Collect for Ascension Day (1928 BCP)

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Collect for Ascension Day (1928 BCP) is the collect appointed in the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer for Ascension Day. It confesses that the only-begotten Son has ascended into the heavens and asks that the Church may ascend "in heart and mind" and dwell continually with him.

Text of the Collect

GRANT, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that like as we do believe thy only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ to have ascended into the heavens; so we may also in heart and mind thither ascend, and with him continually dwell, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

[1]

The collect has two movements. First, it states the Church's faith: Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son, has ascended into the heavens. Second, it turns that confession into petition: because Christ has ascended, the faithful ask to ascend "in heart and mind" and to dwell continually with him. The prayer is therefore neither a bare memorial of a past event nor a wish to escape earthly vocation. It teaches the Church to set worship, desire, hope, and obedience where Christ reigns.

"Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God" begins with petition to the God who can raise the heart where unaided religious feeling cannot go. "Like as we do believe" gives the doctrinal ground of the request: the prayer asks for participation in what the Creed confesses. "Thy only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ" identifies the ascended one as the eternal Son and the Church's Lord, not simply a departed teacher. "So we may also in heart and mind thither ascend" asks for inward union with Christ's heavenly life. "And with him continually dwell" makes perseverance the goal; the collect asks not for a momentary elevation but for abiding fellowship with the ascended Lord.

Appointed Epistle

The 1928 Epistle is Acts 1:1-11. It supplies the historical sequence behind the collect: the risen Lord appears for forty days, teaches the kingdom of God, commands the apostles to wait for the Father's promise, and is taken up before their eyes.

To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: and, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

[2]

This passage keeps the collect from treating the Ascension as withdrawal. The ascended Christ has already spoken "of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God," and his departure is joined to the Father's promise. The Church ascends in heart and mind while also waiting for the Holy Ghost who will empower witness.

Acts then joins heavenly exaltation to earthly mission:

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

[3]

The collect's "thither ascend" and Acts's "unto the uttermost part of the earth" belong together. Ascension prayer does not turn the Church inward. Hearts are lifted to Christ so that witness may be carried outward by the promised Spirit.

Appointed Gospel

The 1928 Gospel is Luke 24:49-53. The earlier American books printed Mark 16 for Ascension Day, but the 1928 book places Luke's account at the center of the day's Gospel. Luke emphasizes promise, blessing, worship, joy, and continued praise.

Jesus said, Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God.

[4]

Luke explains the mood of the collect. Christ is parted from the disciples while blessing them, and their answer is worship and joy. The prayer to ascend "in heart and mind" is therefore not grief over Christ's absence but joyful worship before the Lord who blesses, reigns, and sends the promise of the Father.

Octave and Eucharistic Meaning

The 1928 rubric makes the collect a repeated prayer through the octave:

This Collect is to be said daily throughout the Octave.

[5]

This repetition matters. The collect is not confined to Ascension Day morning. It forms the Church's prayer through the days between Ascension and the Sunday after Ascension, so that the congregation repeatedly asks to dwell with Christ while awaiting the promised Comforter.

The Holy Communion Proper Preface for Ascension Day makes the same doctrine eucharistic:

THROUGH thy most dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who, after his most glorious Resurrection, manifestly appeared to all his Apostles, and in their sight ascended up into heaven, to prepare a place for us; that where he is, thither we might also ascend, and reign with him in glory.

[6]

The preface echoes the collect's "thither" language and gives it final shape: Christ ascends "to prepare a place for us," and the Church's hope is to ascend and reign with him in glory. In Holy Communion the collect's petition becomes thanksgiving. The Church praises the Father through the Son whose ascension prepares the people's destiny.

Percy Dearmer notes that Ascension is one of the great festivals marked by a proper preface:

Some special days are further marked out. The Great Festivals (Christmas, Easter, Ascension, Whitsunday, Trinity Sunday) have Proper Prefaces at Holy Communion.

[7]

That observation supports the Prayer Book pattern: Ascension Day is not merely noted in the calendar but is confessed in the eucharistic thanksgiving of the Church.

Historical and Anglican Interpretation

Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere interpret the Ascension propers through the appointed psalms and lessons. Their account is useful because it names the doctrine underneath the collect's petition: the Son of God has taken human nature into heaven.

Of the Proper Psalms and Lessons appointed for the day of the Ascension, Ps. viii. is a song of praise for creation, and the appointment of man to be lord of this world; but in a prophetical sense it sets forth the mercy of God in exalting our human nature above all creatures, which was fulfilled when the Son of God took our nature and ascended with it to heaven.

[8]

This is the theological heart of the collect. The Church does not ask to ascend because human beings naturally rise to God. It asks because the Son of God has taken human nature and ascended with it. The collect is thus christological before it is devotional: the faithful are lifted in heart and mind because Christ has first lifted humanity in himself.

Procter and Frere also summarize the historical source of the day's propers:

The Collect, Epistle and Gospel for Ascension Day were taken from the old offices.

[9]

The 1928 collect therefore stands in a received Western and Anglican tradition. The American book changes the Gospel from the older American Mark 16 appointment to Luke 24, but the collect itself remains part of the inherited Ascension Day structure.

The official Church of England 1662 text prints the same collect for Ascension Day:

Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that like as we do believe thy only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ to have ascended into the heavens; so we may also in heart and mind thither ascend, and with him continually dwell, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

[10]

This continuity is important for interpreting the 1928 American collect. It is not a modern devotional composition inserted into the Prayer Book year; it is the classical Ascension collect received in Anglican common prayer. Its petition is doctrinally restrained and pastorally direct: believe Christ ascended; ask to be lifted to him in heart and mind; dwell with him continually.

Anglican Theological Use

For catechesis, the collect teaches the Ascension as a present doctrine of union with Christ. The ascended Lord is not absent in the sense of abandonment. He reigns, blesses, intercedes, sends the promised Spirit, and prepares a place for his people.

For preaching, the appointed Epistle and Gospel prevent two common reductions. Acts prevents a merely inward reading, because the ascended Christ sends witnesses to the ends of the earth. Luke prevents a merely sorrowful reading, because the disciples return with great joy and praise God in the temple.

For devotion, the octave rubric gives the collect a daily use. The believer may pray it through Ascensiontide as a school of ordered desire: the heart and mind are lifted to Christ so that earthly life may be lived from his heavenly reign.

See Also

References

  1. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928 Standard Book), the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, "Collect for Ascension Day," in "The Ascension Day," The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, p. 180, facsimile hosted by 1928 Common Prayer: 1928 Standard Book PDF. Complete collect compared word for word with the Society of Archbishop Justus transcription; PDF spacing artifacts normalized.
  2. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928 Standard Book), "The Ascension Day," Epistle, Acts i. 1, in The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, pp. 180-181; facsimile hosted by 1928 Common Prayer, 1928 Standard Book PDF. The PDF corrects the transcription artifact "whom be had chosen" to "whom he had chosen."
  3. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928 Standard Book), "The Ascension Day," Epistle, Acts i. 8-9, in The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, pp. 180-181; facsimile hosted by 1928 Common Prayer, 1928 Standard Book PDF. The source's ligature in "Judaea" is normalized to plain ASCII.
  4. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928 Standard Book), "The Ascension Day," Gospel, St. Luke xxiv. 49, in The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, p. 181; facsimile hosted by 1928 Common Prayer, 1928 Standard Book PDF.
  5. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928 Standard Book), "The Ascension Day," rubric following the collect, in The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, p. 180; facsimile hosted by 1928 Common Prayer, 1928 Standard Book PDF.
  6. ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928 Standard Book), "The Order for the Administration of the Lord's Supper, or Holy Communion," Proper Preface for Ascension, "Upon Ascension-day, and seven days after"; facsimile hosted by 1928 Common Prayer, 1928 Standard Book PDF.
  7. ↑ Percy Dearmer, The Prayer Book: What It Is and How We Should Use It, Churchman's Penny Library No. 4 (London: A. R. Mowbray & Co. Ltd., 1907), p. 31, "The Ideal Before Us"; Project Canterbury transcription, The Prayer Book, by Percy Dearmer.
  8. ↑ Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, with a Rationale of Its Offices, revised and rewritten edition (London: Macmillan and Co., 1907), p. 545, chapter XIII, "Collects, Epistles, and Gospels"; wording checked against the Internet Archive record metadata for the 1907 Macmillan edition, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer.
  9. ↑ Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, with a Rationale of Its Offices, revised and rewritten edition (London: Macmillan and Co., 1907), p. 545, chapter XIII, "Collects, Epistles, and Gospels"; wording checked against the Internet Archive record metadata for the 1907 Macmillan edition, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer.
  10. ↑ Church of England, The Book of Common Prayer (1662), Cambridge University Press 2006 online edition, "The Ascension Day," "The Collect"; official Church of England worship text, The Ascension Day.

External Links

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