Niebuhr on the Ascension (sort of)

I found this essay by H. Richard Niebuhr and it has some good stuff to say about the Ascension and the whole idea of Jesus being elevated to authority above all the powers of the world:

What has happened is that this forsaken and rejected Servant of God has been given a name above every name among us. What has happened is that he has entered into the life of the human world as the most persistent of rulers, the most inescapable of companions. His eyes are still upon us when we deny him; he is forever warning us about our ambitions to be great; he is always there teaching us to pray. He is built into the structure of our conscience, not so that we cannot offend against him, but so that it is he who is offended in our offenses. He is present with his wound and in his rejection in all the companions whom in our great disloyalty we make the victims of our distrust of God and our diseased loyalties.

The ocassion for finding it is that I’m finally getting around to reading Niebuhr’s Christ and Culture and was looking for a little background. I hope to have some thoughts on the book up sometime soonish.