these lists, please e-mail Margie at

bach2schol@hotmail.com. Thank you!

The second Monday of this month, JULY 13th our "Ascension Night Out" dining group will meet at 6:00 at Mahle’s, 24945 Center Ridge Road, in Westlake. This is one of our favorite restaurants and all are welcome to join us. A sign-up sheet will be in the church office for a reservation or if you have any questions. Please sign in by the Friday before the dinner.

New Faces at Ascension

Corky Thacker & Jeffrey Sommer

Corky and Jeff worshiped at Ascension on Christmas Day and joined the church this spring, as they prepared for their May 9 wedding. A former East-sider and cradle Episcopalian, Corky had met Father Vincent through friends, and making Ascen-sion her spiritual home eased her move west. Jeff, a lifelong West-sider who was raised in the United Church of Christ, ap-preciates the approachable pastoral tone here. The couple feels that church adds an element of stability to life. Jeff retired from Cuyahoga County in 2002 after a career in sanitary engineering. Corky owns a small communications firm that serves technical clients. They met in local chapters of the American Rose Society and have 300+ roses now. Both are rose exhibition judges and help others learn to grow roses. After completing an addition to Jeff’s home, they look forward to helping with House and Grounds at Ascension.

Do you have a picture of the church or a church event to share ?

Send it to Margie @bach2schol@hotmail.com

Grandma—aka Marian Gardner,

“Auntie Linda” aka Linda Gardner

and helpers help our guests to create

crafts!

Crafting on the left and

eating on the right!

FREE LUNCH PROGRAM and some of the helpers

Reminder for the 12th:

Church is at 10:30 am

Lunch is at 12:00 pm

Concert is at 1:00 pm

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

MON -

FRI

Free

lunch

1 Shawl

Ministry

9:30 am

2 3 4

5 Services

8:00 & 10:30

6 Night

Out

6:00

7 Building

& Grounds

6:30 pm

8 9 Comm.

Meal

5:00 pm

10

Frankfurter

Friday 6:00

11 YARD

CLEANUP

9am

12 One

Service 10:30

concert

lunch

13 14 15 Shawl

Ministry

9:30 am

16 17 18

19 Services

8:00 & 10:30

20

21 22 23 24

Frankfurter

Friday 6:00

25

26 Services

8:00 & 10:30

27

28 29 30 31

July 2015