May
8, 2008
Ascension’s Mission
statement
We Commit to:
Create
- an environment that is actively partnering with others in the community.
Invent, compose, and produce.
Embody
– mirror, model, demonstrate, exemplify, be examples, to carry within us
the
power to actively demonstrate and be in the world what Jesus was in the
world.
Transform
– make a difference in the world in which we live.
Change
the culture,
bring about change, be filled with the Holy Spirit, a new awakening.
Current Events
Sunday, May 11
Summer
Worship Schedule Begins May 11, Pentecost Sunday
Pentecost
Sunday, May 11, we will move to our Summer worship schedule with one
service at
9:30 a.m.
Worship planners have some surprises in store for that day including
balloons, colorful banners, and great music. Don’t forget to wear red
– the designated color representing the fire of the Holy Spirit.
Sundays, May 11 &
18
What does “Missional” Mean?
Though
we use the word frequently, it is difficult to get a consensus on just
what ‘missional’ means. And if we are not clear on what it means, how
can we be a ‘missional’ congregation?
The
Bible describes God’s mission to bring into our daily experience the
redeeming acts of love, peace, and justice for all people. Join Staff,
Council, and Call Committee leaders for 30 minutes of awareness building
and conversation (May 11 and 18 following worship) about what it will mean
for us to become ‘missional’ in our thoughts and deeds as we serve God
together at Ascension. This single step toward unity can make a huge
difference in strengthening our gathering.
Sunday, May 13
Older Adult Fellowship Luncheon
The Older Adult Fellowship meets the second Tuesday of each month
at Butterfield’s Restaurant in Scottsdale. Come join us for good
food and great company. Our next date is Tuesday, May 13 at 11:30
a.m. Please use the sign up sheet located on the table in the
Narthex.
Sunday, May 18
Holy Trinity – Music Appreciation Sunday
Our
May 18 worship will be filled with great music giving voice to our praise
and thanks to God. With gratitude to our many musicians who sing in the
choir, ring hand bells, participate with the Worship Band, provide
instrumental music, or play organ and piano – come add your voice of
affirmation.
Upcoming Events
Explore
the canopy!
RAINFOREST ADVENTURE
“A Summer Bible Camp Experience”
Summer
is just around the corner and here at Ascension we’re planning an
exciting VBS adventure for your kids!
Are you looking for a safe, friendly, and fun environment for your
kids? Then sign them up for
Rainforest Adventure Vacation Bible School! This fun-filled Bible camp is
for everyone between the ages of 3 and 8.
The
adventure begins June 9 and continues through June 13th.
Sessions
run from 9: 00 a.m. to 12:00 noon each day.
Set
in the canopy of a vibrant and exciting rainforest environment, this
lively VBS program will engage your kids as they discover that everyone
can do their part to care for God’s creation. Through kid-friendly Bible
stories that emphasize stewardship, combined with a jungle of hands-on,
fun-filled activities, at Rainforest Adventure kids will learn that it is
fun and faithful to share the good news of Jesus’ love with everyone!
At
Rainforest Adventure kids will hear stories about Jesus, make cool crafts,
learn catchy rainforest rhythms, play zany games, eat yummy snacks, and
make lots of new friends!
Registration
is going on now. For more information or to register for VBS, visit the
preschool or church office, or call 480-951-3576. Sign up today!
In
Christ,
Judy Lenz
Rainforest Adventure VBS Director
Monday – Friday
during June and July
TWO FUN FINE ART WORKSHOPS
PAINTING,
DRAWING, BUILDING SCULPTURES! Choose your table of
materials with which to work. You can learn to draw and paint faces,
animals, figures, landscapes, self-portraits, and more. We will build and
invent sculptures (even HUGE ones) and paint them! There will be great
snacks and recess, too.
CULTURES
AROUND THE WORLD!
Each day travel to a
different country and experience a great time. We will see movies, hear
music, have great and fun art projects, read stories, play, exercise,
journal, recess, and have tastes of delicious international foods! We will
focus upon a different country each day. We’ll learn about Spain,
Mexico, Italy, Greece, France, Scandinavia, Germany, Israel, Guatemala,
South America, Russia, Africa, the Orient, and more! Classes are taught by
teachers and artists (Master’s Degree and certified!)
Classes
for each workshop are Mon. thru Fri. in June and July from 2:00 p.m. to
5:00 p.m. Choose one or more weeks. Ages 3-14 years old. Children will be
in similar age groups. Fee is $150 per week which includes all art
materials and snacks ($50 is non-refundable.) $40 discount for three
siblings before May 31st. First come, first serve. Classes are limited in
size.
Please call the office:
480-948-6050
Ascension News
Excerpts taken from the following site: www.calvin.edu/worship/stories/art_planning.php
Please visit the site to read entire article:
How
to Plan Art Used in Church Worship
Is your church
commissioning liturgical art…creating art for cross cultural
worship…or designing a new building? Get tips from worship and arts
leaders who’ve learned how to involve more people in planning and
creating art for worship.
As the church year moves
toward Easter and Pentecost, your congregation may be eager to deepen and
renew worship.
Many churches find that
adding—or improving—an arts planning process reveals God’s grace in
startling ways. Creating art for worship can sink Scripture into
people’s lives, connect people from different cultures, and build
bridges into the community.
Photo by Don Jack
Making community connections
“Wealthy self-made
people here
can be difficult to access. However, there’s a lot of depth and interest
in community arts,” says Katie Adelman,
associate minister for faith formation, worship, and music at Ascension
Lutheran Church
in Paradise Valley, Arizona.
That’s
why, when Ascension decided to commission art for lectionary gospel
readings,
they looked for artists outside their congregation. “We saw it as a way
to share the gospel with folks we wouldn’t normally meet,” Adelman
explains.
The church’s arts and
faith team chose passages with visual potential and decided which art
medium would best express them. They interviewed and appointed local
artists and recruited teams of six to
ten people to discuss a
gospel text with an artist. “We asked, ‘Now if you couldn’t say that
with words, how would you communicate it? What did that gospel reading
speak to you personally…intellectually…
emotionally?’ “Teams
talked with artists about what they envisioned. They had to trust the
artist. The artists did a fabulous job of listening and returned with art incredibly beyond
what teams had been thinking,” Adelman says.
The project gave some
Ascension members their first chance ever to talk with artists who
describe themselves as atheist or agnostic. A post-project reception
introduced artists to each other. Each will also have a solo show at the
church.
Now moms wear a glass
beaded necklace when their babies are baptized. A three-generation family
that lost its matriarch, a grandma, found comfort in a photo series that
symbolizes passing on faith from one generation to the next. A painted
triptych has become the congregation vision statement.
“The arts help our
congregation see themselves in new ways and with new communities. Art
helps people get out of the literal intellectual pattern of reading
Scripture and into imagination.
“Art in our midst
surprises us. It changes us, if only minutely to begin with. It’s
wonderful to let it roll and bubble up, to pay attention to how a piece of
art work comes into worship and matches someone’s life,” Adelman says.
Text
by Joan Huyser-Honig
Ascension Az Adventurer’s Invade the state !
The
AAA’s trip to southern Arizona on Saturday, April 26th took a surprise
twist. Instead of visiting Tumacacori National Monument, they visited a
working rancho, owned by John and Vickie Beaver, located about 9 miles
west of Amado and 20 miles north of Mexico. They toured the hacienda and
its nearby flower studded pond and a golf cart tour of the working rancho.
Following a picnic lunch they then visited Tubac Presidio State Historic
Park, returning to Scottsdale by 6 p.m. The AAA’s are planning trips
throughout the year. If you would like to join them please contact Elden
Walters at walt3144@qwest.net.
(l
to r) Mickey Marietta, Bill Eckhardt, Margi Walters, Jayne Baker, Peg
Knudsen
Photo
courtesy of Margi Walters
discovery Ministry
7 Summers to Change
History
Article reprinted
from http://www.breakthroughchurch.com
The
year is 1964. You're a guidance counselor, and the kids pictured to the
left represent a few kids in your school. Do you recognize them? Do you
recognize their potential, their strengths and weaknesses? Wouldn't you
love to listen in on their dreams? Well, you can't. (and unless you're
Larry King, you probably can't even today.) But there's a whole generation
of kids that you can listen to. And let's be honest, they all have equal
potential to be and do just exactly what God has now purposed for them.
Could so much be riding on a few listeners, mentors, and 'dream disciplers?'
Yes.
We have to admit that one problem we adults have is
that we do not recognize the real spiritual capacity and leadership
potential of kids 7-17. Yet these same kids have large disposable incomes,
drive the trends and pop culture of our day, warrant millions in ad
budgets by US corporations, and are media savvy and life-savvy like no
generation before them. Yet we still relegate them to 1-hr a week of
canned Bible lessons, craft times, pizza parties, and maybe a 5-day,
once-a-year backyard VBS, and we wonder why 18-30 year olds become so hard
to reach, or keep in the church.
There's a proverb that says, "It doesn't work
to leap a twenty-foot chasm in two ten-foot jumps." There are times
in history when a quantum leap is needed. I really think we are at that
time when we need a kind of 'Marshall Plan' or a 'Manhattan Project'
mindset. When society or a community recognizes how important it is to
reach a goal, or the consequences of not realizing it are unthinkable,
history has shown that people are willing to make sacrifices. I think
people are realizing this, and they just need some leadership.
What we will need is a holistic and comprehensive
strategy addressing the complete world and culture of this generation
(personal, home, school), all week and year-round. This plan will have to
involve much listening, coaxing and guiding of God-given dreams to
fruition, and also into the gift-based places of leadership for which God
has given them a natural authority, even at an early age. When kids are
given exposure to opportunities that follow their interests, dreams and
true purpose begin to blossom. If we come alongside their dreams and
passions and connect them to matching places of need in the world we won't
have to worry about motivation. It's our responsibility to empower and
support these dreams all the way, whatever it takes (again think Marshall
Plan). Genuine, lasting transformation (personal and societal) has to come
out of a heart on fire with the unique dreams and passions God put there.
But do we still expect too little of our youth?
When they are pursuing a big dream or important cause, in the spiritual
flow of their God-fanned passions, we won't have to worry about whether or
not they will stay with the church program... for then, they are becoming
the church...a new transformed church...a glorious Church, one that many
of us today have not yet envisioned, let alone experienced.
How do we go to that level? Can we identify the
best catalysts for change... strengthening of family and neighborhood,
dream incubators, dream teams, youth cells and empowering networks,
business support, school and community partnerships? How do we create the
support structure for that kind of vision in the church? Could parents and
young adults be motivated to play their key part, and along what line? Are
there many adults whose own calling and dreams would be fulfilled in this
kind of movement? I think so.
Also, what dialog, brainstorming, and planning
models would facilitate rapid development and implementation. How do we
engage children and youth themselves into the imagining and planning
process early and give this enough force to drive action?
Also, how do we enlarge the online conversation and
idea-generating process? And if this vision (or something like it) is
indeed vastly superior to where we are and where we seem to be going,
isn't it worth it? Isn't it worth all the prioritization, thoughtfulness,
creativity, and sacrifice God may be asking?
God,
grant us hearts full of You, full of your compassion, vision, creativity,
imagination, boldness and courageous faith... to change history for the
first generation of a new millennium.
Michael
Johnson
July
2007
MAY PRESCHOOL NEWS
It
is hard to believe that we are on the home stretch. The Preschool year has
gone by so quickly and our last month of school is chock full of
activities and events. This month, we will be studying about flowers,
mothers and summer fun & safety. We had a special “Picture
Perfect” Mother’s Day program on May 7th for all the
Preschool mothers and grandmothers. The children entertained and spoiled
them with their songs and antics.
On
Tuesday, May 20th, we are concluding the 2007/08 school year
with an ICE CREAM SOCIAL AND ART SHOW. All Preschool families and
Ascension members & friends are invited to attend. The event will be
from 6:30-8:00 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall. We hope to see you all there!
As
the school term ends, I am feeling very blessed to have had another
successful year at Ascension Preschool as director and teacher. I can only
attribute this success to our terrific preschool staff. These ladies
(Sandy Colwell, Tammy Barks and Penny Matzinger) are dedicated
professionals that have generously given of their time & talents in
order to enhance our program’s ministry. A special thanks to Marilyn
Corbin, our bookkeeper, for all the work she does in keeping our finances
in order, and to our Preschool Board members (Sandra Corbin, Jan Laurant,
Nancy Newbanks, Lois Bach & Marilyn Corbin). Our early childhood
program would not be of the same caliber without their expertise. Thanks
to all Ascension congregation and Preschool families for your continued
support and encouragement.
The
Ascension Preschool Staff is now looking forward to our summer VBS camp
“Rainforest Adventure” for children 3 to 8 years old, June 9-13.
Please pick up a registration form in the church or preschool office, or
give us a call for more information at 480-951-3576.
Thanks
again, for an excellent job of relaying the “good news” message about
our Preschool to the community!
Have
a wonderful summer!
Judy
Lenz, Director
Ascension Preschool Registration
Registration
for the 2008-09 school year at Ascension Lutheran Preschool is underway
and is filling quickly. Registration forms are available in the
preschool office. For more information you may call Preschool Director
Judy Lenz @ 480-951-3576.
missional Outreach
Grace Lutheran
requesting heat-relief supplies For the Homeless
Summer
is approaching and soon the temperatures will be dangerously hot.
Beginning in July and continuing through August, Grace Lutheran is opening
its doors to the homeless and others in need from the heat. They are
asking for support from Ascension and many other congregations and
businesses. Urgent needs are water, socks, underwear, non-perishable food items,
hats, t-shirts, and other heat-relief supplies. They are also inviting
you, individually or in a group, to volunteer. You may choose to serve a
meal, play a game, have a conversation, lead a small group discussion, or
help distribute water in the surrounding neighborhood. Please bring your
donations to the manger in the Narthex. Thank You!
Phoenix Rescue Mission
“Faith
by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”
Your
Missional Outreach Ministry will be providing suggestions on a regular
basis where you can participate in what God is doing:
Phoenix
Rescue Mission is breaking ground on their new Changing Lives Center for
Women and Children. This is a $12 million goal for the center. In addition
to needing financial support for this center, the Rescue Mission is asking
support for the summer—the most challenging season. A Gift of $100 will
provide 52 nutritious summer meals for some of our neediest neighbors;
$150.00 can mean food, shelter and cool showers for 78 people. You
may send monetary donations directly to the Phoenix Rescue Mission 1801 S.
35th Ave. Phoenix, AZ 85009 or you may make checks payable to Ascension,
place them in the offering plate or send them to the office, please memo
Phoenix Rescue Mission on the check. Thank You!
For more information please visit www.phoenixrescuemission.org
Stewardship Ministry
Phones For Good Helps Raise Money
For Ascension
PhonesForGood.com
is an online retailer of cellular phones dedicated to raising money for
nonprofit organizations. When supporters purchase their next new cellular
phone and plan through the PhonesForGood website (offering hundreds of
phones from AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, Nextel and T-Mobile), Ascension
Lutheran Church will earn from $40.00 to $50.00 for each new purchase.
Over
90% of our members and supporters already own a cellular phone and will
buy a new one within the next 18-24 months. Why not buy your next phone in
a way that benefits Ascension Lutheran Church? Half of the people you know
will replace their cell phone THIS year. What if each of those new sales
could benefit Ascension?
We
offer a complete selection of new phones at better prices than traditional
retailers (many are free). You will receive a better deal on your next
cell phone purchase than you otherwise would, while feeling good about
helping Ascension earn extra funds. Visit PhonesForGood.com
for more information.
Away for the Summer? Sign up for Simply Giving
Would
you find it helpful to have your offerings debited directly from your bank
account as you probably do with other obligations? Ascension offers
electronic giving for those of you who wish to have your contributions
transferred electronically to the church’s account. If you will be in
another part of the country this summer, this is particularly helpful in
keeping up with your intended offerings. One simple, easy to use
authorization form can begin or change your electronic contribution
amount. Contact the church office for more details.