Christmas Continues with A Ceremony of Carols
Solid Food - Ascension Sermon Podcast
Christmas is a glorious time filled with joy and wonder, as we celebrate the fulfillment of God’s promise to send a Savior. In Benjamin Britten’s wonderful A Ceremony of Carols, he sets to music these words from the sixteenth century English priest and poet Robert Southwell: This little Babe, so few days old, is come to rifle Satan’s fold; All hell doth at his presence quake, though he himself for cold do shake; For in this weak unarmed wise, the gates of hell he will surprise. What does it mean that the fulfillment of God’s eternal promise leads us to a stable in...
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Christmas Eve - Nighttime Service
Solid Food - Ascension Sermon Podcast
Christmas Eve Nighttime Service
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Christmas Eve - Afternoon Service - Plan A and Plan B
Solid Food - Ascension Sermon Podcast
God is the master of meeting us in the messy and the chaos and the brokenness and helping us find an incredible new plan forward.
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Joseph's Dream
Solid Food - Ascension Sermon Podcast
Grace and Peace to you, sisters and brothers in Christ. At all of our worship services this weekend, we will talk about another member of Jesus’ family tree: Joseph. Joseph rarely gets the spotlight in the Christmas story. He speaks no words, sings no songs, and yet his quiet integrity changes everything. This Fourth Sunday of Advent, we reflect on Joseph’s dream and the faith it takes to trust God when life doesn’t go as planned. As we prepare for Christmas, we’ll consider how Jesus meets us in the space where hope and fear collide—and why that meeting place is holy ground. Grace...
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Mary's Yes
Solid Food - Ascension Sermon Podcast
Grace and peace to you my sisters and brothers in Christ, This week we meet Mary, one of the most remarkable members of the family tree of Jesus that we have been exploring. God calls her into a future she never expected, and when God does, Mary should have been afraid—yet she responds with courage, trust, and a simple, world-changing yes. In her amazing story we discover that it isn’t fearlessness that makes us faithful, but God’s perfect love that casts out fear. On this 3rd Advent weekend, let’s explore together how Mary’s “yes” opens the door for...
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Preparing the Way
Solid Food - Ascension Sermon Podcast
Grace and peace to you my sisters and brothers in Christ, As we light the second candle of advent this weekend, we’ll spend some time with one of Scripture’s most honest families—Zechariah, Elizabeth, and their miracle child, John the Baptist. Their story is filled with silence, doubt, waiting, and even a bit of wilderness, yet it becomes the soil where God grows His most important promise. This week invites us to discover how God is doing the same in our lives: working quietly beneath the surface, strengthening hope we can’t yet see, and preparing us for the Light that is on its way....
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The Unexpected Branch
Solid Food - Ascension Sermon Podcast
Dear Church Family, I give great thanks for this amazing community of faith and that I get to serve as one of your pastors. My heart truly overflows with gratitude. This Thanksgiving Weekend as your stomachs might still be full of turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing (my favorite “trinity” of the Thanksgiving feast), I look forward to stepping into the Advent season together and setting our hearts towards the manger. This year, our Advent/Christmas theme is “The Family Tree of Jesus: Our Story of Hope.” Are you one of those people who is into family genealogies? Are you one of those...
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Choose Carefully Who You Crown
Solid Food - Ascension Sermon Podcast
Grace and peace to you my sisters and brothers in Christ, As we end the Christian year this weekend and we begin another, we remember Christ the King. The King—not on a throne, but on a cross. We worship and remember that Jesus reveals a kingship that is not defined by earthly power but by sacrificial love. Even as He suffers, He opens paradise to a repentant criminal. This is our King: The One who reigns by forgiving, rescuing, and remembering His people. I look forward to reflecting together on the comfort that Christ’s crown of thorns brings—as He meets us in our brokenness, covers us...
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Choose to Hold Tight
Solid Food - Ascension Sermon Podcast
Grace and peace to you my sisters and brothers in Christ, We choose to hold tight to God’s promise so that we can live a faithful life. In this spirit, it is said that someone once asked Martin Luther what he would do if he knew that the world was going to end. He said: “Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree today.” This quote is about living faithfully one day at a time. Trusting that when our world is rocked, when things start to feel like there is no permanence, Jesus has got us, so we can just be faithful one day at a time, no...
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Choose to Live as if Resurrection is Real
Solid Food - Ascension Sermon Podcast
Greetings! It’s been a hard season in many ways. Last weekend in worship, we remembered All Saints’ Day and loved ones who have died. Long-time faithful and beloved church member, Brenda Heinrich, died unexpectedly. For so long, she carried people in their deepest sorrows as she led our weekly Grief Share. We know many people in our One Ascension community are struggling with health, relationship, or financial challenges. We know there are hurting and hungry people in our greater community. This weekend in worship, we are inviting you “To Choose to Live as if Resurrection is Real.”...
info_outlineLuke is my favorite gospel, for many reasons. One of those reasons is that Luke is the only gospel writer who tells the triad of the “lost stories” – the lost coin, the lost sheep, and the lost son.
Whether these stories are old or new to you, I invite you to come to worship as we dig into Luke 15 and ponder both the simplicity and the profoundness of Jesus’ telling these parables. And I will say that no matter what your week has been like – hard or easy or in between – I believe there is something about coming to worship that can help us feel more “found,” or in other words, more seen, loved, and renewed.
I hope to see you this weekend as we continue to walk with Jesus in Lent.
Grace & Peace,
Pastor Chamie