The eCrozier

In our church year we are in Ascensiontide, that time between the Feasts of the Ascension (this year on May 17) and Pentecost (this year on May 27). Our theological understanding of the Ascension, made manifest in the two collects the Church has for that feast day, exposes some of the historic breadth and comprehensiveness of Anglicanism.

The first of two collects from which we can choose in the Book of Common Prayer is this: Almighty God, whose blessed Son our Savior Jesus Christ ascended far above all heavens that he might fill all things: Mercifully give us faith to perceive that, according to his promise, he abides with his Church on earth, even to the end of the ages; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

The second collect is this: Grant, we pray, Almighty God, that as we believe your only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ to have ascended into heaven, so we may also in heart and mind there ascend, and with him continually dwell; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

How we pray shapes how we believe, as the old saying goes. These two collects reflect two distinctive, historic parts of our Anglican Tradition. It should not surprise anyone who knows our Anglican history that each is somewhat at odds with the other. The first collect asks God to give us faith so that we might perceive Jesus abiding with his Church on earth even to the end of the ages. This is classic Anglican incarnational theology. Jesus does not ascend into heaven as an escape from earth. He ascends that the Holy Spirit will infuse the Church with his eternal presence on earth. The Church then becomes the ongoing Body of Christ in the world continuing the Lord’s incarnation until he comes again at the close of the age.

The second collect asks that, through our belief in Jesus as our Lord, Jesus will take our heart and mind with him into heaven so that we might dwell there with him eternally. This is classic Anglican pietistic theology. It reflects that, while we are in the world, we must never be of the world; that our true home is heaven, where our hearts and minds truly dwell.

Both collects are true and are needed to keep us honest in our theology. Incarnational theology, taken to its extreme, can shape us in all too worldly ways where we get far too comfortable with the world as it is. Likewise, pietistic theology, in its extreme, becomes escapist where we ignore the importance of the Gospel’s declaration that “God so loved the world.” In our comprehensiveness, our theology places us in tension with one another and this example from the Feast of the Ascension exemplifies that. If we find ourselves naturally gravitating to one of these two collects, I hope we honestly name that, and then open ourselves up to listen to what important truth the other collect is saying to us.

+Scott