Williams on the Ascension

Following on from yesterday's post, here is a quote from Rowan Williams on the ascension:

"This is the transition that Ascension Day marks … it’s the moment when Jesus ‘goes away’, stops being an object we concentrate on in itself, and yet becomes more deeply and permanently present: ‘I am with you always, to the end of time.’ He is with us as the light we see by; we see the world in a new way because we see it through him, see it with his eyes." - Rowan Williams, Open to Judgement, p 82.

h/t Chris Swann who has some excellent comments related to this quote.

Calvin on the Ascension

Today is Ascension Day, the church's celebration of Jesus' real absence from us because he is ruling all creation from his Father's right hand. It's also a public holiday in Vanuatu, Indonesia (!) , and the highly secularised European nations of: France, Sweden, Belgium, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark and the Netherlands. Anyway, here is some gold from Calvin:

"Christ in whom the Father wills to be exalted and through whose hand he wills to reign, was received at God’s right hand. This is as if it were said that Christ was invested with Lordship over heaven and earth, and solemnly entered into possession of the government entrusted to him -and that he not only entered into possession once and for all, but continues in it, until he shall come down on judgment day… both heavenly and earthly creatures may look with admiration upon his majesty, be ruled by his hand, obey his nod, and submit to his power." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book II Ch XVI 15