The Rev. Adibhananthar John Rector Nicole Hercules Seminarian Vestry Christian Haller, Sr. Warden rin ger2@mac.com ​ Dyson Gay, Jr. Warden dysong y@ao l.com ​ Mary Bickel, Treasurer maryk bic@aol.com ​ Kate Stella-Begy, Clerk of Vestry marykate7687@gmail.com ​ Father Abi John, Chair ascpriest@aol.com ​ ​ D ebbie Copenhagen cupidsal@hotmail.com ​ Bob Crystal crys24634@gmail.com ​ Melissa Frasca melissa.frasca@cityofrochester.gov ​ Kathy Kohler kkohler1026@gmail.com ​ ​ ​ Ryan McDermott ryan.mcdermott1208@gmail.com ​ ​ Steve Fries sfries1@icloud.com ​ Paul Schwartz schwpaul@gmail.com Judy Soscia jesoscia02@yahoo.com ​ ​ ​ ​

Get Involved There are many ways to get involved at Church of the Ascension. In addition to attending services , participating in Bible Study , attending fellowship events and dinners , and subscribing to our newsletter , we have many opportunities to get involved in our community! Our Acolyte Guild, Altar Guild, Men's Group, Ushers & Counters, and Women's Group are very active. Read a bit more about each group below! There are also events throughout the year that could use a helping hand - check the calendar to stay up to date on these events, or email the church office at ascension@rochester.twcbc.com to learn more. Acolyte Guild Ushers Altar Guild Women's Group Men's Group Calendar

Women's Group (ECW) The women's group (currently suspended) meets the first Thursday of each month in the church library at noon. Women bring brown bag lunches and will often have a guest speaker. They have an annual Christmas luncheon at a local restaurant. The women's group does a lot of work behind the scenes and provides financial support for many different ministries. All women of Ascension are welcome to be a part of the Women's Group!

June 7th, 2020 June 21st, 2020 July 5th, 2020 July 19th, 2020 August 2nd, 2020 August 16th, 2020 August 30th, 2020 September 13th, 2020 September 27th, 2020 October 11th, 2020 October 25th, 2020 November 8th, 2020 November 22nd, 2020 December 6th, 2020 Advent Lessons and Carols Christmas Concert December 24th, 2020 June 14th, 2020 June 28th, 2020 July 12th, 2020 July 26th, 2020 August 9th, 2020 August 23rd, 2020 September 6th, 2020 September 20th, 2020 October 4th, 2020 October 18th, 2020 November 1st, 2020 November 15th, 2020 November 29th, 2020 December 13th, 2020 December 20th, 2020 Virtual Pageant December 27th, 2020

September 26, 2021 October 3, 2021 October 10, 2021 October 17, 2021 October 25, 2021 Sunday Oct. 31st

NA/AA tbd

Care Closet The Care Closet provides personal care items, cleaning supplies, and other household items on a rotating schedule to our neighbors in need of assistance. The Care Closet is run by volunteers from the parish and serves the Maplewood-Edgerton area. We are once again serving the community on the second and fourth Saturday of each month, from 9:00am to 11:00am. Please call (585) 458-4682 to make an appointment.

Ministries Church of the Ascension is a proud member of the community it serves. Our ministries focus on the health and well-being of every person. In Matthew 25: 35-36, Christ shared the measure of a true disciple saying, I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you took me into your home. I needed clothes, and you gave me something to wear. I was sick, and you took care of me. I was in prison, and you visited me. ​ As disciples of Christ, we seek to offer Godly love, provide for, and share compassion with all people. Care Closet MEEK Food Ministry Prison Ministries Home Visitation

Ascension Youth Choir If you love music and are in grades 3 through 10, The Church of the Ascension Youth Choir is for you! Join us for rehearsal to make new friends, learn to sing together, and have lots of fun! AYC learns and performs a diverse and educationally enriching repertoire ranging from traditional sacred hymns to gospel and folk tunes at venues across the Greater Rochester community. Best of all, our program is free of charge. Our team of star volunteers and staff works tirelessly to make sure AYC is accessible to any interested student. For more information on enrolling in our program, or with questions on accommodations for your family (transportation or otherwise), please email or call the church office. ​ The AYC team would like to thank all of our donors for making this ministry possible. If you are interested in making a contribution to our program, please contact our church office at (585) 458-5423. Blessings - we are grateful for you!

Change Ringing on Our Tower Bells Welcome to our website entry. As a potential visitor to our tower, whether to ring (welcome!) or to watch us ringing and learn what it’s about, we will greet you warmly, take you upstairs to see the bells, show you how we raise and ring the bells, and answer all your questions. The sound of church bells has become an iconic symbol of worship in the Christian Church, informing hearers that a service is about to start, and inviting worshipers. That is particularly true in England, where the art of change ringing was developed in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (every second village in England has a bell tower, and towns and cities have several). The custom has spread around the world, mostly to places where the British had colonies. Rochester’s Church of the Ascension is pleased and proud to have such a set of bells, installed in its tower in 2015. ​ There are many things that make these bells a unique feature in the Rochester community. They are beautifully tuned, but because of the manner in which they hang, they do not ring tunes, they ring changes on the order of the bells. When the bells are well rung by experienced ringers, the result for listeners is a beautiful musical experience, although change ringing is not usually considered a performance art. Unlike a carillon or a chime, at which a lone person pulls or pushes or otherwise manipulates a large keyboard to ring a tune, a peal of change-ringing bells requires one person per bell. Each person pulls on a rope that hangs down from the bell chamber, on a floor above the ringing chamber. In Ascension's tower, the ringing chamber is at ground level, so it is easy to watch the ringers. There are ten bells at Ascension hung for change ringing (defined as the ringing of sets of church bells or handbells in a constantly varying order; see Wikipedia for basic and general information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_ringing .) Because of considerations of safety and volume , people cannot see the bells as they actually ring, but here is a brief clip of Ascension's ten bells swinging and sounding forth: ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ "Bristol Royal" rung on Ascension's Tower Bells From here in western New York, the nearest similar change-ringing bell tower is in Toronto, Canada (175 miles away); and if we stay in this country, the nearest are in Pittsburgh (300 miles), Kent School, Kent, CT (also about 300 miles), New York City (340 miles), and Philadelphia (350 miles). For more information about change ringing at other bell towers in North America, see www.nagcr.org . For more information about ringing and bells worldwide, see www.cccbr.org.uk . Chris and Helen Haller, the major donors of the bells, selected the persons to be honored by having a bell named after them. Some are very personal choices, some are notable Rochester names, and some are notable national, international, or bell-ringing people. Our lightest bell, “Trudy”, weighs 375 pounds, and the heaviest, “Martin”, weighs 1267 pounds. That may sound intimidating to non-ringers, but the fact is that they are well counter-balanced and swing on modern bearings, so that it does not take unusual effort to ring them. Anyone weighing over about a hundred pounds can ring most bells. Each of our bells is inscribed with the name of the person honored, and one or two appropriate lines from Stanza 106 of “In Memoriam” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Chris Haller reading “In Memoriam” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson ​ The expert workers at Whitechapel Bell Foundry in London, England (a firm with centuries of experience) drew up the plans, cast and tuned the bells, and made the frame and fittings that enable them to swing. Everything was shipped to Church of the Ascension, and installed in the waiting church tower. The Ceremony of Blessing and Dedication took place on November 21, 2015, with The Right Reverend Prince G. Singh, Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of Rochester, presiding, and our Rector at the time, The Rev. Dahn Gandell, welcoming those attending. Here is a video showing highlights of some of those events: ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ The arrival, installation, and dedication of the ten bells at Church of the Ascension ​ ​ When at least three ringers are available, we ring the bells before and after the 10:15 AM Sunday service. We are fortunate to have a computer-actuated chiming mechanism also in place, that can chime changes before the service if fewer ringers are available. We have practices twice a week, for an hour and a half after the service on Sundays, and on Friday evenings between 6:30 and 8 PM. Yes, it takes plenty of practice to learn to ring and to improve and advance our skills. This is what change ringing looks like: ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ C hris Haller, Helen Haller and the English bell hanger, Neil Thomas, ringing on the first day the bells were rung ​ If you are considering a visit to ring or to watch the ringing, please check with Chris Haller (585-203-7457; ringer2@mac.com ) to confirm that ringing will take place on your proposed date. Also call Chris if you think you are interested in learning to ring; a series of one-on-one lessons can be arranged at mutual convenience, to make you ready to ring with our band in the regular practices. ​

Church Calendar Be the first to learn about Ascension news and events by subscribing to our Newsletter

January 3rd, 2021 January 17th, 2021 January 31st, 2021 February 14th, 2021 February 28th, 2021 March 14th, 2021 March 28th, 2021 Easter Sunday April18th, 2021 April 25th, 2021 May 9th, 2021 May 23rd, 2021 June 6th, 2021 June 20th, 2021 July 4th, 2021 July 18th, 2021 August 1st, 2021 August 15th, 2021 August 29th, 2021 September 12th, 2021 September 26th, 2021 October 10th, 2021 October 24th, 2021 November 7th, 2021 November 21st, 2021 December 5th, 2021 December 19th, 2021 January 10th, 2021 January 24th, 2021 February 7th, 2021 February 21st, 2021 March 7th, 2021 March 21st, 2021 Good Friday April 11th, 2021 Sarah Johnson, DMA Recital May 2nd, 2021 May 16th, 2021 May 30th June 13th, 2021 June 27th, 2021 July 11th, 2021 July 25th, 2021 August 8th, 2021 August 22nd, 2021 September 5th, 2021 September 19th, 2021 October 3rd, 2021 October 17th, 2021 October 31st, 2021 November 14th, 2021 November 28th, 2021 December 12th, 2021 Christmas Eve, Pageant Service December 26th, 2021