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April 4, 2013 Children, Youth & Parish Life
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Easter- the season, not just the day, is the time for us to celebrate Resurrection in all of life. In John's Gospel, Jesus tells us "Peace I leave with you...do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid." (John 14:27) Often we carry with us burdens which we don't need, from past experiences, relationships, or fears. As Easter people we are to shed the baggage of the old life and walk in the new light of this day with faith and confidence that God is creating something new in us and around us, if we only look for it.
May we be open to that new thing, and responsive to God's new creation. AMEN!
In peace,
Marilyn+
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Easter Smiles!!
 Sue Howard with her Daughter in Law and Grand daughters!  Auntie Sarah and Kayla
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 One of the Stations of the Cross on Good FridayStation of the Cross:
Thank you to Anne Martens Gerber, Ade & Hazel Gerber and Xavier Weston for another wonderful Children's Stations of the Cross on Good Friday morning.  These were the children who participated in the Children's Stations of the Cross on Good Friday Morning.
Thank you also to our Confirmation Class and the Senior High Youth for running Stations of the Cross in the evening of Good Friday.
Easter Egg Hunt:  Much fun was had at this year's Easter Egg Hunt. Thank you to all of the Jr High friends that helped and to the Parents that supplied all of the chocolate. Jesse Kurtz hunts for Easter Eggs! ( on the right)
Children's Chapel: Chapel has been going well. We still begin with our snacks at 9:45 in the Parish Hall and then break in 2 separate groups with the younger ages 3 years thru 2nd grade staying in the chapel and 3rd thru 5th graders going into the Library. We have learned a lot about what Jesus was doing in those long days in Lent.
Thank you so much to the parents that helped out this month: Susie Danielson, Julie Luna and Monica Davis. We are in need of some parents to help with the 3 Sunday's in April. If you are interested in helping, please let Mindy know. Vacation Bible School:  We are beginning to gather curriculum and ideas for VBS this summer. If you are interested in being in this group, please let Mindy know. 2012 VBS Kids at left. |
Yogadevotion
Quick Reminder!!
We have an interest to run
another session of Yogadevotion.
The next session would run
Tuesday's 7-8 pm
April 9th through May 28th
8 week session for $55.00
Payment due by Sunday April 7th.
No childcare offered this time as there has not been a need.
Thanks!
Call Laura Weston if interested in Yogadevotion
at 651-430-9028
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**Now is the time to contribute your input towards the curricula we use for the children and youth at Ascension!**
Kid'sReport 
Re-Vision Children & Youth
Now comes the final stage of our Children & Youth Re-visioning work, and we need your input. Consultant Joy Caires made her final presentation on March 3, and now it is up to us to determine the exact curricula we will use
beginning September 2013. Here's how we plan to complete the Re-Visioning:
**Now to mid-April**
Parishioners review and comment on curricula.
VIEW curricula options and Joy's chart at:
April
A small working team reviews feedback and assess resources. The team constructs the new program, identifying curricula and resources.
Sunday, May 12
The new program is presented to the congregation.
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Ascension O'Green
Thank you for taking part in making our faith community more green!
On Easter Sunday green sheets were handed out that had a listing of the top 'green' activities that were listed on our Shamrocks from St. Patrick's Day. Use the form to record your efforts in these activities for the month of April. You can add additional actions under "other". At the end of each week, record your totals and on the bulletin board in the Parish Hall. Feel free to pick up a form next week at church. Questions? Contact Brenda Hoffman at bgrhoffman@hotmail.com or 651-342-1271 or Sally Giese at sally.giese@att.net or 715-386-3024.
We'll announce our results in May!
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 Mom's Group will be meeting on Tuesday, April 9th at 9:00 am in the Parish Hall. We will enjoy breakfast prepared by the Community Kitchen. Come and meet some new and old friends. Open to all. Questions, email Mindy Marin Mattson |
Family Fun Night
Dear families (Grandparents, Godparents, Aunts and Uncles, Guardians, Parents and Kids):
A coalition of Episcopal Church in Minnesota childrens' ministers invite you to join with families throughout the state for a relaxed meal and FUN time together, where we explore the theme of "Who is My Neighbor?" This evening we will draw attention to our Native American neighbors.
It will take place Friday, April 12 from 6-9 pm at St. Mark's Cathedral in Minneapolis.
The evening will include the following:
6:00 Gathering time & drumming circle
6:30 Dinner
7:00 Storytelling by people from the Native American community (Making dog biscuits for Leech Lake Legacy & other great activities)
8:30 Closing prayer
If you or members of your faith community have questions, please email FamilyEventECMn@gmail.com. We have also asked folks to kindly RSVP as it help us with our planning, but we'll be sure to welcome anyone who just show up! |
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Youth Food Drive &
Celebration
Saturday, April 13, 2013
10:00 am - 3:00 pm Food Drive at a Grocery Store 
Each youth group within the EMMA is encouraged to
collect groceries at a local grocery store for your local food shelf. Make arrangements with a local grocery store and set your hours.
3:00 pm to 4:00 pm Deliver Food to Food Shelf
Deliver food to your local food shelf or to your church.
4:00 pm - 4:30 pm Travel to the Celebration Site
Travel time to Christ Church, Woodbury
4:30-5:30
Youth Groups will gather at Christ Church Woodbury for:
'get to know each other' activities and a facilitated sharing of their experience during the day.
5:30 - 6:30 pm Spaghetti Dinner
6:30-8:30 pm Celebration Opportunities for youth to choose from,
including the Messiah Youth Praise Band Concert in the sanctuary.
8:30 pm Closing Prayer
9:00 pm Leave Taking
Who: Youth ages 10 and older. Buff Grace will be coordinating this. Please contact Buff if you are interested in participating. Please send adult chaperones to the Celebration at Christ Church Woodbury. Feel free to set your own age limits.
Sponsored by
East Metro Mission Area (EMMA)
Deadline to register is this Sunday, April 7th.
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Ascension Volunteers needed at Valley Outreach Food Shelf.
Valley Outreach relies heavily upon generous and dedicated volunteers (like you) to sort and stock donations and serve clients at the Food Shelf. Ascension Church will be providing volunteers April 22 Monday, April 24 Wednesday and April 26 Friday from 9:30 - 12:30. Help one day, or all three. Stay for the whole shift or just an hour or two. Bring a friend! Please consider this very important and rewarding opportunity. New volunteers are encouraged and welcome.
Thank You for your help. It is appreciated by many!
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Ascension TEC
St. Paul T.E.C. will happen again on April 12-15 at St. John the Evangelist. This is last year's Ascension group that attended and I am happy to say that a good portion of them are returning to be on team along with Grace Rossez going thru as a candidate.
Here is our Ascension team this year:
Corinne Urban & Haley Beath: Kitchen Leader, Sammy Fusco: Music Leader, Katie Gabrick: Earth Leader, Jake Doneux and Lea Edward: Table Leaders, Story Schwantes: giving a talk. On team, Hope Miller, Amelia Gerrard, Lee Miller, Story Schwantes, Dan and Jack Allaire, Erich Korth, Jackson Brown & Christof Krumenacker. Brian Eckholm: adult table leader & Mindy Boynton: adult advisor.
So as you can see, we have a very big following at TEC. If you would ever like to volunteer to help with this event, please contact Mindy. |
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Update From Cindy:
Many thanks for the many furniture donations this month. Our Family Resource Center families have been very appreciative. Special thanks to the Ascension member who donated cash for a gift card so that the little girl needing size 7 clothing was able to purchase new clothing.
I have a few specific requests from some of our families for the following: a kitchen table and chairs, a small desk, a DVD player, converter boxes for older televisions, full and queen size beds, and dressers.
I also have a couple requests of my own! I would like to have a few volunteers that would be willing to occasionally help with pick-up and delivery of furniture items.  I would also like a couple volunteers to occasionally help with some office and computer tasks (making new forms, data collection, mailings...). Please call Cindy at 439-2641 if you have items to donate or would like to volunteer with tasks as needed.
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Graduating Seniors from 2013 Class
This is a Confirmation Retreat Picture from 2010 of some of our Senior Class at Ascension.
We have another big class of 10 graduating seniors this year. They are Jake Doneux, Jack Delahunt, Lea Edwards, Andreas Fenner, Maddie Gerrard, Elaine Kollaja, Claire Rossez, Stone Thompson, Addy Van Pelt & Zoe Wichser.
We will be taking our final retreat together up to The Van Pelt's cabin in Boulder Junction, WI the weekend of April 26-28 so watch for more pictures. This class will be very much involved in the 10:00 am service on May 12th and receiving their Quilts on May 19th.
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Ascension Happenings
 Meade Acers won the district's Con Amici Solo Competition for violin solo in the elementary category. This win affords her the opportunity to play her solo accompanied by the Con Amici Orchestra of the Stillwater High School. The event will take place on April 30 at the SAHS. This event should be free and open to all comers. Meade plays in the Stonebridge Elementary School orchestra under the excellent direction of Ms. Lisa St. Ores--come and celebrate Ms. St. Ores' teaching acumen as well; had Ms. St. Ores not made mention of this contest and Meade's fitness for it, that tree would have fallen silently in a distant forest!  Deb and Neil Krueger along with hundreds of others gathered at the Minnesota state capitol building on Feb. 14, in St. Paul, where supporters of gay marriage called for lawmakers to legalize gay marriage. (Jim Mone/AP) Deb and Neil are 2nd and 3rd from the right side of the photo.  Susie Danielson and her friend, Stephanie LeGros hit the Capitol as Women of Faith encouraging Senator Housely to vote yes for the marriage bill. Gabi Danielson and Steph's boys James and Jack accompanied them. Ms Housely is conflicted on the issue but, they are hopeful! Sam & Sonja Brown had their 1st baby, Arthur Alexander Brown, Artie! He is the proud Grand-son of Rick & Mitzi Brown |
Naming and Claiming Your Gifts
April 28th at 11:30
What is God Calling You to Do? How do your talents, values and life experiences prepare you for ministry in this world? Please join our very own Mary Jo Feely to discover your true gifts and how you can best share those gifts with your community. More information to follow. Or you may contact Sally Giese, s.giese@aechurch.org or Rev. Mary Jo, maryjo@aechurch.org.
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The 2nd Event
You are cordially invited to the 2nd Annual Jon Francis Foundation (JFF) Event. Experience an evening of good food and story telling.
 Meet our guest of honor - Boyd HuppertBoyd Huppert recently marked his 28th year as a reporter, including 16 years at KARE-TV in Minneapolis-St. Paul where he produces KARE's weekly "Land of 10,000 Stories" segment. Boyd's work has earned some of broadcast journalism's top honors, including a national Emmy for feature reporting, the National Headliner Grand Award, three national Sigma Delta Chi awards and eight national Edward R. Murrow Awards. Boyd is also a five-time recipient of the Photojournalism Award for Reporting, presented by the National Press Photographers Association. Learn how the work of the Jon Francis Foundation
helps others and makes a positive impact in our community.
Hear from families who have been supported our efforts.
Help sustain the mission of the Jon Francis Foundation.
Receive a complimentary author signed copy of Bringing Jon Home, the award winning, inspirational, memoir about the life, loss and legacy of Jon Francis.The Event will be held at the Chilkoot Café
826 4th Street South, Stillwater, Minnesota 55082
7 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Saturday May 4, 2013.
Tickets are $50 each. Limited to 50 guests.
Or via mail at Jon Francis Foundation, Post Office Box 2235, Stillwater, MN 55082. (612) 963-6772.
All proceeds from The Event will be dedicated to the mission of the Jon Francis Foundation. Your support will keep JFF in the forefront of
"leave no trace" wilderness safety.
Jon Francis Foundation is an approved Minnesota, nonprofit, IRS tax exempt, 501(c) (3) corporation.
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Come and enjoy A Delicious Breakfast prepared and served by Our Community Kitchen on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 8-10 am.
Meet new friends and join the Community!
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Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Pastor and Theologian (9 APR 1945) 
Bonhoeffer was born in 1906, son of a professor of psychiatry and neurology at the University of Berlin. He was an outstanding student, and at the age of 25 became a lecturer in systematic theology at the same University. When Hitler came to power in 1933, Bonhoeffer became a leading spokesman for the Confessing Church, the center of Protestant resistance to the Nazis. He organized and for a time led the underground seminary of the Confessing Church. His book, Life Together, describes the life of the Christian community in that seminary, and his book, The Cost of Discipleship, attacks what he calls "cheap grace," meaning grace used as an excuse for moral laxity. Bonhoeffer had been taught not to "resist the powers that be," but he came to believe that to do so was sometimes the right choice.
In 1939 his brother-in-law introduced him to a group planning the overthrow of Hitler, and he made significant contributions to their work. (He was at this time an employee of the Military Intelligence Department.) He was arrested in April 1943 and imprisoned in Berlin. After the failure of the attempt on Hitler's life in April 1944, he was sent first to Buchenwald and then to Schoenberg Prison. His life was spared, because he had a relative who stood high in the government; but then this relative was himself implicated in anti-Nazi plots. On Sunday 8 April 1945, he had just finished conducting a service of worship at Schoenberg, when two soldiers came in, saying, "Prisoner Bonhoeffer, make ready and come with us," the standard summons to a condemned prisoner. As he left, he said to another prisoner, "This is the end -- but for me, the beginning -- of life." He was hanged the next day, less than a week before the Allies reached the camp.
The following hymn was written by him in the concentration camp, shortly before his death. This hymn appears in the 1982 Episcopal Hymnal (695).
By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered,
and confidently waiting come what may,
we know that God is with us night and morning,
and never fails to greet us each new day.
To read the rest of his hymn, his list of titles and how the church remembered him 50 years after his death.
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Ascension Episcopal Church
E-Newsletter CommunicationsLynn Raarup To submit an article or question please e-mail me at: enews@aechurch.org 651-439-2609 |
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