Enter, rest, pray. This simple message outside of the Church of the Ascension calls to people passing by. They wander into the quaint, grey-stone structure on their way from the neighboring courthouse or to one of the many support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous that the church hosts.
“We keep [the church] open all day for anyone who needs it,” said the Rev. Ronald Fisher, Ascension rector for the past 18 years. “We know that people are in and out all the time because of notes left in the guest book.
“Some of the notes are very touching. People write about how they were having a difficult time or needed guidance and found it in the church. They even write a second note telling us how things worked out,” he said.
The Church of the Ascension, erected in 1844, “gives the people who are having problems a chance to come in and pray,” said Nancy Griesmyer, 74, a parishioner since 1957.
“It?s wonderful to see people take advantage of it,” she said.
The picturesque Episcopalian church has an intimate, wooden interior.
“The church is beautiful in its simplicity,” Fisher said.
Surrounding the modest place of worship is a waist-high stone wall with moss tumbling over its sides.
“I came to the church in 1980; 25 years later, I?m still impressed,” said Bill Sears, a parishioner who volunteersat the church.
After stepping through its red arched doors, “there?s this presence of all the people who worshipped there,” he said.
A stained glass window over the high altar, depicting a man being comforted by Jesus, inspires Sears and draws him into services, he said.
Acclaimed Baltimore architect Robert Carey Long designed the building in the heart of what would later be known as Westminster, according to records from the Episcopal Archdiocese of Maryland.
Issac Van Biber, a descendent of Baltimore settlers from Holland, built the church. Members of the congregation combed through more than a century?s worth of records in 1994 for the church?s 150th birthday and third jubilee.
The product of their efforts, a book titled “So Great a Cloud of Witnesses,” provides details about the church?s life, including passages from Biber?s diary, a record of donated memorials and a list of parishioners who are buried in its historical cemetery.
