AS A YOUNG MAN
In this issue
Pastor’s Corner
Church Council/ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Christmas Eve & Epiphany Services
Celebrations/ Scriptures 7 Calendar
JOIN US
Sunday, January 22 after the 10:30 am service we will celebrate January birthdays in the Parish Life building.
Sunday, January 29 after the 10:30 am service we will hold our Annual Congregational Meeting in the Church. Please plan to stay and bring your copy of the report with you.
It was the game of the week. The Buffalo Bills needed to win to stay first in the American Football Conference of the NFL and have a home-field advantage in the playoffs as well as the first week off. The Cincinnati Bengals, (the defending AFC Champions of last season) were also headed for the Playoffs and not out of the race for the number 1 place.
With 5:58 left in the First Quarter, a Cincinnati receiver caught a pass and was tackled by a 24-year-old Bills safety named Damar Hamlin. It looked routine until Damar stood and immediately fell backward. Medical personnel responded almost instantly, but it soon became apparent that something was terribly wrong.
A nationwide audience would soon learn that CPR was being employed to save the life of the young man lying on the field. The Bills were reacting with shock and large men were in tears and holding on to each other. An ambulance arrived on the field. The entire Bills team knelt in prayer. Bengals players soon joined them on the field. After the ambulance left with Damar on board, both teams left the field. The game was temporarily suspended and the capacity crowd looked stunned and deeply concerned. They applauded both teams as they left the field.
A young man’s heart had stopped beating, but it soon became clear that in these divided States of America, hearts were touched and concern and prayers began to be heard. Twitter was alive, and the comments were almost unanimous. Forget this game, cancel it! In the end, it is only entertainment. Nobody wants to see this continue. All that counts is the life of this young man!
It was as if the nation was speaking with one voice. Nobody cared what their favorite team was. No one was interested in political beliefs. No one cared what branch of faith you belonged to. Amazingly, folks thought prayer was appropriate and necessary, and expressed this belief. It may have taken the NFL around an hour to decide to cancel the game, but Americans had no problem reaching the decision almost immediately.
Something very powerful happened on Monday evening, January 2 during Monday Night Football. I think America rose to a crisis with care, concern, prayer, love, and yes, unity. It continued into the week as Damar Hamlin lay in critical condition in a Cincinnati ICU unit. People listened for updates. People shed tears and prayed. NFL players and teams found ways to support the Bills and Bengals. On Saturday and Sunday, some teams prayed on the field before the game, wore supportive shirts, and held moments of silence before the start of every game.
Prayers were answered and Damar was well enough to fly home to Buffalo on January 9. He continues to recover.
A young man’s heart had stopped and by God’s grace, trained personnel were able to restart his heart. I wonder if America’s heart, also by God’s grace, beat stronger as well.
Sometimes I’m not sure what America stand for, or what we might agree we stand for. There are so many voices and negativity seems to be in generous supply. Conspiracy theories bound and the more absurd they are, the more some folks believe them. Instead of talking through different ideas and learning from each other, we tend towards believing that total truth belongs to the party we support or the network we watch.
On Jauary 2, a young man suffered injury to his heart. America paused. The NFL stopped. It was ok even for strong men to openly cry. We decided to care, to hope, to pray, to need God’s help. That doesn’t need to be confined to one night in America. We can learn and grow from this.
On February 22, we will once again enter the season of Lent. Another man will walk to Jerusalem. On a very dark day his heart will stop and it will not beat again until the third day. His death will not be accidental. It will actually be the plan of God. Through his death and resurrection, death will eventually die and resurrection will become the new life God gives to all God’s people.
Thanks be to God for returning Damar to life and health. May God help our nation to also experience the life that love, care and hope gives a people, when we come together and focus on what really is crucial and important.
In Christ Jesus
Pastor Chuck
Our December here at Ascension has been busy and great.
We enjoyed the skits presented at our Advent services. Thanks to Pastor Chuck for writing them and all the people who participated in them.
The banners and the poinsettias that were donated made the sanctuary beautiful. Thanks for the donations.
Our Christmas Eve was very well attended about 62 people, it looked like we had more visitors than church members. We had a very nice candlelight service thanks Pastor Chuck.
It was nice to have a joint service with St Matthews on Epiphany. Thanks to Pastor Gayle for her great sermon message and there was about 41 in attendance, we enjoyed fellowship and desserts afterwards.
We welcomed Rhonda Gonsalves and Louise McCallon to our office as administrators. Thanks ladies! Our office should be open 4 days a week starting around 9:00 a.m.
We are going to try something new on Sunday January 22nd. We will be having coffee hour after church and celebrating January birthdays. I hope you will attend for some fun and conversation.
Our congregational meeting will be on Sunday January 29th after church.
We will be electing new officers and committee chair members and passing the budget. I think we have a good slate of nominees and a good proposed budget. We are planning a "Thank you to Gene" potluck dinner on February the 5th after church. We are getting the carpet in the Parish Life building cleaned and the piano tuned. We are planning a joint Mardi Gras service with St Matthews. The date is still undecided. This will be my last newsletter article that I have to write. Thank heavens, I was never good at this. Thanks to everyone who has served on council this year and to all of you.
In Christ,
Jane Kurtz President
SUNDAY, JANUARY 15 Martin Luther King Jr., Renewer of Society, and martyr, died in 1968
Martin Luther King Jr. is remembered as an American prophet of justice among races and nations, a Christian whose faith undergirded his advocacy of vigorous yet nonviolent action for racial equality. A pastor of churches in Montgomery, Alabama, and Atlanta, Georgia, his witness was taken to the streets in such other places as Birmingham, Alabama., where he was arrested and jailed while protesting against segregation.
He preached non-violence and demanded that love be returned for hate. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, he was killed by an assassin on April 4, 1968. Though most commemorations are held on the date of the person’s death, many churches hold commemorations near Dr. King’s birth date of January 15, in conjunction with the American Civil Holiday honoring him. An alternate for the commemoration is his death date, April 4.
