Ascension of Christ Lutheran Church16935 W. 14 Mile RoadBeverly Hills, MI 48025248-644-8890www.ascensionofchrist.org

Rev. Daniel E. Grams, Pastor

The SpiritJuly 2015

From the Pastor's Study  Pastor Grams will be spending the first two weeks of July in South Sudan with the Lutheran Heritage Foundation and Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sudan/South Sudan, where he will be teaching a class to seminary students at the Concordia Lutheran Institute of the Holy Ministry. It is Pastor's second trip to South Sudan, having traveled there in 2007, when the picture at right was taken of Pastor Grams with Bishop Andrew Elisa.  To learn more about the work of the Lutheran Heritage Foundation regarding seminary students in South Sudan, visit:

http://lhfmissions.org/seminary-classes-resume-in-south-sudan.  

The picture below shows artifacts and photos from Pastor's first trip in 2007. Please keep him in prayer during his travels, as well as those for whom and with whom he will be serving.  

IN THIS ISSUE

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From the Pastor’s Study 1

Discipleship News 2

Fellowship/HumanCare News 2

Kingdom Projects News 2

Properties News 3

AoC News and Notes 5

LWML News 5

LCMS/English District News 5

Hymn Stories 7

This and That 8

Birthdays & Anniversaries 8

Discipleship NewsSunday School at AoCLooking forward to September, the discipleship team is making plans for Sunday School.  We will be asking for participation by several members to serve as leaders and assist in other ways.  We anticipate that there will be teams, which will rotate Sundays to lead the children in lessons, crafts, and music.  Quite often, a member is reluctant to help with Sunday School because he or she feels incapable of teaching, does not have musical skills, or is not “crafty.”  This should not be a disincentive because there will be lesson plans and crafts that will be prepared by others in advance, and the leaders for a particular Sunday will not be responsible for the music. Because we expect to have several teams, individual members will serve on a schedule that accommodates them. Furthermore, the children and leaders will be able to attend most of the service before they are excused. We thank Cheryl Connelly and Chelsea Cook for their dedicated service this last year.  We will provide more specific information about the upcoming year during July and August.  Keep in mind that there are no special qualifications. Think of this as an opportunity to help the young children become rooted in the faith that we share.  Those who serve will develop relationships and grow in their own faith.  If you have any questions, please contact Bob Cares by phone at 248-842-0406 or email at rpcares@yahoo.com.  

 Fellowship/Human Care NewsSenior Fellowship

 The first event on June 16th included devotion, lunch and bingo.  Twenty people attended. Thanks are owed to Pastor Grams for the devotion, Sharon Florio and Kurt Birnbaum for the food, and Sue Elsholz and Sharon Florio for providing the prizes - they were fun!  A survey was circulated to see what kind of activities interested the group.  The two items that got the most votes (12 out of 20) were a pontoon boat ride and going out for lunch!  So the next senior event is a pontoon boat ride at the Florios' Walnut Lake Beach Club on Tuesday, July 14th at 4:00. Sharon and Michael Florio have graciously offered to take us out on their pontoon boat on Walnut Lake.  Plan on staying to buy a casual meal at the Beach Club after the boat ride.  They serve hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken tenders, salads, curly fries, sweet potato fries, ice cream and more.  Please note the Beach Club is CASH ONLY!!!  The address is 5380 Putnam Drive in West Bloomfield, near 16 Mile (Quarton) and Inkster.  Parking is available close to the dock.

Please sign up on the bulletin board and indicate if you will need a ride.  If you couldn't make it in June, we hope you can join the group in July.  Speak to Sharon Florio or Debbie Elsholz with questions.

Kingdom Projects News2

In Service to the HungrySharon Florio, Emily Birnbaum, Mitchell Grams, Liz and Gabby Klos, along with a couple of their friends, served breakfast to the hungry at Capuchin Soup Kitchen in Detroit on Saturday, June 27th, fulfilling Christ's words in Matthew 25, "Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?  And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?  And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?'  And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'"  

Properties News  Outdoor Work DayAoC members hard at work on the grounds and building.

   

Playground PlayscapeThe child care project necessitates the removal of the playscape (a Fiesta Tower/Gym, pictured at right) in the playground area as it is specified for residential use for children ages 3 and up. The properties team is offering this equipment to any AoC member by the following process:

● Submit your name to Arlene McClain by phone (248-583-1757) or email (dmcclain0881@wideopenwest) by noon on Sunday, July 5th. 

● If more than one name is received, there will be a blind drawing to select the "winning" name.

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● A donation to AoC by the winner of at least $100 would be expected to support the child care program. ● It will be the responsibility of the winner to dismantle and remove the playscape (manual with all instructions is

available).

If there are no interested members of AoC, the playscape will be listed for sale.

In addition, there is a Foosball table in the basement that will be made available by the same method as above, with an expected donation of at least $25, also to support the child care program.  Questions may be directed to Arlene McClain, properties team leader. Properties News (cont’d.)

Adopted GardensBack in May the properties team urged any interested AoC members to "adopt" a garden, and the results are shown below.  Thank you to all who have accepted the responsibility for these areas.  There are still a few more areas that are available for adoption.  Speak to Arlene McClain for more information.

  The front sidewalk, as adopted by Sue Boyle.

       

     The sign facing 14 Mile, as adopted by the Lamb Family.                        

The “angle” garden area near the walkway to the The area underneath the kitchen windows, as adopted byplayground, as adopted by the Jacksons the McClains

   

The memorial garden continues to be the responsibility of the Elsholz Family.  Next time you've got a spare minute at the church, step out in the memorial garden or take a look around outside and enjoy the beauty these dedicated members of AoC have provided.

Garden ClubThe dates for the AoC Garden Club are as follows: Tuesday, July 7th from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m.Tuesday, July 21st from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.Tuesday, August 4th from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, August 18th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

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Contact Arlene McClain with questions.AoC News and Notes

Vacation Bible SchoolThis month is VBS at Our Shepherd, the week of July 13-17 from 9:00 to noon.  VBS is open to ages 3 through 6th grade. Cost is $10.  Youth and adult volunteers are still needed as "teacher's assistants", with a volunteer meeting scheduled for July 7th at 7:00 at Our Shepherd.  Register a child at:

http://church.ourshepherd.edlioschool.com/forms/vaca_bibleschool/reg/index.jsp    SoftballMen's and women's softball continues in July with rain makeup and playoff games.  Stay tuned to the weekly announcements for dates, times and locations.  Games are always more fun with fans! 

Fore for FundsOn June 6th Our Shepherd Lutheran sponsored the Ted Woehrle Memorial Golf Classic, a charity golf tournament and auction at Fieldstone Golf Club in Auburn Hills to benefit the Rev. Howard G. Allwardt Seminarian Scholarship Fund, which annually assists seminarians at both St. Louis and Ft. Wayne, with those students from Michigan being considered first. Hal and Jeff Franz and Michael and Sharon Florio put their "swings" toward this special effort.   

      

LWML NewsLWML National ConventionThe LWML National Convention took place in Des Moines, Iowa on June 25-28 under the theme "Bountiful! Sew - Nourish - Reap".  A new president was elected, Patti Ross of the Oklahoma District.  Mission grants were reported, with 19 grants totaling $1,418,563.94.  The convention offering totaled $37,075.29, to be presented as a special grant to “Discovering Disabilities – Including ALL of God’s Children Lutheran Special Education Ministries” here in Farmington Hills.

LCMS and English District NewsEnglish District Convention Elects New BishopPastor Grams and Sue Elsholz, as the delegates of AoC, attended the 55th Convention of the English District at Concordia Ann Arbor on June 17-20. Rev. Dr. Jamison J. Hardy, pastor at Peace Lutheran Church in McMurray, Pennsylvania, was elected as bishop.  He previously served as Vice President of the District's Eastern Region. Also elected to their first full terms were Rev. Ben Eder of Pilgrim Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenmore, New York, as Vice President, Eastern Region; Rev. Zerit Yohannes of Christ Lutheran Church in Lansing, Vice President, Lake Erie Region; Rev. Todd Arnold of West Portal Lutheran Church in San Francisco, Vice President, Western Region; and Rev. Robert A. Rogers of Trinity Lutheran Church in Villa Park, Illinois, Vice President, Midwest Region (pictured in that order).   In addition to the leadership positions, under the theme “Igniting Christ’s Church in Mission” from Acts 1:8, delegates approved four resolutions related to missions and evangelization: ● Encouraging each of the district's circuits to focus on planting a new congregation within the next triennium. ● Encouraging district congregations to promote personal witnessing and outreach. ● Adopting a synod-wide North American evangelism effort. ● Encouraging the synod to identify resources for reaching out to Muslims.Delegates further adopted two more resolutions: ● Reaffirming the place of Canadian congregations within the district. ● Changing bylaws to extend term limits for district officers from three to four.LCMS and English District News (cont’d.)

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LCMS Response to SCOTUS RulingIn the wake of the landmark Supreme Court ruling on June 26th legalizing same-sex marriage in all states, LCMS President Matthew Harrison issued the following letter to churches.  

 God is our refuge and strength,  a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam,  though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress (Psalm 46:1–7). A one-person majority of the U.S. Supreme Court got it wrong – again. Some 40 years ago, a similarly activist court legalized the killing of children in the womb. That decision has to date left a wake of some 55 million Americans dead. Today, the Court has imposed same-sex marriage upon the whole nation in a similar fashion. Five justices cannot determine natural or divine law. Now shall come the time of testing for Christians faithful to the Scriptures and the divine institution of marriage (Matthew 19:3–6), and indeed, a time of testing much more intense than what followed Roe v. Wade.

Like Roe v. Wade, this decision will be followed by a rash of lawsuits. Through coercive litigation, governments and popular culture continue to make the central post-modern value of sexual freedom override “the free exercise of religion” enshrined in the Bill of Rights. The ramifications of this decision are seismic. Proponents will seek to drive Christians and Christian institutions out of education at all levels; they will press laws to force faithful Christian institutions and individuals to violate consciences in work practices and myriad other ways. We will have much more to say about this. During some of the darkest days of Germany, a faithful Lutheran presciently described how governments lose their claim to legitimate authority according to Romans 13. The Caesar cult in its manifold forms, the deification of the state, is one great form of the defection from the [true] idea of the state. There are also other possibilities of such defection. The government can forget and neglect its tasks. When it no longer distinguishes between right and wrong, when its courts are no longer governed by the strict desire for justice, but by special interests, when government no longer has the courage to exercise its law, fails to exercise its duties, undermines its own legal order, when it weakens through its family law parental authority and the estate of marriage, then it ceases to be governing authority. Raising such a question can lead to heavy conflicts of conscience. But it is fundamentally conceivable, and it has time and again become reality in history, that a governing authority has ceased to be governing authority. In such a case there may indeed exist a submission to a superior power. But the duty of obedience against this power no longer exists. [Hermann Sasse, “What Is the State?”(1932)]

As faithful Christians, we shall continue to be obedient to just laws. We affirm the human rights of all individuals and the inherent and equal value of all people. We respect the divinely given dignity of all people, no matter their sexual preference. We recognize that, under the exacting and demanding laws of God, we are indeed sinners in thought, word and deed, just as are all (Romans 3:9ff.). We confess that the “blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses us from all our sins” (1 John 1:7). We confess that God’s divine law of marriage and the entire Ten Commandments apply to all, and that so also the life-giving sacrifice of Christ on the cross is for all. It is a “righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe” (Romans 3:22). However, even as we struggle as a church to come to a unified response to this blatant rejection of the entire history of humankind and its practice of marriage, “We shall obey God rather than man” (Acts 5:29). Christians will now begin to learn what it means to be in a state of solemn conscientious objection against the state. We will resist its imposition of falsehood upon us, even as we continue to reach out to those who continue to be harmed by the ethic of radical sexual freedom, detached from God’s blessing of marriage. And we will stand shoulder to shoulder with Christians, churches and people of good will who are resolute on this issue. God help us. Amen. Pastor Matthew C. Harrison

Hymn Stories

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Each month we present the "story" of how some of our favorite hymns came to be written, as well as a little bit about the men and women responsible for creating the musical bonds that tie each generation together through the centuries in expressing soli

Deo gloria (glory to God alone). 

Eternal Father, Strong to Save (LSB 717)Text by William Whiting, Tune by John B. Dykes

 "Eternal Father, strong to save, whose arm hath bound the restless wave,

who bidd'st the mighty ocean deep its own appointed limits keep:O hear us when we cry to Thee for those in peril on the sea.

 O Christ, the Lord of hill and plain, o'er which our traffic runs amain

by mountain pass or valley low; wherever, Lord, Thy people go,protect them by Thy guarding hand from ev'ry peril on the land.

 O Spirit, whom the Father sent to spread abroad the firmament;

o wind of heaven, by Thy might save all who dare the eagle's flight,and keep them by Thy watchful care from ev'ry peril in the air.

 O Trinity of love and pow'r, our people shield in danger's hour;

from rock and tempest, fire and foe, protect them wheresoe'er they go;thus evermore shall rise to Thee glad praise from air and land and sea."

 Verses 2 and 3 below from the original Navy Hymn are included in our hymnal and may be substituted

for verses 2 and 3 above. 

"O Christ, whose voice the waters heard and hushed their raging at Thy word,who walkedst on the foaming deep, and calm amid its rage did sleep:

O hear us when we cry to Thee for those in peril on the sea. 

Most Holy Spirit, who didst brood upon the chaos dark and rude,and bid its angry tumult cease, and give, for wild confusion, peace:

O hear us when we cry to Thee for those in peril on the sea."  

This is the only hymn for which William Whiting is remembered.  He was born in 1825, the son of a London grocer, and was educated at Chapham and Winchester College, where he was befriended by a local clergyman.  Because of his musical abilities, he became master of the Winchester College Choristers' School, where he was given the responsibility for the education and upbringing of 16 boys.  The boys nicknamed him "Hoppy" because he had a club foot, but it was not as a term of derision but of camaraderie.  He and the boys were a tight-knit group.  In 1860, when one of the boys was about to set sail for America and being filled with fear, as crossing the Atlantic was still a potentially perilous voyage, Whiting wrote a hymn for the boys to sing, inspired by Psalm 107:23-26, "Some went down t o the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters; they saw the deeds of the Lord, his wondrous works in the deep.  For he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea.  They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths..."  Within a year the text appeared in the first edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern and became widespread throughout England.  The text was substantially revised by the compilers of the hymnal and, in response, Whiting continued revising his own text, releasing another version in 1869 and a third in 1874.   In 1861 John B. Dykes, an English clergyman, musician and hymnwriter, wrote the tune, named "Melita", which was an archaic term for Malta, the ancient seafaring nation noted in Acts as a site of shipwreck for the Apostle Paul.  Dykes was the assistant organist at St. John's Church in Hull, England at the age of only ten.  He also played piano and violin and composed over 300 hymn tunes, many still in use today, the most notable being "Holy, Holy, Holy".  He resolutely upheld the high church tradition, much to the consternation of his bishop and making him something of a renegade figure in the Victorian church era.

The adoption of the hymn by the U.S. Navy occurred in 1879 when Lieutenant Commander Charles Jackson Train, a navigation instructor and master of the Midshipman Choir at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, began the practice of concluding Divine Services with the original 1861 version.  It quickly became an Academy tradition and eventually a Navy-wide tradition, becoming known as the "Navy Hymn".  Adoption of the hymn by the Royal Navy of Great Britain may have occurred earlier, but there are no clear records for when they first used the hymn.  It was, however, in widespread use by the British Navy by the 1890s.  The hymn was played during the service on board the Royal Navy battleship, HMS Prince of Wales, on August 9th, 1941, following the conference, attended by Winston Churchill and President Franklin Roosevelt, that created the Atlantic Charter.  The hymn was requested by Churchill and was also a favorite of Roosevelt, being sung at his funeral in Hyde Park in April 1945.   

This and That Lutheran HourListed below is the July schedule of topics for the Lutheran Hour.  For local times and stations or to listen online, visit http://lutheranhour.org.  

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July 5:  "God's Recipe for a Successful Life"The recipe for a successful life calls for more of Jesus and less of ourselves.  (2 Corinthians 12:1-10) July 12:  "In Him!"In Christ, we find rescue, forgiveness, and new life. Outside of Christ, all is still broken, dying, or dead.  (Ephesians 1:3-14) July 19:  "In Christ, Welcome Home"Someone from the inside has to come outside and welcome us home.  (Ephesians 2:13-21) July 26:  "Rescued"  (Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour: Rev. Ken Klaus)God's love and forgiveness is to be welcomed, savored, enjoyed, and relished. Drink deeply of His grace!  (2 Peter 2:9-10)

Lutheran Night at ComericaTuesday, August 4th is Lutheran Night at Comerica.  The Tigers play Central Division rivals, the Kansas City Royals, at 7:00.  Tickets are $21 and may be purchased through Tom Wing at Historic Trinity Lutheran Cathedral.  Contact information is 313-567-3100, 586-321-5926 or tomwing@aol.com.

BIRTHDAYS

Rosemary Spanier 3rd Doris Johnson 8th Janet Studt 18th

Katie Afsari 4th Matthew Studt 10th Donna Bowbeer 20th

Paul Parent 5th Carly Moritz 12th Kay Seelye 21st

Nathan Grams 6th Kate Grams 16th Pastor Grams 22nd

Mary Lou Lohr 6th Lisa Francisco 18th Joshua Hecker 22nd

Jack Drinkert 8th Victor Hecker 18th Sue Boyle 27th

ANNIVERSARIES

Jared & Crystal Weir 1st

Jim & Sara Hermanson 19th

Ken & Sue Trepanier 29th

Contact Information...Pastoral care:  pastorgrams@ascensionofchrist.org

Prayer requests and general information:  cindy@ascensionofchrist.orgMusic and choir information:  marylou@ascensionofchrist.org

Announcements:  communications@ascensionofchrist.org

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Ascension of Christ Lutheran Church16935 W. 14 Mile RoadBeverly Hills, MI 48025