MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW

YEAR!   

from

The Church of the Ascension

“Where there is always a place at the table”

The Church of the Ascension

The Rev. Buddy Stallings, Rector

One Kingsley Avenue

Staten Island , New York 10314-2420

Church Office:    Phone 718•442•4187     Fax 718•815•1960

EMAIL   churchoftheascension@juno.com

Father Buddy:   Cell Phone  347•729•9706

EMAIL    fmstallings@mindspring.com

After office hours, non-emergency messages may be left on the church answering machine.

Parish Administrator Office Hours:

Tuesday, 9:00am – 1:00pm , Wednesday, 9:00am – 1:00pm and Friday, 10am-1pm

                     Pastoral Counseling: Private appointments may be made with Fr. Buddy for

                     limited pastoral counseling, including individuals and couples counseling. 

                     Ministration to the Sick: Please call the church to inform us when you or a loved

                     one is hospitalized or in need of an at home visitation during a time of illness. 

THE VESTRY

THE RECTOR RAMBLES

        A David Foster Christmas CD that I have had for as long as there have been CD’s to be had is blaring from the stereo at this moment as I compose some seasonal reflections for the newsletter.  (So much for keeping Advent free of any early Christmas intrusion!)  My only defense is that the seasons progress so rapidly that enjoying them a few days earlier or hanging on to them a few days beyond Twelfth Night doesn’t seem too evil.  The days before Christmas once dragged.  I thought we’d never get out of school and that the gifts would never get to be unwrapped.  (We waited until Christmas morning; none of that Christmas Eve frivolity for us earnest folks.)  From my current occupancy in the heartland of middle age (okay, maybe the far reaches of middle age), not just this one but all the seasons race toward and beyond me like high speed European trains!  I haven’t decided which is the better sense of time – then or now.  It hardly matters anyway since now is now and then never will be again.

         Except now sometimes seems like then when kids are around.  Last week during practice for the children’s Christmas pageant (December 23^rd at 4:00 PM ), we identified some really young children who will dress as angels and tiny shepherds.  More popular than a puppy and an even surer crowd pleaser, these munchkins will warm our hearts for a while, even for a lingering while, no matter how cold it may be outside, reminding us that at Christmas children always get the starring roles.  They do so in part because in that light they are always so adorable, no matter how stinky or ill-tempered they have the capacity to be and may even often be!  They also get to star in the production because the God of all eternity chose to place in the soul and heart of a little child the hopes and dreams of the whole world.   To this day that remains for me the most extraordinary notion – that God who could have chosen anyone in the world to do it, chose a little kid – just like one of ours – to bear the good news of God’s love and peace.

            No matter how complicated it quickly got, and it did get quickly complicated.  Herod was on the warpath after Jesus before he was out of his toddler short pants.  No matter how violent it became, ending as it did with the brutality of the cross.  No matter.  It was a life which began “with the dawn of redeeming grace” and remains for us the greatest gift of grace.

            Merry Christmas, dear friends!  However and whenever you observe this holy season, may the innocence and hope of the children we were once or had the right to be fill you with joy and peace.                

                                                                        Buddy

ADVENT 2006                                             The Ascension Herald                                                       PAGE 4

What’s Happening at Ascension?

SHARE GALA

On Friday evening November 17^th, the undercroft of the Church of the Ascension was transformed into a sparkling venue for a delightful, dressy evening with a gathering of about a hundred friends all committed to enjoying a memorable evening!  The event was a fundraiser for the parish, a successful one that earned more than $4500 for the parish.  Three lucky winners (all sadly in absentia) walked away with the big bucks!  Mae Bryan won the grand prize of $2500, Marilyn Aronson won second ($1500), and Dolores Moynihan won third ($500).

A well stocked bar and a delightful non-alcoholic punch accented the delicious hors d’oeuvre, all beautifully served by a well trained outside staff (though one bore a remarkable resemblance to the Woodward family)!  Twinkling white lights and shimmering gold streamers provided a touch of eloquence and excitement.

The event replaced our usual Fall Bazaar as a fundraiser.  Everyone who expressed an opinion rejoiced in the change!  “Who knows what next year will bring,” opined the chair of the Activities Committee, “but there is no doubt that everyone here tonight is having a great time and we are making money!” 

Thinking Ahead –Did you know?

While none of us like to think ahead to the end of life it may be something we need to do because of the unexpected that may happen to any of us.

The Church of the Ascension has a Columbarium on the Kingsley Avenue side of the church.  This is an area that has had some work done to provide a quiet spot for meditation and the interment of ashes of our loved ones.  Our intent is to continue to improve on this site in the future to make it more appealing and reflective for our parishioners.

Realizing that many of us may not be aware of its existence, we would like to provide you with some information about it.  If you are thinking ahead to a time when you or a loved one may need a final resting place, our Columbarium may satisfy your needs.  A place in the Columbarium can be reserved by contacting Roy Williamson at (718) 448-9508.  Roy is the Coordinator for the Columbarium and can explain further details.

The initial cost to reserve a plot is $300.00.  Roy would be happy to help you if you wish to have further information or to reserve a space in this final resting area.

ADVENT 2006                                             The Ascension Herald                                                       PAGE 5

GODLY PLAY: The Divine and the Playful Dance

(This article about Godly Play was printed in the SI ADVANCE.)

            A new approach for teaching children is being used this fall at The Church of the Ascension, a two hundred year old Episcopal parish in West Brighton .  After many months of preparing and fundraising to support the program at the parish, Godly Play, an innovative children’s curriculum developed by the Reverend Jerome Berryman several years ago, has been introduced to an enthusiastic group of children ages three through twelve.

            The Reverend Buddy Stallings, Rector of Ascension, says that “in my many years of participating in the spiritual formation of children, I have never encountered a more child focused program than this.  It assumes an innate, that is to say a God-given, spirituality in children that will flourish if engaged in an open and loving manner.”  The essential idea in Godly Play is to create a sacred space in which children are invited to engage the stories of our faith, the great and sacred myths of creation and deliverance of God’s people as well as the stories of Jesus’ life and the parables he told.  The pedagogical style is less about indoctrination than about formation.  As the stories are told, children are allowed to wonder about them, to enter the stories in whatever ways they can, and to experiences the truths of the faith in an open-ended life giving way rather than in an emphatic and exclusivist manner. 

            Using an approach that is reminiscent of the Montessori technique of teaching, each story has an accompanying set of visual and tactile props that bring the narrative alive.  For example, in telling the story of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, the leader uses a group of sheep within the safe enclosure with one wondering outside.  When the figure of Jesus is moved outside the enclave to reclaim the one who is lost and slowly returned to safety, the message is clear that goodness and safety are God’s intention for all people.  At the end of each story, the children are invited to wonder about the story, to verbalize feelings and thoughts that they encountered in the telling of the story.  At the end of the story “I wonder,” the teacher says, leaving space for the continuing love and action of God in the world and in the lives of the children.   

            Father Stallings claims that the “teaching is consistent with a view of a God who wants wholeness and goodness for all the people of the world.  Though the stories are clearly those of the Christian faith, the openness and gentleness in which they are presented open the hearts of children to an understanding that is bigger than just the Christian story.”   Several parishioners, who are long time teachers of children, have attended training events and are growing in their own understanding of the program and Father Stallings claims “in their own sense of spirituality.”  “The truly unexpected thing,” he says, “is that in Godly Play, when teachers focus upon meeting God along with the children rather than didactically insisting upon what the children must learn or believe, they find themselves as well as children thinking about God in new ways and often they experience a deepening of their faith.”

            The program runs from September through June at 10 o’clock every Sunday morning.  Father Stallings adds a final note, “the truly amazing thing about this is that the kids are mesmerized.  They are quiet and focused, which is different from how I would describe them during my sermons!”

ADVENT 2006                                             The Ascension Herald                                                       PAGE 6

The “Giving Tree”

The “Giving Tree” is in place.  For those of you who are unaware of this tree, we have, as in the past, covered a tree with gift tags on which are the names and ages of children and adults living in the local battered women’s shelter ( Safe Harbor ), and placed it in the back of the church.  We ask you to take one or more gift tags, purchase a gift and wrap it, firmly attaching the gift tag you took off the tree to the gift. And, then, bring the gift to church.  This year, we are requesting the gifts be returned on or before December 17^th.

A sign-up sheet has been placed next to the tree with the names on the tags listed in alphabetical order. Please, if you take a tag, print your name next to that of the person you are taking.  When you bring in your gift(s), please put a check on the sheet.  This will help us collect the gifts and organize them for a smoother delivery.

Please, if you can, take a tag and give a gift or two.  (Many thanks to all who already have.)  We might not be able to see the smile of joy on the person’s face opening the gift, but you can feel the joy in your heart knowing that it will happen!

            OUTREACH

The Adult Home Outreach Ministry at Lakeside Manor requests your help.  Many of the residents own very little to nothing.  Do you have any of these useful items listed below that are no longer useful to you?

n       Women’s and men’s clothing; undergarments, hosiery, shoes, accessories, outerwear, purses

n       toiletries…perhaps you have bought or received some and did not care for them?  Hotel samples

n       bed comforters, blankets, pillows, room décor, religious pictures, hangers (2 residents share a room)

n       kids’ hamburger meal toys, stuffed animals

n       reading material: magazines, religious articles, prayer books, Bibles…like those received in the mail

n       seasonal decorations for clients’ rooms.

n       Edibles: cookies & sweets, (used for snacks)

If you have any items and are unsure if they would be useful, ask one of the outreach ministry team.  Donations can be left in the back of the church marked “Lakeside Manor”, or can be brought to Lakeside Manor at 797 Brighton Avenue . (Leave items at the lobby desk and tell them it’s a donation from The Church of the Ascension.)

The Outreach Committee goes to Lakeside Manor for a service on the first Sunday afternoon of each month at 2:00pm .  Mass is followed by fellowship with the residents and snacks.  Everyone is welcome.

Thank you for your help and time.

Sincerely,

Arthur & Joan Ullstrom, Peggy Sacaccio, Rosemarie Tranzillo & Bob Cameron

ADVENT 2006                                             The Ascension Herald                                                       PAGE 7

Thanksgiving 2006

In the name of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  AMEN.

            This isn’t a criticism so much as an observation.  It is ironic to me that so few churches choose to have Thanksgiving services.   I suppose it shouldn’t be in some ways as it is billed as a purely secular holiday.  No challenging birth narratives associated with it; no death or resurrection claims involved.  Just simple thanksgiving.  Secular?  Well, yes, I suppose it is secular in that it doesn’t assume a particular deity or even one at all for that matter.  But giving thanks – particularly the expression of thanksgiving but also even just the feeling of gratitude - is profoundly spiritual.  It changes us; it gives us perspective; it assumes something about the giftedness of life itself.

            So yesterday as I sat for a number of hours in airports along with 90 jillion other Americans, I entertained myself by thinking of things, people, events in my life for which I am simply and frankly grateful.  The only way I can begin to justify sharing these thoughts homiletically with you this morning, an admittedly huge display of self-absorption, is to claim that which I earnestly believe – gratitude is contagious.  Of course, it also can be cloying, particularly when it is disingenuous; but I promise I mean every word that I shall say.  I hope that you won’t find it tiresome and trust that my running through this brief laundry list of gratitude will engender in you some thankful thoughts.  Incidentally….the list is in no order and is emphatically non-comprehensive.

1. Tony Bennett.  I am thankful for Tony Bennett.  (I told you my list was in no order; it is also a bit weird.)  I watched Tony sing with an impressive collection of vocal notables the other night in an NBC special and just marveled.  At 80 years old, he is ageless – not in a tucked, tinted way – but ageless because he adores what he is doing and wow does it show!  When his duet partner was singing, no one enjoyed listening to him/her more than Tony did.  He just lit up when he looked at the person – from Barbra Streisand to Elton John; and whether the duet was a crooning ballad or a snazzy jazz rendition, there was just so much joy.  It was an amazing tribute to the bliss that comes from doing what one loves to do!
2. Brian the Elder.  I am thankful for my son.  From his first squawk, he has thrilled me like no other human being, created anxiety I did not know myself capable of enduring, made me so crazy I thought I’d surely have to be locked away, and given me such persistent joy that merely the sight of him stirs something within me that is profoundly unspeakable.  This has been good and bad for both of us.

       3.  Andrea.  I am thankful for my daughter-in-law.  She is as smart and wise as anyone I have

            ever known and has great style.  Beyond that, because we are not bound by the burden of

            shared blood, Andrea is a less complicated friend to me than her husband can be.   With very

            little money and a student/waiter husband, she manages to run a wonderful household filled

            with above average children, who will remain nameless in this list because the mention of

            their names launches me into an onslaught of emoting that would strain your patience and

            burn your turkeys!  

ADVENT 2006                                             The Ascension Herald                                                       PAGE 8

4.    Mother.  I am thankful for my mother, particularly grateful that she spent six weeks here. 

       Every moment of the time was charmed and eternal in one of those rare episodes of life when

       the present is so palatably other, eternal, kairos that even one as dense as I am recognizes it as

       priceless.  Arriving in the wee hours this morning, I found my house poignantly empty. 

5.    The parish of the Church of the Ascension.  While I do love this place, the physicality of it, the

       knoll on which it sits, the gorgeous park which is our front yard, the truth is that for which I

       am most grateful is the people – that would be you.  The basic goodness and decency of this

       community, the acts of kindness – random and organized, the love of the holy, the desire to

       leave all of this for those after us – the conglomerate of these truths about you has enriched

       my life immensely.  Whether I leave tomorrow or in 20 years, well into my dotage, the spirit

       of Ascension will persist; and I am and will be better for having brushed it.

6.    Mother.  While all that I said in number 5 is true, I am also grateful that she is now back in her

       wonderful home in Tupelo , Mississippi .

7.    Faye Pepper.  In more years of formal training than I dare admit since there is an undeniable

       indulgence and privilege in such extended schooling, Ms. Faye Pepper, my high school

       English teacher, remains the best teacher I ever encountered.  She recognized the love of

       words that seems to have been part of my life for as long as anyone can remember, giving me

       the courage and the ability to string them together in a way that expresses what I feel certainly

       with fear and trepidation but with urgency that can’t be denied.  Funny, smart, accessible, she

       made diagramming a sentence an almost breathtaking moment.  (I ask you: can you imagine?) 

       Long before magnet schools, the public schools of my youth were not ability stratified. 

       Somehow Ms. Pepper managed to engage those of us, who by the good luck of our birth, not

       our virtue, and a neurotic desire to exceed were on the smart end of the class and those less

       lucky and not as motivated. I remember Ella, particularly, as a girl in my class who was…

       well…who was dumb as a stick.  When she would make as she inevitably would some

       outrageous remark that would crack the class up, Ms. Pepper could respond to her in a single   

       motion that began with a deep laugh if it were indeed funny and somehow preserved her

       dignity and sense of worth and managed to rein the rest of the class in.  Amazing.

8.    Romance.  I am thankful for romance.  I am grateful that it isn’t as age specific as I once

       assumed.  Long after hormones have over fired and calmed to a steady non-spectacular burn,

       the hope for and the opportunity of romance continue to exist.  And isn’t that grand news?

9.    Hope.  I am thankful for hope.  Specifically I am thankful for the fact that God knew/knows

       that we really cannot exist without it.  Hope sustains when reason fails; when there is literally

       no valid reason to be hopeful, the possibility for hope persists.  I have seen its persistence

       when the dreaded inevitability was unquestionable and undeniable; I have seen it because

       hope is not limited to that which we can imagine.

10. And finally – finally at least for this list in this year certainly not finally in any other way, I am

      grateful that God and religion are not synonymous.  God is always the bigger of the two; and

      no matter how screwed up we are about both, God keeps on loving us and calling us to be

      more than we knew we could be.

It is thanksgiving again, my dears; may you be thankful, filled with good things, and surrounded by those whom you love.

            In the name of God:  AMEN.

ADVENT 2006                                             The Ascension Herald                                                       PAGE 9

UPCOMING EVENTS

TWELTH NIGHT PARTY

            On January 6^th, the parish is invited to gather at the Rectory for an evening of celebration as the Christmas season comes once again to an end.  The event will be a time of relaxed fun and good food and will conclude with a Candlelight Compline (also held in the Rectory).  Invite a friend, who may be in search of a church community, and/or call a member whom you have not seen for awhile to offer a ride.  The festivities begin at 7pm ; Compline will be read at 9.

ASCENSION SCHEDULE for ADVENT, CHRISTMAS & EPIPHANY