Kitchener Circuit broadcasts joint Ascension Day service

Special music for the Kitchener Circuit Ascension Day service.

WATERLOO, Ont. – On May 20, 2020, Lutheran Church–Canada’s Kitchener Circuit broadcast via YouTube a joint Ascension Day service. Ten circuit congregations contributed to the Service of the Word, which featured music, liturgy, Scripture, and a sermon.

Vicar Markus Peschel preaches for the Kitchener Circuit Ascension Day service.

The service was organized by Redeemer Waterloo’s vicar, Markus Peschel, who had heard about other churches doing something similar. He commented that the purpose was to “first and foremost bring the Word of God to the congregations, the people of God. Secondly, it was, at least for me, an effort to show the people that the pastors are still working together, that we are not just our congregation struggling through this pandemic, but that we are in this together. And thirdly, it portrays the fellowship that we have as congregations, all being part of Lutheran Church–Canada.”

Each participating pastor recorded their contribution to the service with the camera focused on the altar (except in the case of the sermon), and the separate recordings were combined and edited by the secretary at Redeemer, Courtney Marshall, who, Vicar Peschel says, did a “phenomenal job.” All of the feedback on this unique project has been positive, and organizing the service was not too much work; the largest workload was editing and uploading the entire video.

Rev. Rick Frey participates in the Kitchener Circuit Ascension Day service.

Participating congregations included Bethel Lutheran (Kitchener), Emmanuel Lutheran (Petersburg), Faith Lutheran (Kitchener), First St. Paul’s Lutheran (Wellesley), Grace Lutheran (Kitchener), Historic St. Paul’s Lutheran (Kitchener), Holy Cross Lutheran (Kitchener), Messiah Lutheran (Waterloo), Redeemer Lutheran (Waterloo), and St. Paul’s Lutheran (Elmira).

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With notes from Vicar Markus Peschel

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