THE KING IS AMONG US
Why Jesus's ascension matters
By Roy Lawrence. Scripture Union. 133 pages
ISBN 1 85999 771 6
This book is aimed at explaining why the ascension of Jesus matters and has been written because the author believes the subject has been woefully neglected. On the cover - which with weary inevitability pictures a cloud with some rays of sun bursting through - Graham Kendrick describes it as 'fascinating and accessible'.
The author, Roy Lawrence, is probably right that the doctrine of the ascension has been neglected. I do, however, have a problem with the fact that he is so enthusiastic about making a thing of Ascension Day as an annual calendar event. This seems to me to be neither interesting nor desirable. To my mind, the observation of special days all too easily ends in devotion to the day itself rather than a focus on what it is meant to represent. But on the basis of Romans 14.5 we can agree to differ.
