Posts from Annie Saunders
Feliz Navidad Desde Chile!
All the way from the southern hemisphere, Ryana Holt wishes her Ascension family a warm holiday season with updates on her upcoming year in Global Missions: I hope it has been a blessed Advent season and a joyful welcoming of Jesus’s birth. These last two months have been busy and eventful. I would love to […]
Posted on January 2, 2019 | Posted by Annie Saunders
Surprises in Story
Today we have the first verses of Matthew’s story of Jesus. It is largely a list of names in the genealogy of Jesus. Some people trip over the lack of a rigorous historical record. But his freedom of naming people, women in particular, highlight the bold and surprising ways God works in this world. Follow […]
Posted on December 31, 2018 | Posted by Annie Saunders
Save Us From This Mess
Jesus wasn’t born to just give us comfort in the midst of the mess. He wasn’t born to show us how to find only little mercies to make the mess bearable. And he wasn’t born, much to my dismay, to sweep all the mess aside and make life crisp and easy from birth to never-really […]
Posted on December 24, 2018 | Posted by Annie Saunders
Ascension’s Advent Programs
A critical part of Ascension’s advent season is our annual Children’s Christmas Program, as well as our choir’s Christmas Cantata. If you happened to miss any one of these two events, don’t fret–we recorded both and you can watch them below. Thanks again to everyone who helped put together the Children’s Program and the Cantata. […]
Posted on December 19, 2018 | Posted by Annie Saunders
Update from Ryana Holt
Ryana sends her love and affection to us from down in Concepcion, Chile. Check out what our own missionary amiga is up to these days: New blossoms of purples, pinks, whites, yellows, and greens are everywhere when you look around. There are gorgeous spring days now, showing off God’s gift of new life and a […]
Posted on November 28, 2018 | Posted by Annie Saunders
At the Horizon
“Habakkuk does not lose hope, and that hope scares Babylon more than just about anything. During both the Nazi regime in Germany and apartheid in South Africa, the book of Habakkuk was outlawed or suppressed. The forces of evil, the Babylons of the twentieth century, they knew that such sources of hope were too dangerous. […]
Posted on November 26, 2018 | Posted by Annie Saunders
2018 Women’s Retreat
On Saturday, November 3, 2018, a group of women spent the day in prayer, meaningful conversation, and card making. The focus was on seeing ourselves and others as God sees us. Led by our own Lisa Wulf, it was a meaningful time of fellowship, prayer, and service. Sadie Hjelmstad (Ascension member and cook at Manna […]
Posted on November 21, 2018 | Posted by Annie Saunders
Advent’s Waiting in Faith
Both Jesus and Isaiah spoke to people to trust that God will come through in tough circumstances. They were to wait in faith. And so are we. For too many of us, having to wait is experienced as anxious and irritating. The waiting of Advent is not to be anxious or irritating but a time […]
Posted on November 19, 2018 | Posted by Annie Saunders
The Face in the Plate
My wife Robbi and I can be classified as dinosaurs when it comes to most modern technologies. We still enjoy the feel of completing and signing a paper check. We take true pleasure in addressing and sealing an envelope; carefully affixing a stamp in the upper right-hand corner and dropping off the mailing in the […]
Posted on November 14, 2018 | Posted by Annie Saunders
What Does Healing Look Like?
I prayed once with a man who had tried every form of treatment that ailed him. But it hadn’t worked. He was likely going to die. We prayed for comfort and peace and even for healing, after all, who knows. Besides, healing is what everyone wanted and it’s good to be honest with God. Later […]
Older Posts