Ascension Theological College

02/26/2026

Widening our love in a fearful age

02/26/2026

BREAKS YOUR HEART (or should)

Regardless of what we think about politics, as human beings we are called to speak out about social justice.

Here’s a fascinating story just published by ProPublica about how the Dilly Detention Center in Texas removed crayons and paper from child detainees because what they drew made the center look bad.

Detainees told ProPublica that art supplies have been removed in room searches, immigrants have lost access to Gmail and staff hover within earshot during video calls.

02/11/2026

Dear friends; I belong to a loose-knit band of folks in an independent sacramental movement. Among our number is a former Roman Catholic Franciscan friar, Jayme Mathias, who has an amazing Substack.

In today’s post he looks at the power of organization and the value of taking minority voices seriously.

As a member of a religious minority, I appreciate the message.

Lessons from Adrian Fortescue and the “Lesser Eastern Churches”

02/05/2026

LET MY PEOPLE GO — 2026

At a time in our history when Americans are reacting to the current attacks on immigrants, a new documentary, “Let My People Go,”premiered on PBS, February 3, 2026.

Among other things, it highlights why Jews and Blacks can understand each other: each has tasted oppression and slavery.

We can look what’s going in our nation today as an attack on social justice. And, as evil so often does, it is making a mockery of all that is good, right, and true. It is turning justice on its head—and paradoxically so, by the U.S. Department of Justice. If thats not a mockery what is?

As people of faith, we can take heart in the Truth. God heard the cries of their oppressed people, then. And, God hears the cries of their oppressed now. God responds, and God works through us.

As we consider the focus of Convocation 2026, September 25-28, in Peoria, AZ, perhaps we can devote our time of fellowship, prayer, and conversation to how we can address what we are seeing today.

Perhaps, we can also stand in awe at can we can learn from oppressed peoples of the past about how to respond to the oppression we face today.

At our Zoom Convocation 2021, we began the conversation with the theme “Whatsoever you Do … Social Justice, Sacramental Justice, and the Whisperings of Holy Spirit.”

How might we productively continue, deepen, and contextualize that conversation in 2026?

01/31/2026

New Bruce Springsteen song, "On the streets of Minneapolis."

Directed by Thom ZimnyEdited by Thom Zimny and Samuel ShapiroProduction Footage: Pam Springsteen and Thom Zimny

01/06/2026

Dear present and future Ascensionistas;

One of the things I’m doing as rector of our seminary, Ascension Theological College, is re-reading, and sometimes reading for the first time, the primary texts we’re using in our courses.

In the Hebrew Scriptures course we’re using Yoram Hazony’s The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture.

Here’s a quote from Hazony that I think is relevant to us and the work we are doing, or trying to do, as Ascensionists:

“Many of Jeremiah’s orations point in just this direction [to the path of what is beneficial and good] in doing so, introducing a term that is significant … the word ho’il … a cognate of the Hebrew root yud-ain-lamed which means to ascend…” (Hazony, 2012, p. 177). So, as we do our ministry we are endeavoring to walk in the path of what is beneficial and good. Good to keep in mind, I think.

Hazony, Y. (2012). The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

+ Alan

01/06/2026

Standing at the Threshold of Escalation

12/28/2025

A Reflection on the 55th Anniversary of the Ordination of Ludmila Javorová

12/21/2025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-6TFgHRp50

A music video for the first verse and chorus of my newest single "Peace on Earth This Christmas" releasing soon!

12/18/2025

Father Jayme’s Substack posts are often worth a read, like today.

Peter Codde and the Long Advent of Utrecht

12/14/2025

Dear present and future Ascensionistas;

Today is the third Sunday in Advent. The optional liturgical color in the western church is officially called rose, but what feels like pink to me. I like the color because it feels like love.

I’ll be with the community at Olalla Recovery Center. I don’t generally do a formal homily. Instead I read the commentaries, reflect on the readings, and do a contemporaneous sharing on the readings inspired by the moment, usually focusing on the Gospel.

So, what do we have today? Mt 11: 2-11. John the baptizer has been imprisoned by Herod Antipas but he sends two of his disciples to ask Jesus who he is. Are you the one or shall we await another? Jesus says, what have you heard and seen?

What John would likely have already heard about is the Sermon on the Mount (MT 5-7). What people would have seen are the many miracles he performed (MT 8-9) as foretold by the prophets (especially in Isaiah on the nature of the Messiah).

The Sermon on the Mount itself is nothing less than a profound teaching on the moral and spiritual principles involved in living in God’s kingdom, or way of life. It emphasizes inner transformation, (agape) love for all, including one’s enemies, righteousness, true spiritual devotion over mere external observance. And, for a couple extra added attractions, it has the Lord’s Prayer (Our Father) (MT 6: 9-13) and the Beattitudes, or “blessed be’s” (MT 5: 3-12).

It is a call to a life of holiness and grace, in other words, the esoteric or inner path of personal ascension (personal growth and inner spiritual transformation) lived out in a community with our fellow human beings (that’s who we practice with), whose highest and best good we are required to consider when we act. Why? Because they are part of us and we them. We are all part of one Mystical Body. One Universe. What’s good for one is good for all, and vice versa.

His focus was not about violent opposition to oppression (which John and others were expecting) but the inner transformation that each of us must undergo and that we have described as the esoteric, inner path, of Christianity. Jesus was a mystic not a Zealot. We are all mere cells within a universe of consciousness. The narrow gate? The eye of the needle a camel can’t get through?

Jesus concludes to say John was the greatest of his generation (focused on externals?) but would be least in the (inner?) kingdom. The way to defeat a tyrant is to become a fully realized child of God. What you do next, or along the way, could be socially transformative. Warning: it could cost you big time, but the rewards I’m told are far greater than the costs.

+ Alan

Sources consilted: Bible, NSRV, MT 11: 2-11; Sermon Writer Commentary for MT 11: 2-11; Google AI.

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