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 13^th.  

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 7^th for all the Preschool mothers and grandmothers. The children entertained and spoiled them with their songs and antics.

On Tuesday, May 20^th, 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.

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