QUESTIONs?

• Are you interested in joining the Church of the Ascension? 

• Do you want to transfer your membership to our Church from another Church? 

• It is an easy process!  Contact Rev. Sealy Cross!  Everyone is welcome at Ascension! 

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Did you hear about the fellow looking for a good Church?

Well, he searched around and found a little fellowship where the preacher and the congregation were reading out loud.

"We have left undone those things which we ought to have done and we have done those things which we ought not to have done."

The fellow dropped into the pew and with a big sigh of relief said,

"Hallelujah! I’ve found my crowd at last!"

Roan Ridge Committee Meets

     Our Church recently received a $12,000.00 grant from the Roan Ridge Foundation to study possible future uses for our Parish House.  Our goal is for this building to be used on a regular basis for a variety of reasons and needs.  Rev. Kermit Bailey submitted the grant and is an adviser to the committee.  Committee members include:  Rev. Sealy Cross, George Peterson (chairman), Kim Brown, David Joyner, Karen Deadmon and Monte Taylor.  

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A look back in history:  Source: Diocesan Journal 1910, pg. 71;
Bishop Cheshire writes in his journal:  “Oct. 15, 1909, being the sixteenth anniversary of my consecration, I had the pleasure of consecrating the Chapel of the Ascension, near Fork Village, Davie County, built by the faithful labors of the Misses Hairston of that county.  The petition of consecration was read by the Rev. Thomas L. Trott, priest in charge, and the sentence of consecration by Archdeacon Osborne.  The sermon was preached by the Rev. Henry Teller Cocke.  The Rev. Simeon J. M. Brown also assisted in the service.”

Per David Joyner’s History of the Episcopal Church of the Ascension, the sermon came from Luke 19:46.  “It is written, my house is the house of prayer.”

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A look back in history:  Source: History of the Episcopal Church of the Ascension: “My earliest memory of the Church of the Ascension is serving as acolyte when Mr. C.E.B. Robinson was there.  I remember we knocked on the front door with a wood crucifix at the beginning of the service…Mr C.E.B. Robinson was Uncle CEB to some…but, we were taught to say Mr. and Mrs. to everyone.”  Memories of Kermit Bailey when he was a young boy growing up at The Church of the Ascension.

Note:  The Rev. C.E.B. Robinson served as Vicar at Ascension from 1931-1945 and is the longest serving priest in Ascension’s 100 year history.

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A look back in history:  Source:1919 Diocesan Journal:: Chapel of the Ascension: Priest Salary $120; Pension $9; Baptisms-Infants: 6; Adults: 1:: Baptized Persons: 29; Communicants: 12:: Services; Sunday’s: 12; Holy Days; 2::Students in S. School: 35:: Receipts: $187.05::Value of Church; $1,300:: Sittings; 150:: Treasurer: Mr. Sanford Kimmer

Eva Deadmon  wrote “A Journey to Bethlehem” in 2006.  She also hand painted several of the figurines used in the nativity set.  The glass nativity figurines were given in honor of Judge Hairston three years ago.

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1. It's one of the few denominations that allow alcoholic beverages to be served on the grounds.
2. The options: Rite One or Rite Two; back-to-congregation or facing  congregation; traditional or contemporary music; all are allowed and welcome!
3. We use cool words like 'verger', 'thurifer', 'amice', 'warden', 'aumbry' and  'columbarium'
4. Otherwise, I'd be unchurched. 
5. I ask too many annoying questions.
6. One is expected ask all irritating questions and to use their brain.
7. It has a beautiful Liturgy.
8. I do not have to understand; I only have to believe.
9. Here laughter and fun are appropriate. 
10. The 'fashion police' don't come to our church; the Holy Spirit does.
11. The clergy are not only smart, gifted, and spiritual -- they are fun!
12. Episcopalians spend less time beating on the Bible and more time actually reading it.

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Gracious and Loving God, Be with us this day as we begin a new season, a new century of growth. 

Breathe life into the seed of our endeavor to build a new fellowship hall, through which, like a vine from the budding cross, we may reach out in increasing fellowship and service to all within our growing community. 

Give us the grace, wherever we may pass, to make strangers welcome among us, speaking to them through words and deeds of Christian love, and greeting them with joy and blessings. 

Grant that, in our nurture of each other, we shall find that most ancient joy of humankind, working in the fields of God’s great dream for us.  Through this work, may we reap harvests of peace and understanding that reflect your love for all your children. 

Lord, be the beginning, the increase, and the consummation of this work, this growth, to the glory of your name and the fulfillment of your dream.  Amen.

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Merry Christmas Quotations

From: The Sermon Fodder http://www.sermonfodder.com

The Sermon Fodder list shares a regular dose of Christian humor and modern-day parables for personal enjoyment.  Their material is often used as sermon illustration material by pastors and Sunday School Teachers. 

 Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.  ~Norman Vincent Peale

Christmas is a time when you get homesick - even when you're home.  ~Carol Nelson

He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree.  ~Roy L. Smith

Christmas, children, is not a date.  It is a state of mind.  ~Mary Ellen Chase

Christmas is the gentlest, loveliest festival of the revolving year - and yet, for all that, when it speaks, its voice has strong authority.  ~W.J. Cameron

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree:  the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.  ~Burton Hillis

There has been only one Christmas - the rest are anniversaries.  ~W.J. Cameron

Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.  ~Laura Ingalls Wilder

I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.  ~Charles Dickens

Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree.  In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall.  ~Larry Wilde, The Merry Book of Christmas

Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart.  ~Washington Irving

Isn't it funny that at Christmas something in you gets so lonely for - I don't know what exactly, but it's something that you don't mind so much not having at other times.  ~Kate L. Bosher

Instead of being a time of unusual behavior, Christmas is perhaps the only time in the year when people can obey their natural impulses and express their true sentiments without feeling self-conscious and, perhaps, foolish.  Christmas, in short, is about the only chance a man has to be himself.  ~Francis C. Farley

It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air.  ~W.T. Ellis

Even as an adult I find it difficult to sleep on Christmas Eve.  Yuletide excitement is a potent caffeine, no matter your age.  ~Carrie Latet

Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love!  ~Hamilton Wright Mabie

Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.  ~Author unknown, attributed to a 7-year-old named Bobby

Christmas is forever, not for just one day,
for loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away
like bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf.
The good you do for others is good you do yourself...
~Norman Wesley Brooks, "Let Every Day Be Christmas," 1976

Christmas is not as much about opening our presents as opening our hearts.  ~Janice Maeditere

Only in souls the Christ is brought to birth,
And there He lives and dies.
~Alfred Noyes

When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time.  Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs?  ~G.K. Chesterton

For the spirit of Christmas fulfils the greatest hunger of mankind.  ~Loring A. Schuler

I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month.  ~Harlan Miller

Keep your Christmas-heart open all the year round.  ~Jessica Archmint

Tradition: sit with husband in a room lit only by tree lights and remember that our blessings outnumber the lights.  Happy Christmas to all.  ~Betsy Cañas Garmon, www.wildthymecreative.com

From http://www.quotegarden.com/christmas.html
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A Special Christmas Eve

I can remember it as if it were yesterday. It was Christmas Eve, 1968 and I was an eleven year old boy – yes, I am 51 – and I was captivated by the Apollo 8 team, whose dangerous and courageous mission was to orbit the moon in what was really a tin can in space. I can remember the daily reports about the mission, which usually coincided around dinner time in Scotland.

That evening, there was a special report late at night because the astronauts were making a special broadcast. Although I didn't get to see it until the next day, it was in all the news. The Apollo 8 astronauts had made Christmas that year very special because each of them read from the Bible.

William Anders began the broadcast with a special introduction:

"We are now approaching lunar sunrise and, for all the people back on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to you.

He then started to read from the first chapter of the Book of Genesis: In the beginning, God made the heavens and the earth….

Jim Lovell took over and read more verse from the first chapter, and then Frank Borman quoted some more of Genesis and finished the broadcast with this message:

And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas – and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth."

It was an astonishing moment in history and it had a profound affect on me. It made me link God with the creation of the universe and I have never forgotten the wonder of it all.

Days later, Madelyn Murray O'Hair, an atheist, responded by suing the United States government, alleging violations of the First Amendment. The suit was dismissed by the Supreme Court due to lack of jurisdiction, after all, how could the Supreme Justices enforce anything that took place off the planet?

Less than a year later, on the historic Apollo 11 mission, Buzz Aldrin took communion on the lunar surface shortly after landing. He kept his actions secret for many years, but it was also an amazing event. It was the first time that a Christian had ever taken communion on the surface of another world.

Every Christmas, the wonder of what God did way back 2000 years ago, always hits me on Christmas Eve. In all of the billions of galaxies that this universe contains, why did He choose this one? Amongst the zillions of stars, why did He choose ours? And amongst the planets, why did He choose ours upon which to bestow life?

And then, amongst all of the great empires, kingdom, and nations on earth, why did God choose one of its smallest ones, Judea, to bring His Son into the world. And out of all of the cities and towns of that small kingdom, why was little insignificant Bethlehem chosen as the birthplace of the Messiah? And why not in the house of a rich, powerful, and successful person? Why does God allow His Son to be born and laid to rest in the feeding trough of a stable?

Because that's how God, great and almighty, omnipotent and eternal, works.

God does what He wills, in ways and for reasons that remain a mystery to us. He makes promises and keeps them, so that we will benefit from His goodness, mercy, and grace.

He promises never again to destroy the world, even though the wickedness of humanity deserves it.

He promises to heal us, revive us, and restore us to His favor, even although we have deeply offended Him.

He promises to forgive us of our sins, our past mistakes, and deepest regrets, and make our contaminated souls clean before His eyes.

He promises to keep us when we listen to His Son, and never lose us.

He promises to bring His Son, Jesus, back into our world, so that we may seek His Coming and know that we are never alone.

And His promises begin with God's choice to bring His Holy Son into the world, in a stable, in a tiny town, in a small kingdom, on a tiny planet orbiting a weak yellow sun, on the edge of the Milky Way, amongst gazillions of galaxies, in this almighty universe, which is contained and sustained by God's thoughts alone.

Let us pray: Lord God, You have called all of us to be here because You want us to know that we are never alone in the universe. You want us to experience the freedom that faith brings when we give our hearts and lives to Jesus. Liberate us from the past; rejoice with us at this present time, and prepare us for that wonderful day when Christ shall return to this planet, to claim and keep us for His own. Both now and forever. Amen.