Padre's Ponderings

Men, join us for our Men’s Prayer Breakfast tomorrow at Big Boy at 7:30 for prayers, breakfast, and fellowship!

Don’t forget to come back out to our Gathering Place June 9th at 6:00 for our end of the year youth cookout. This cookout is for our older youth, our younger youth, Sunday School kids, parents, siblings, friends from school, etc…The idea is simply to get together and enjoying our younger generations fellowship.

Brandon and Karla Cordes, youth leaders, will provide the meat and buns. Youth, please bring a side dish and some soda. I’ll put out our cornhole set for a little gaming action. Hey, Ascension & Holy Trinity even has a fire pit! Who’s bringing the goodies for smores?!

Come on out and have a great time with your church family. I’ll be present with Rosemary, the boys, and if she’s been a good girl, maybe I’ll bring Gracie ; )

In God’s Grace,
Eric+

Remember, this Sunday June 9th we begin our summer worship schedule. Our 8:30 service will be outside on the Gathering Place. That’s the brick patio off of Worthington Ave. 10:00 will be inside our church nave as usual. Every few Sundays we’ll have summer choir. Look in your “Invitations and Celebrations” for more information. See you this Sunday!

In God’s Grace,
Eric+

To my A&HT Family and Friends:

First of all, let me say thanks to each and every one of you who made the 2013 RelayFor Life for TEAM A&HT a huge success! I cannot express how GRATEFUL I am to receive this overwhelming support in this annual effort to fight cancer on such a level.

A special thank you to the 7 Survivors who came out to walk the Survivor Lap and stayed to enjoy the dinner catered by Gabby’s. We were 7 of 9 Survivors there! Way to go with that level of support A&HT. We want more Survivors from Wyoming to join us next year on that first lap! We need more Community Support by raising awareness of this event.

TEAM A&HT was one of 2 GOLD TEAMS and we still have some money coming in. We will be PLATINUM at over $7,500 raised for Relay For Life 2013. I know of $500 in checks, and we have $105.20 from on-site fundraising, and a GE Foundation Matching Funds check for $110 all coming in. You can continue to donate to TEAM A&HT through the Summer until August I can accept cash or checks made out to American Cancer Society and I will send them in on the proper paperwork so we get the credit.

With our current total at $7,140.50 we will soon be at a total of $7,845.70!

Thanks again to all of you who donated and those who came out to walk the track with the threat of storms, to all who baked goodies for the Bake Sale, and for the amazing hand painted Dwarf figures Mary Lynn and her daughter made for Team Snow White (see below), and to John & Jeanie Zoller who brought breakfast at 6:00 AM to those of us who stayed all night at the Relay, and to all who worked so hard at fundraising this year! You are amazing!

Terry C. Kessler

Team Captain

TEAM A&HT

MISSION-TRIP-AT-HOME WEEK. JUNE 10 TO 15

Building upon input from our April 7 meeting, we have drafted the following program for this year’s Mission-Trip-At-Home Week. Please note that changes may be required, so we ask that you monitor the weekly A&HT Invitations and Celebrations e-mails for updates. Note also that we are requesting sign-ups so that the hosting ministries we’ll visit will know about how many mission trippers to expect.
The events of the week are open to all A&HT family and friends of all ages (except where noted below). Participants are invited to choose to join one, some or all the events.
The Gathering Place will be the starting point for the trips, to enable ride pooling. Those who sign up will be contacted in advance of each trip with any instructions on what clothing, tools etc to bring.
Many thanks to Joan Ammerman, Leanne Anderson, Dee Damico, Kathy Kessler, Ariel Miller and Mary Lynn Roca for their efforts in pulling the week’s program together.

Monday June 10.
Evening. 7.00 pm at A&HT. Focus on returning prisoners.
We will start our week with a viewing of “The Right Touch”, a new documentary created by the Rev. Noel Julnes-Dehner. This is “a portraits-driven documentary about the struggle between justice and redemption, as experienced by people who have committed crimes, served time and have returned to society”. Following the 26-minute documentary will be a presentation on the topic by a local expert and a discussion. The question we’ll be asking is “What can churches in general and A&HT in particular do to help returning prisoners reintegrate into society?”
Rev. Noel will participate, making a very welcome return visit to A&HT–she was an intern with us in the Rev. Wiley Ralph era. (Contact is Ariel Miller).

Tuesday June 11.
Morning. Visit to Valley Interfaith Food & Clothing Center, Lockland.
We will experience a different aspect of VIFCC’s ministry by observing a mock interview with a new client and following the process for addressing that client’s needs. This will be followed by a working session (to be determined–but unlikely to be pulling weeds like last year!). Participants are asked to bring canned goods to help stock the VIFCC shelves. (Contact is Joan Ammerman).

Afternoon and Evening. Community Dinner.
Prepare (at A&HT) and serve (at St. Simon of Cyrene, Lincoln Heights) food for the cooperative monthly dinner. (Contact is Dee Damico).

Evening. Visit to American Cancer Society’s Hope Lodge in Avondale.
Hope Lodge is “a unique home away from home for people who need temporary, comfortable, supportive accommodation free of charge during cancer treatment”. There will be an orientation tour and a to-be-determined work assignment. Children’s access to some areas of the lodge is restricted, so this trip will have more appeal for adults. (Contact is Kathy Kessler).

Wednesday June 12.
Morning. Visit to Matthew 25 Ministries, Blue Ash.
A repeat of last year’s visit will include an orientation tour of M25M’s Global Village, a briefing on how this ministry responds to emergencies in the US and globally, a work assignment and lunch ($3 per person for lunch). (Contact is Noel Horne).

Thursday June 13.
Afternoon. Visit to Ronald McDonald House, Avondale.
This ministry is “a home away from home for families and their children who are receiving medical treatment at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center or other area hospitals, regardless of their ability to contribute”. An orientation is planned, followed by a work assignment (probably making snacks). Children are welcome to participate. The overall size of our group will be limited to 10 people. Should demand exceed 10 people we will schedule another visit later in June. (Contact is Mary Lynn Roca).

Evening. Episcopal Ministerio Latino, Forest Park.
We will again visit the summer reading program and help tutor English-as-a-second-language children. If possible, we will meet with some Latino parents and hear their stories of life in the Forest Park area. (Contact is Dee Damico)

Friday June 14. Visit to The Giving Fields, Melbourne, Kentucky.
The Giving Fields, about 10 minutes from downtown Cincinnati is “a community farm that helps alleviate hunger in the community by growing fresh produce for Northern Kentucky agencies of the Freestore Foodbank”. This will be a working experience. As this ministry’s web page puts it “You’re never too old to play in the dirt”. (Contact is Leanne Anderson).

Saturday June 15. Evening. 6.30 pm. Pizza Party.
We will enjoy a pizza party on the Gathering Place and share thoughts on what we’ve experienced and what we could and should do about it.

Please join us on our mission trip week
as we explore how we may help our neighbors in need.

5/19/2013 edition. (revised)

Dear friends in Greater Cincinnati,

PARISH HEALTH MINISTRY

June is the start of summer for us, school is out and vacations are in sight. We wish you all a safe, healthy, restorative summer. Father’s Day falls in June, so we honor all fathers and father figures, mentors and men who have been and are our role models. Take time to take care of your own and your family’s health by eating, exercising and relaxing healthily. Check out our bulletin board for ideas and information.

RELAY FOR LIFE – MAY 31 – JUNE 1.
At the time of writing, we are moving very close to our goal of raising $5000 for American Cancer Society. Let’s be sure we do reach the Gold Sponsor level as we did last year. It’s not too late to donate. Teams A&HT’s Co- Captains Terry Kessler and Mary Lynn Roca describe the event as a very uplifting experience. See Terry’s note below:

FROM THE HEALTH FAIR
Thank you for supporting the Health Fair at the end of April. Our offerings of diabetes, hearing and blood pressure screening were well attended. Lots of information about health related issues was disseminated and of course, food and social time were enjoyed by all.

For further information for those who were unable to view the video about AED,we append the following information. Please take time to check it out….because…you never know when you may be called to action…..

Know what to do to Save a Life?
You never know when you could be faced with a situation where someone suffers cardiac arrest. Would you know what to do? For most of us the answer at best is a “Maybe”!

At A&HT, we have a device that walks you through the steps so all you need to do is muster the courage to step forward and be willing to save a life! We have an AED (Automatic External Defibrillator) in a red box on a shelf located just above the chair lift in the hallway connecting the sanctuary with the parish hall and education wing.

Doubt you could ? Most people do! Watch the five minute video and you will see how easy it is and be better prepared for that unexpected occasion when YOU are the one who could save a life!

Click on the hyperlink below and click the “start” button to watch the “Save a Life” simulator and see just how easy it is!

http:/www.heartrescuenow.com/sudden-cardiac-arrest-save-life.html

At the HeartRescueNow website you can also “Watch The TV Spot”, “Learn More” and see “Three Easy Steps” to Save-A-Life !

(Thanks to Rich Gomez for facilitating eeh video presentation and formulating the information).

FOR THE SUMMER:

The Christian Formation Council and Parish Health Ministry are working together to present a program based on a very important video entitled:

CONSIDER THE CONVERSATION: A DOCUMENTARY ON A TABOO SUBJECT
Consider the Conversation examines multiple perspectives on end-of-life care and includes interviews with patients, family members, doctors, nurses, clergy, social workers and experts from around the country. The film’s goal is to inspire dialogue between patient and doctor, husband and wife, parent and child, minister and parishioner. This is not a story about death; it is a film about living life to the fullest. Watch for further details and timing.
For further information, check out the website ConsidertheConversation.org.

ONGOING MINISTRIES:

Card Ministry – contact Betsy Cooper at betsycooper@fuse.net
Meditation Groups – contact Maurice Bason at mbason@fuse.net or Terry Kessler at TCK318@aol.com
Libraries – in the PHM room – questions contact Nancy Melville at nwmelville@cinci.rr.com
MELP – contact the church office to arrange pick up of equipment

HAVE A SAFE, HEALTHY AND HAPPY SUMMER

TEAM A&HT:

WE ARE GOLD FOR 2013!!!!!!! The Sunday School Relay on Sunday brought in
$225.00 which is great for the 6 kids involved. Thanks to Bridget Glover for organizing it!
Thanks to ACS RFL for providing color changing drink cups and cancer awareness signs
for the event: Additional funds are promised before Thursday evening.
Thanks to all who have helped make this happen. We will be recognized at the Relay
as a GOLD TEAM with a donation of at least $,5000 to American Cancer Society Relay
For Life Wyoming in 2013.

We have sold 68 Luminaria Bags for $680 to ACS RFL 2013!!!!

I know you all probably have some additional fundraising to do and might even have some
CASH or CHECKS you have not turned in to me. I NEED THAT MONEY to turn in this
THURSDAY evening at the Captains Meeting to get us over the $5,000 mark and possibly
meeting our Stretch Goal of $5,500 for 2013. Yes I am begging.

Of course we still have our Bake Sale, Apple Sale and the Glow Necklace Sale
on-site at the Relay for additional fundraising!!! The $5500 should be possible
with this extra sales effort.

Please call or e:mail me and I will come pick up any
cash or checks you have.

THANKS AGAIN!!!!!

Terry

Team Captain

TEAM A&HT:

Just a quick up date on fundraising.

We currently have $3,947.50 in the TEAM A*HT account on our way to GOLD $5,000 goal and a
2013 stretch goal of $5,500!

I have an additional $627 in cash and checks in hand or promised. This brings our total to
$4,574.50! WOW!

On Sunday afternoon at 4:30 at the High School Track the Sunday School Youth will be walking the Track
to raise money for TEAM A&HT and American Cancer Society Relay For Life under the direction of
Bridget Glover. This is a first this year and an amazing idea to get the kids more involved in Relay!
A BIG thanks to Bridget for pulling this together.

THANKS to all at A&HT and Families and Friends who have supported cancer research and the Hope
Lodge here in Cincinnati. Here is more info about Hope Lodge if you are not familiar:

http://www.cancer.org/treatment/supportprogramsservices/hopelodge/cincinnati/cincinnati-about-our-facility

Terry Kessler
Team captain and Cancer Survivor

Pentecost 2013 Acts 2.1-21/John 14.8-17, 25-27 The Rev. Eric L. Miller

Last Monday I was given a gift. I was gifted with the opportunity to share with 100 or so sixth graders from Wyoming Middle School. I was asked to talk with the students about the Church, not about Ascension & Holy Trinity, not even about the Episcopal Church, but the church at large. Don’t get me wrong here. Of course I slid in some great Episcopal ethos. How couldn’t I?!

It was a gift teaching these students about the church because it reminds me how much hope and promise there is in the world. Yes, I know there are many influences, not all good influences, and that the world has its fair share of problems, but Monday morning I was able to look past all of that and see the image of God in those children, many eager to hear and learn about this thing we call church.

I spoke with them for a while (probably spoke a bit too long), but then I listened to their questions, and we had some marvelous discussions. One boy asked about the Holy Spirit. “What is the Holy Spirit?” he asked. “And, why don’t we talk about the Holy Spirit much in church?” Such great questions, the youth asked.

Most churches don’t talk about the Holy Spirit much, in my estimation, because we are unsure about her. The Holy Spirit isn’t a neat and tidy doctrine we can readily explain. We know we can’t control God the Father or Jesus, God’s Son, but there is something completely different and quite uncontrollable about the Holy Spirit. Of course, we often get in trouble when we vainly try to manipulate God. Manipulations with God don’t seem to work too well.

This morning he heard read, “When the Feast of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Without warning there was a sound like a strong wind, gale force––no one could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building. Then, like a wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks, and they started speaking in a number of different languages as the Spirit prompted them. There were many Jews staying in Jerusalem just then, devout pilgrims from all over the world. When they heard the sound, they came on the run. Then when they heard, one after another, their own mother tongues being spoken, they were thunderstruck. They couldn’t for the life of them figure out what was going on, and kept saying, “Aren’t these all Galileans? How come we’re hearing them talk in our various mother tongues?”

This kind of gift, this Holy Spirit, this Advocate, Jesus gave to the community sounds to be pretty powerful to me, full of strength and energy. I can get anxious and frightened when I’m taken off guard. “Without warning?” No thanks, I like my warning. “No one could tell where it came from.” I wear a running watch with gps not just to tell me how far I’ve run, but it also gives me directions home if I’m running in an unfamiliar area. “It filled the whole building.” Doesn’t sound like there was any place to hide. “Like a wildfire…” Have you ever seen a wildfire on television? Those things spread and consume like crazy.

I love the church camp song, “It only talks a spark to get a fire going,” but we’re talking about a wildfire of strength and love and compassion empowering the apostles and others to speak in other languages so that all were capable of understanding in their own native language. No, we often neglect talking about the Holy Spirit because it is a mystery; the Holy Spirit seems just beyond our grasp and our comfort zone while simultaneously living within each of us.

And then, we have John’s Gospel this morning getting close onto the start of Jesus’ Farewell Discourse. In Jesus saying farewell to the disciples, he’s trying to create in them a community of believers who remember who he was and what he did. Jesus is trying to forge a community that will choose to be empowered by the presence of the Holy Spirit in its life and to spread the message they’e lived with and been given. We must remember that for John, believing is about more than reciting a creed or a motto or anything like that. For John and his community, belief wasn’t really authentic unless belief was brought into tangible action. It’s one thing to be given the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is a completely different thing altogether to choose to act from a place of love and compassion on the Holy Spirit’s gift of empowerment.

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Put rather simply, we, Christians are known by our behavior inside these walls and outside these walls. We won’t share our faith perfectly. I can assure you I miss the mark on a regular basis. Jesus knew that we wouldn’t share perfectly and that we would have fears and anxieties and that we would be uncomfortable living out the faith that he instilled in his first disciples because we are human and because the world’s ways can bring so much false satisfaction, satisfaction that doesn’t really endure.

What endures? The love of God endures. God’s mercy and grace overflow as we gather together to experience God through our worship and to take that experience of the divine out into the marketplaces of life. The love of God endures in the world today, is manifest in our sphere of life because we’ve been empowered by the Holy Spirit, and we are willing to share.

I love the red many of us are wearing this morning. I have my red Ascension & Holy Trinity golf shirt on under here. I think it is great to show that we are marked with the consuming flames and power of the Holy Spirit, but Pentecost isn’t as much about how thoroughly we can dress ourselves in splendid red apparel as it is about the abundant outpouring of the Holy Spirit into our hearts and of our radical responsiveness to this empowering gift. We love Jesus Christ, but the Spirit gives us the ability to act on that love.

Are our eyes open, truly open to see where God is active in our lives today? Take a minute, turn to your neighbor and share where you’ve seen God active recently. This may be a bit much for some of you. That’s all right. Bear with me and sit quietly for a moment, but I think it’s important for us here to share with one another where we’ve seen God active.

For me, one of the biggest miracles of the gift of the Holy Spirit is that all those gathered in community from our Acts reading were able to hear their own languages, but that they were also able to hear beyond their differences. Today may we continue hearing God’s message of reconciliation, be empowered to go forth and live that reconciliation, and continue setting differences aside that God’s love may be known and experienced by all. Amen.