Commontide
Liturgical Color: White/Gold
The Sunday after Ascension
O God, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.
Ascension
Through your dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who after his most glorious resurrection appeared to his Apostles, and in their sight ascended into heaven to prepare a place for us; that where he is, there we might also ascend, and reign with him in glory.
Most liturgical texts are from the Book of Common Prayer (2019) of the Anglican Church in North America.
The New Coverdale Psalter, © 2019 by the Anglican Church in North America. Used by permission.
Reformer and Pastor of Geneva
Ecumenical Commemoration
John Calvin, born at Noyon in Picardy in 1509, was a French lawyer and humanist who became the pastor and teacher of Geneva. Never ordained in the Roman church, he wrote the Institutes of the Christian Religion at twenty-six as a plea to a king who was burning his countrymen, was twice made a Genevan against his own plans, and left behind a church order, an academy, and thousands of sermons. He died on 27 May 1564 and was buried the next day in an unmarked grave, by his own instruction.
Born in Noyon, Picardy, Jean Calvin received a humanist legal education before converting to evangelical Christianity around 1533. Fleeing Catholic France, he published the first edition of the Institutes of the Christian Religion in Basel in 1536 — a work he expanded through four editions (final 1559) into the most comprehensive Protestant systematic theology.
Calvin spent brief time in Strasbourg under Martin Bucer before settling in Geneva, where — after an initial exile (1538-1541) — he established the Ecclesiastical Ordinances restructuring church governance around four offices: pastors, teachers, elders, and deacons. Geneva became a refuge for persecuted Protestants and a training ground for Reformed ministers.
Calvin's productivity was extraordinary: he preached nearly daily, wrote commentaries on most biblical books, produced thousands of surviving letters, and shaped Geneva's religious, educational, and civil institutions. His theology emphasized God's sovereignty, predestination, Scripture's authority, and the invisible church. His role in the execution of Michael Servetus for heresy in 1553 remains controversial and reflects the coercive religious uniformity of the era. Calvin's influence extended across Europe, shaping Reformed traditions from Scotland to Hungary to the Netherlands. He died on May 27, 1564.
Calvin's legacy is interpreted differently across traditions. Reformed tradition celebrates his theological brilliance; Catholic and critical accounts stress his coercive governance and the Servetus execution. Modern ecumenical dialogue has produced more nuanced assessments.