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Spring 2013What’s Going on in the Wider Church

What’s Going on in the Parish

Editorials

Editorial

Dear Friends,

When I heard that there was going to be another Parish retreat again this Lent I knew immediately that this was, as in former years, something I didn't want to miss. This led me to question what it is about a retreat that is so special and attractive. Is it the fellowship, just being somewhere different for a couple of days to switch off, a chance to meditate or a desire to learn more about the Bible and the Christian way of life?

On reflection, I think it is a combination of all of these. I must confess that I like staying in monasteries. I like the peace and quiet, the lovely surroundings and the simplicity. Basic accommodation and plain cooking suits me fine for a few days (or even longer). Living simply is rather like giving something up for Lent (which makes a stay in a monastery particularly appropriate at this time of year) and reminds one of how a lot of people have to live all the time.

Added to this I find the peaceful and welcoming atmosphere of a monastery conducive to learning about and discussing the Bible. Some people go on silent retreats. I'm not sure that I could cope with that as I like someone to chat to and discuss things with. There is so much to be learned from a discussion and listening to other people's opinions.

All in all I came away from our retreat relaxed and joyful with much to reflect on. Next year I'll be coming back for more.

Rector's Epistle

On Pentecost Sunday we celebrated the diversity of Church of the Ascension by reading in as many languages as we could the story from the Acts of the Apostles of the original Pentecost 2,000 years ago. This year members of our community read the Acts narrative in 15 languages, including Sepedi, an African language I had not heard of before. I had a smile on my face and such a warm, positive feeling when I heard the Acts passage read in so many languages, and with such enthusiasm and commitment. It was inspiring and moving to hear the jumble of languages which showed the abundant gifts, skills and learning we have in the Ascension community. In addition to showcasing our diversity, the reading in various languages celebrates our knowledge that God’s Holy Spirit lives within each of us. That too is inspiring and moving because we are reminded that God dwells in each person. Pentecost Sunday gives us the opportunity to celebrate our linguistic, ethnic and national diversity while at the same time acknowledging the unity we share because God’s Spirit dwells in every one of us. Pentecost reminds us of unity within diversity, which for me could well be the “slogan” or “catch phrase” for Church of the Ascension.

The word “Pentecost” is ancient Greek (one of the languages read at our Pentecost service!) for the Jewish Festival of Weeks, which Jews celebrate 50 days after the Passover. It was in celebratation of the Festival of Weeks that the disciples had gathered together when God’s Spirit came upon them in the narrative from Acts. The story from Acts tells us that God’s Spirit came bursting into the house where the apostles were celebrating their festival: “And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house…. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them,

and a tongue rested on each of them.” Based on this description of the original Pentecost, the Holy Spirit is very often depicted in literature and art as fire, wind or rays of light emanating from a hovering dove. These depictions show God’s Spirit as outside the human person; they portray God’s Spirit as existing outside us and swooping down on us or dropped upon us.

This Pentecost, I wonder whether we might rethink the conception of God’s Spirit “coming at us” from outside our human being. I have been thinking about this especially because of the recent services of baptism and confirmation held at Ascension, when we have acknowledged that God’s Holy Spirit exists from birth in each of the children who were baptized and the youth who were confirmed. At baptism and confirmation, we do not confer God’s Spirit on the individual as if for the first time. Rather, in those sacramental rites we recognize that the Spirit is given to each of us at birth. We are reminded that God has placed God’s divine life within each of God's loved children. The trick, of course is to know and feel God’s presence within our own being and to see it in others.

Being a member of a diverse community like Ascension helps us see how God works in our own lives – in a diverse community like ours we are able to see the many ways in which God is at work in the lives of others, while at the same time experiencing how God is at work in our own lives. We have approximately 30 different nationalities at Ascension. WOW! Such rich diversity, right in front of our very eyes, makes it impossible to think that God’s Spirit is limited to people of a particular location, culture, education or manner of life. God lives within each of us, caring for us, guiding us, loving us. The gift of God’s Spirit binds us as a human family and unifies us in our faith, despite our various traditions and walks of life. At Ascension we are like those original disciples who came to Jerusalem from all over the known world to celebrate the Jewish festival. May Pentecost remind us to celebrate what we share: God lives within each one of us, and spurs us to seek the Spirit of the living God in each other. Happy Pentecost! Let’s celebrate.

Rev. Steve

What’s Going on in the Wider Church

Council of Anglican-Episcopal Churches in Germany (CAECG)

On 8 and 9 March, Father Steve and two lay delegates travelled to Heidelberg for the CAECG meeting sponsored by the Heidelberg Chaplaincy. In addition to the usual business to be concluded and time spent getting to know one another better, the Rev. Canon Malcolm Grundy, recently retired as the Archdeacon and Director of the Foundation for Church Leadership in the Church of England, led discussions on the Indaba process.

The word “Indaba” is probably well-know to our African members. What I learned from Canon Grundy is that Rowan Williams, the then Archbishop of Canterbury, used the expression when he announced at the 2008 Lambeth Conference a move away from plenary meetings voting on formal resolutions and introduced middle sized groups for discussion of larger issues, saying:

"We have given these the African name of indaba groups, groups where in traditional African culture, people get together to sort out the problems that affect them all, where everyone has a voice and where there is an attempt to find a common mind or a common story that everyone is able to tell when they go away from it. This is how we approached it. This is what we heard. This is where we arrived as we prayed and thought and talked together."

So Indaba is a group engaged in listening to each other to decide how to solve problems or permit change, using intuition and empathy, while nurturing mutual acceptance. It gives us a chance to listen to ourselves and to listen to others. Indaba enables the people involved to work together contentedly and competently and leads to a shared ownership of

responsibility.

I was struck by the idea that a Vestry is an Indaba group and I trust ours works as one.

Ecumenical Anglican Evensong, at the Matthäuskirche – The Arbeitsgemeinschaft Christlicher Kirchen of Bavaria is an organization which brings together Christian churches of different denominations to work together. Every year, as part of the week of Christian Unity, they hold an ecumenical worship service, based on the liturgy of one of the member churches and this year, it was the turn of Church of the Ascension. The service was a traditional Anglican/Episcopal Choral Evensong and on the evening of Tuesday 15 January, Ascension members, along with many other Christians, enjoyed a joyous and uplifting worship in the St. Matthäuskirche at Sendlinger Tor.

Rev. Steve led the service together with Kardinal Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of Munich and Freising and Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, Lutheran Bishop of Bavaria. Kardinal Marx gave the sermon, preaching on the theme “So that strangers become friends”, a very appropriate topic for such a gathering. A choir made up of members of the Ascension choir, the Munich English Choir and Cantio München, conducted by Stephen Norton, provided beautiful music. They led the congregation in well-known hymns and sang the traditional Evensong music such as the Magnificat and Nunc Dimitis. Martin, Harald and I served as acolytes, and the prayers were led by congregants of the different member churches of the AcK.

Special thanks must go to George, our representative on the AcK, who was heavily involved in the planning of this service, and did a marvelous job. There was a reception following the service where some of the strangers did become friends, and where we received many compliments on the beautiful Evensong liturgy and music.

What’s Going on in the Parish

110th Anniversary of Church of the Ascension

In a very short time we celebrate Ascension’s 110 th anniversary. The Most Rev. Dr.

Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop (or Archbishop) of the Episcopal Church, will be with us to celebrate. Bishop Katharine will lead the service and preach. A festive reception follows the service. Bishop Katharine will be in Munich May 31-June 3. During that time Bishop Katharine will visit two of Ascension’s partner ministries in Munich, the Missionaries of Charity soup kitchen and the Innere Mission asylum seekers center, meet with the bishop of the Evangelisch-Lutherischen Church in Bavaria and other ecumenical leaders, attend separate dinners with parish missioners to Romania and the new and former Vestry, and meet with the youth groups over breakfast. We are looking forward to Bishop Katharine’s visit and the celebration of Ascension’s founding 110 years ago!

Worship and Music

Prayers for You and Others – If you would like to include prayers for yourself or another during the Prayers of the People in our Sunday service, please list them on the prayer list on the ushers’ table prior to the start of the service. In addition, or alternatively, if you would like daily prayers from our smaller, dedicated prayer group, please post your prayers on the red board on the windowsill inside the church; pen and post-its are provided.

Evensong – Our final Evensong service before the summer break is Wednesday, June 19, 19:00, at St. Willibrord Church, Blumenstraße 36, near Sendlinger Tor. Stephen Norton will conduct a combined choir from Church of the Ascension, Cantio München and the Munich English Choir. The Rector will preach and officiate. Join us for this quintessential Anglican service of hymns, choral music, homily and lots of space for personal meditation.

Taizé – This quiet and meditative service, with candles, chant and prayer, is held one Thursday each month, at 19:45. The next services start in September. The service is held in the Upper Room of the parish house.

Spiritual Formation

Parish Retreat –

In Lent I went on a parish retreat to Sankt Otillien. 17 other parishioners and I stayed at a monastery in this beautiful little village. The nuns and monks were so welcoming and humble to us that the place just had a warm feeling of serenity to it. We stayed there from Friday to Sunday and during this short amount of time I learned so much about my thoughts and beliefs about God. We had three sessions and in each session we talked about a different “side” to God, the Merciful God, the Loving God, and the Cosmic God. It was really interesting to think of God in this way and it really opened my mind about my view on God. What I especially liked about this retreat is that we had a very good balance between the sessions, praying, meditation, and free time. We also had a wide variety of opinions about God and it was very interesting to hear all the different opinions.

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God of the Singing Bowl and of St Bartholomew – I have been trying to figure out exactly who God is for the last five years, so when our church advertised a Lenten Retreat on precisely this topic, I thought it too good an opportunity to miss. If that question could be answered in just 48 hours, then surely I shouldn’t be spending ages agonizing over it! Also, the name St Ottilien appeals to me. I wanted to see where and what it was.

Well, St Ottilien is a large Benedictine monastery (Missionsbenediktiner), well provided with a huge Klosterkirche, a school and many other buildings, including even a sewing machine museum. Saint Ottilia herself is the patroness of good eyesight. She lived in the days before glasses and laser treatment; nowadays she must feel rather redundant. We had a good time in St Ottilien: good company, good music, good discussions, good accommodation and sort of good food.

But what about my questions regarding the nature of being of God? The exact theme of the Retreat was “the many ways we conceive God”, and during three sessions we looked at God as the God of Love, the cosmic God, and the merciful God. I don’t want to go into the details of the sessions – except to say that Rev. Steve’s teaching and the discussion were excellent – but want to recall two experiences that have followed me home.

The first was during the meditation after the session of the God of Love. We were in the chapel under the roof of the Exerzitienhaus. A modern, very simple chapel, with no chairs or visual distractions. Only a carpet, some rugs, prayer stools, candles and a crucifix and icon at the front. We were asked to meditate – “empty ourselves”, I think Father Steve called it – for ten minutes. At the end of this beautiful silence, Steve sounded the gong which was a so called Tibetan singing bowl. The sound of the singing bowl was luxurious and warm. It permeated the whole room, reaching every corner and rising up to the ceiling. It travelled slowly and steadily, hanging in the air long after Steve had struck the bowl, filling our whole minds and bodies with its richness and beauty. To me this was a perfect and powerful image of God’s love. Then the sound left softly, careful not to create a void, but instead leaving its warmth in our hearts and minds.

The next experience was the complete opposite: we were in the St Ottilien-Kapelle, a most elaborate Barock-Kapelle, freezing cold, but full of pictures, statues, altars and most uncomfortable pews. I found myself sitting under the statue of St Bartholomew who was depicted holding his own head and skin after being flayed alive and crucified, head downward. Gosh, how would people – and particularly children – think of God, if they sat in this pew Sunday after Sunday, looking up at the martyrdom of St Bartholomew? Then in

the middle of my reflection on the purpose or meaning of this terrible image, we were called to sing “Shine Jesus shine”.

Shine Jesus shineFill this land with the Father's gloryBlaze, Spirit blaze,Set our hearts on fireFlow, river flowFlood the nations with grace and mercySend forth Your wordLord and let there be light.

How on earth would I bring these two images of God together? Well, I couldn’t, even though I have now been thinking about this the last 72 hours. But how meaningful that Father Steve didn’t call the weekend “Who is God?” but rather “the many ways we conceive God”.

Youth Group

The youth group had a fun evening of ice skating at the Prinzregenten Eisstadion. Seven youth were in attendance along with leaders Martha and John. During a break from skating, everyone enjoyed a delicious dinner in the on-site restaurant.

Wednesday Bible Study – Rev. Steve leads our weekly Bible study on Wednesdays, 10:45, in the Upper Room of the parish house. The Bible study explores the lectionary readings for the upcoming Sunday, and is preceded by Morning Prayer. All are welcome to join us for what proves to be a vigorous discussion.

Mission & Outreach

Mission & Service Trip to Romania – A group of nine will be traveling to Romania this August to work at the community center in Vaslui (in the poorest region of the E.U.), in the monastic fields around Husi and at the monastery of Bujerni to help prepare for the 2,000 visitors who will come to the monastery to celebrate the Feast of Mary's Assumption (which is not a Feast in the Anglican church but a very important one for the Romania Orthodox). Please keep us in your prayers.

English Speaking Prisoner Support Group – This ministry’s next worship service is Sunday, July 28, at Stadelheim, the men’s facility in Munich. Ascension members of ESPSG will lead the service, and Fr. Steve will preach. If you are interested in attending orparticipating, contact the Church. In the words of the coordinator of the services: the

negative side is you have to be at the prison at 9.30 on Sunday morning. The positive is that you will be moved by the singing and by smiles and tears from the prisoners.

Serve at the Soup Kitchen – We solicit volunteers to serve any Saturday at the Missionaries of Charities Soup Kitchen. There are two shifts: the first shift is 9:30-12:00; during this shift we help the sisters prepare a hot lunch for their guests. The second shift is 14:30-16:45; during this shift we serve lunch to the guests, chat with them and clean up. The Sisters would like 3-4 volunteers for each shift. It is also possible to volunteer during the week, on the same schedule. To volunteer, please contact the Church.

Food Collection for the Soup Kitchen – Each Sunday we collect food for the Missionaries of Charity to use in their lunch preparation and to distribute to the hungry and homeless. The sisters request rice, pasta, cooking oil, tea, coffee, sugar, bread, UHT milk, beans and lentils (in plastic bags, not tins), toilet paper and a new request for kitchen and toilet cleaning supplies - general cleaners for floors and household, washing-up detergent, toilet bowl cleaner, glass cleaner, toilet paper, kitchen rolls/paper towels. The sisters request that we not donate tinned foods. Please bring your donations on Sunday and place them in the wicker offering basket near the Ushers’ table.

Collection of Used Eye Glasses – We collect used or new eyeglasses for distribution through an eye doctor in Munich for those in Africa who otherwise would not have them. You may donate any eyeglasses in the collection box at the ushers’ table each Sunday.

Collection of Used Postage Stamps – For many years we have collected used stamps to support the Bible Lands Society in its efforts to assist blind and handicapped people in the lands of the Bible. Please leave used stamps, preferably with at least 1 cm of paper around them, in the collection box on the ushers’ table at the Sunday service.

Fellowship

PANCAKES FOR SHROVE TUESDAY

It’s now a Tradition! Our Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper on February 12 was a big success. From Rev. Steve we learned a bit about the origin of this pre-Lenten meal (It had to do with using up the fatty, ‘forbidden’ foodstuffs, beginning on Ash Wednesday). Hot plates and frying pans turned out a constant flow of pancakes and sausages. No one went hungry! For the children, coloring supplies and games were provided. And a special prize went to the person who could eat the most pancakes: This prize, a ceramic “Pancake Lady” went to Julie, who admitted to enjoying seven of the delicacies. As a first–in-a-long-time event (our parish had Pancake Suppers back in the 80’s, oldtimers recall) it was deemed a great success.

Thanks go to the hardy souls who braved a blizzard to attend this party, and to the members of the Community Building Committee who flipped the pancakes, sizzled the sausages, poured the beverages and generally made the event a ‘go.’

“Roll out the barrel, we’ll have a barrel of fun.....“ That could have been the theme song of our first “Sing Along” evening March 9. After a potluck buffet, a quiz, prizes, and entertainment provided by the guests, Malcolm sat down at the piano for a spontaneous sing-along, accompanied by a violin (thank you, Jane). It turned out that there was plentiful talent in our midst. We had a guitar, French songs, a few Irish and Scottish jigs played on a violin, a brief and impressive piano offering, more songs, and then the dancing began.

Mens Night Out

The men of the parish and their friends gather for food and fellowship, all from 19:00;Tuesday, June 18, Osteria Blu Notte Italian restaurant, Schleißheimerstr. 77, JosephsplatzU2 U-Bahn;Thursday, July 11, Mangostin Asian Biergarten, Maria-Einsiedel-Str, Thalkirchen U3UBahn;Wednesday, August 21, Hofbräukeller am Wienerplatz Biergarten, Innere Wiener Str. 19,Max-Weber-Platz U4/U5 UBahn. Questions? Contact the Church..

A Tribute to Frederick D. Mayer

Fred Mayer was a member of the Church of the Ascension for more than 40 years and served as Senior Warden, member of the Vestry and the Worship Committee, and most importantly, was the Director of the Choir for nearly 30 years.

Dear Friends,

As you may already have heard or as you may have read in Father Steve's moving e-Mail, Fred passed away on March 20. He went peacefully and that is a blessing in itself. For those of us who knew and worked with him, his death represents the end of an era. On a personal note, Fred was quite simply the best choir director that I have ever had the honor of working with. He knew how to get the most out of whatever choir turned up on whatever Sunday and, perhaps more importantly, he knew what details could not be achieved. He had an uncanny ability to judge the choir's possibilities and to aim for whatever percent of an

anthem he felt we could accomplish. The amazing thing was that he was always right. He could delve into the heart of a piece of music in a few words and with a few gestures and the choir was always at one with him. He rehearsed as economically as anyone with whom I have ever sung and the success, whether it be with Russian music or spirituals or standard choral anthems, was awe-inspiring.

I sang barbershop with Fred for 25 years and loved every minute of it. We appeared and sang wherever we could and if a quartet was together in one place, we would spontaneously begin to sing. We serenaded many a crowd in a restaurant, whether they wanted to hear us or not. Our last appearance together, in our last formation (with Fred, Steve Sherman, John Alford and myself) was at my retirement party at the Bavarian Radio. That is the way I wanted to depart from the Radio and the reaction of the invited guests made it clear that we could still bring down the house.

I worked with Fred in all of our Gilbert and Sullivan performances. Fred never really learned his lines by heart. When he forgot a line in a song or in a dialogue, he would simply make something up and his inventions were often better (and surely often funnier) than the original. He drove me nearly crazy when he began to make things up but I wouldn't have wanted to miss a minute of it. He also danced a great hornpipe in our "Ruddigore" production.

How many of you got to sing spirituals with Fred? Anyone who did will never forget the experience. His knowledge was obtained firsthand, working with the likes of Jester Hairston, Dawson and the others and he could raise the roof with his interpretations.

It is Fred's philosophy that guided the choir and still does. We still have an open choir. We still do not take attendance. We do not close our doors to people who for whatever reasons cannot be at every rehearsal. Making music was Fred's means of expression and it was his direct line to God. He felt that making music brought one closer to the divine than anything else in life. And, in that sense, he made believers of all of us. He never wanted to charge admission for any concert, he initiated the Messiah Open-Sings with that philosophy and we have tried, since his retirement, to continue in that way. Music making became our way of giving back to the community at large - not just to the churchcommunity and giving back was Fred's way of giving.

Until he began to slow down due to illness, Fred was a towering figure of authority. He was not shy about being critical and his corrections were always a help to me. Even after I took over from him, I looked to him - sitting in the front row with the tenors - for help when I had no solutions of my own. And he always had an answer. Up until his illness, which slowed him down considerably, he was not afraid to stand up for the idea of musical integrity and when he felt that the powers that be in the church were headed in an anti-musical direction or when he felt that certain decisions weakened the spirituality of the music, he was the first one to make his voice heard.

Some people cannot be replaced and Fred is one of them. He had a wonderful life, was a wonderful singer, was an inspired actor (even when he invented large parts of the text), was a blessed conductor and was a true friend. He loved the choir and devoted a large part of his life to it and the C of A. I will miss him terribly. The team of Fred and Rosie was a team in the true sense. My heartfelt sympathy goes out to her. I can only hope that she will find comfort in us as a group. The choir is, in its own way, like a family and has been a part of Rosie's life for more years than I want to count. Please give her your thoughts and support in whatever amount and whenever she might need them.

Book Review

‘Take this Bread’ by Sara Miles

In the last appendix “Discussion Guide for Lenten Study” of her book “Take This Bread: a Radical Conversion” Sara Miles asks: “1. What has been your most powerful experience of communion?”

A fitting close to a book which begins: “One early, cloudy morning when I was forty-six, I walked into a church, ate a piece of bread, took a sip of wine. A routine Sunday activity for tens of millions of Americans — except that up until that moment I'd led a thoroughly secular life, at best indifferent to religion, more often appalled by its fundamentalist crusades. This was my first communion. It changed everything.“

Unlike other riveting radical conversion stories (e.g., “Girl Meets God” by Lauren Winner; “Run, Baby Run” by Nicky Cruz; “A Severe Mercy” by Sheldon Vanauken; “Surprised by Joy” by C.S. Lewis) Miles’ book springs from a physical experiencing of the Eucharist.

She was “prepared” for this intense understanding by being fed during the war years in Latin America (and in her research travels to the Philippines and South Africa) by poor people “despite the dangers [her] presence [as a political writer] often meant.” And by working in restaurants in New York. And by being educated in Friends World College.

The Eucharistic altar at St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco where she received her first communion is now the center of a food pantry which gives between 9 and 12 tons of free groceries to 1200 families each Friday.

She describes the food pantries as “sort of like a farmer’s market in heaven.”

Makes one wonder how she would have described the Feeding of the Five Thousand as an on-site reporter.

You can read her book (copies are available) for the compelling blow-by-blow account of her life and work.

You can see her at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-wQi_oF6SM.

Carol Adeney

Come and join Church of the Ascension’s

Bring-and-Buy

on Saturday 29th June, 13:30 - 16:30

If you wish to sell items, please note the following:

• Pre-registration is either via email to bring-and-buy@ascension-munich.com or via signup sheet available every Sunday after the 12 noon service by latest Friday 28 June. Please state your name, telephone number and number of items you wish to sell.

• Sale of items is the responsibility of the owner and at the owner's own risk. Unsold items are to be removed from the Church premises by the seller on the same day.

• Each seller donates 50% of his/her proceeds to Church of the Ascension. Donations in excess of 50% are welcome.

• Church of the Ascension accepts no responsibility for theft or damage.

or just come to browse and buy

English Booksale

Cakes and beverages on salecake donations requested

All welcome! All proceeds go towards the operating budget of the Church of the Ascension e.V. including its

outreach missions (Refugee centre, English Speaking Prisoners’ Support Group, Mission in Husi, Rumania)

Church of the Ascension, Seybothstr. 4, 81545 Munich, Tel: 089 648185

The Church of the Ascension is a Parish of the Convocation of EpiscopalChurches in Europe and of the Worldwide Anglican Communion

Parish House and Church Office:Seybothstraße 4, 81545 MunichTel: (089) 648 185, fax (089) 644 428Office Hours: Wednesday and Thursday, 10:30-17:30E-mail: church@ascension-munich.comWebsite: www.ascension-munich.com

Worship Services:Sundays, Emmauskirche, Laurinplatz 1, 81545 Munich10:15 Choir Rehearsal (Gemeindesaal)11:45 Sunday School and Youth Group (Youth Group meets first and third Sundays of the month)12:00 Holy Communion, with Choir and Creche (Church)Wednesdays, Parish House, Seybothstraße 4, 81545 Munich10:45 Morning Prayer, followed by Bible studyThird Wednesday of the month, St. Willibrord Church, Blumenstraße 36, 80331 Munich19:00 Evensong

Clergy:The Rev. Steven R. Smith, RectorE-mail: revstevesmith@ascension-munich.comThe Rev. Clair Ullmann, Visiting PriestE-mail: revclair@gmail.comThe Rev. Holger Laske, Visiting PriestE-mail: weihrauchalarm@gmx.netThe Rev. Henry H. Wilson, Rector Emeritus

In a pastoral emergency, please contact the Rector at 089 6993 7933 or 01525 459 9175.The Church of the Ascension is exclusively supported by the contributions of its members and doesnot receive funds from any governmental body.Donations and Pledges to the Church can be made by bank transfer to:The Church of the Ascension Deutsche BankKonto Nr. 459 870 200 BLZ 700 700 24

Other Episcopal/Anglican Worship Services in BavariaSt. Boniface, Augsburg, Apostelin-Junia-Kirche, Siegfried-Aufhäuser-Str. 2516:30 Holy Communion (first and third Sunday of the month)Website: www.st-boniface.deSt. James the Less, Nuremberg - St. Jakob Kirche, Jakobsplatz 117:00 Holy Communion (second and fourth Sunday of the month)Website: www.st-james-the-less.de

The Church of the Ascension was founded in 1903, and (except for intervals during war years) has served the English-speaking community in Munich and Bavaria since that time. In 1970 the Church moved to its present location in the Harlaching neighborhood, where we are guests of the Evangelical Lutheran parish, Emmauskirche. The Church of the Ascension is a parish of the Episcopal Church of the United States and is a member of the world-wide Anglican communion, which has 80 million members in more than 160 countries. Ascension is a diverse community of members who hail from many different nationalities and religious backgrounds and traditions.