Day Thirty-Two - Royal Rejoicing

         Now, and for the first time during a Coronation service, as the organ lifted up the melody to the “Old Hundredth” (Psalm 100) the voices of all those in attendance began to sing along,

All people that on earth do dwell,

Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice.

Him serve with fear, His praise forth tell;

Come ye before Him and rejoice!

         Rejoice they did, as Elizabeth made her way with the Bishops to the Altar.  She relinquished the Sceptres and her new Crown, and presented an ancient oblation of one altar cloth and a wedge of gold.

         The new Duke of Edinburgh joined her there.  Elizabeth and Philip were taking communion together at the altar of her crowning.

As they knelt in prayer, the atmosphere changed once more in the Abbey.  The cameras were turned off during their sacrament.  The glory and splendor of the Coronation bowed deeply before the glory and splendor of this Communion, and Philip and Elizabeth were alone with God.  

Then the Queen took up her crown again, and she was the only Monarch in modern times to wear it during the entire service, following the Communion.  All those rare and precious gems made it very, very heavy.  She returned, crowned and with her Scepters, to her Throne, and the Archbishop spoke the words of blessing and dismissal.  Just like the end of any church service!  The “Gloria” was sung, and the beautiful “Te Deum,” and then the trumpet fanfare began afresh … trumpets, organ, choir and orchestra … all rejoicing!

         Now the swords began to move beside her, and born again by her ministers, with the Archbishop leading the way, and Elizabeth rose and passed out of the Theater and into the sanctuary of St. Edward’s Chapel.  There, at last, she exchanged his crown for the lighter, but no less brilliant and imposing Imperial Crown.  She would never wear St. Edward’s Crown again, but no need!  She was Queen, she is Queen, she is crowned, she is Majesty.  She was divested of all her ceremonial robes and was adorned for the first time with the luxuriant, six-foot Robe of Purple Velvet, embroidered richly in gold with her own “EIIR” insignia and all the beautiful and symbolic needlework that had taken so many months to complete.  She alone would ever wear it.  Before it was completed, everyone at Ede and Ravenscroft, down to the charwomen, had put in a single stitch, a thread overlaid with gold.

         In her right hand she bore the Sceptre with the Cross, and in her left, the Orb.    Her Coronation gown was visible again, and as she traversed the length of the Abbey, surrounded by columns of honor, she sparkled like a thousand stars.  Even on the black and white film, not yet governed by every degree of precise high definition, her gown and jewels and crown glittered and danced with the play of light. 

As she reached her carriage a shout arose as if it would crack the mortar between the Abbey’s ancient stones . . .

A new Elizabethan era had begun, and the rejoicing was tumultuous, deafening, along the route back to the Palace.  It was raining again, but her happy subjects would not be denied.

         How riotous was the joy in heaven as we were received into the Kingdom of God, to reign and rule with His Majesty, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus of Nazareth, Only Begotten of God Almighty?  Angels, mighty and splendid, rejoiced for us and for the joy of their Sovereign, who wanted us unto death by crucifixion.

         Our time together has come to an end.         There was so much more . . . from the Coronation Chicken, a curried specialty by Constance Spry, the recipe for which hit women’s magazines all over the world.  There was the admonition that had gone out to all royal and government servants, that they would “abstain” for forty-eight hours before the event, and not from alcohol alone!  We smile, but it lets us know, this was for them all a most holy day.  And there was Winstone Churchill, her Prime Minister, lingering awhile as others found their places for the recessional, looking about him, taking it in, alive in the history of his nation.

         The Regalia was ready to be packed with great care, under guard, and returned to the Tower of London.  St. Edward’s Crown would remain there until her funeral, when it will adorn her casket.  Then, after months of planning and preparation, the next royal head will wear it on just such a day. 

As Elizabeth had been given a few moments in St. Edward’s chapel before her recessional and return to Buckingham Palace, we have just a few last moments together.  The celebration was just getting underway in London, and it would go on until late into the night, with fireworks and a last appearance on the balcony to mark the close of this magnificent event.  Her Majesty would awaken the next morning, the Monarch of her realms, under oath, anointed, and empowered to serve and defend her peoples as long as she lived – in short, to be their Queen.

         We may awaken tomorrow to live a royal life, if our understanding is true!  In fact, if our understanding is true, we must.  While she will never again wear St. Edward’s crown, we may take our diadems, the kindness and compassion of the Lord, from our bedside and put them on, never leaving our chamber without them!  There will be splendors seen by those with eyes to see, deeds of mercy and costly sacrificial gifts of loving kindness and compassion and faith.  She will never again wear the Colobium Sidonis or the Supertunica or the Imperial Mantle, but we will be filled with joy, abiding in hope, clothed in the beauty of holiness.  Majesty will be seen in us, and others will know it is a majesty bequeathed, not usurped, humble and grateful, not haughty or selfish or rude.  All this in tedium, in trial, in difficulty, in small victories and large challenges, just as the Queen has known, but all the while, we will bear a glory, for as it is written,

 “Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.  (Daniel 12:3) and Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.”   (Psalm 34:5)

Day Thirty-One - Master Duncan Davidson

             A boy, clad in white and red livery approached the throne.  He was carrying a cushioned stool.

         He made is obeisance to the Queen and climbed up the stairs before her, where he placed the stool at her feet.  Then, with practiced precision, he stepped backwards down the stairs and took up another cushion in his arms and stood at royal attention.  Master Duncan Davidson had done his part to perfection.

         But . . . it wasn’t over. 

         The Queen handed the two scepters to the lords who had born them in procession, and she removed the glove.  Her hands must now be free to hold the hands of others. 

         Even after ten centuries of repetition, the words of homage did not sound dry and crusty in that setting.  Archbishop Fisher came up the stairs and knelt before Elizabeth who had so recently knelt before him, and now he spoke not blessing but devotion:      

  

“I, Geoffrey, Archbishop of Canterbury, will be faithful and true, and faith and truth will bear unto you, Our Sovereign Lady, Queen of this Realm and Defender of the Faith, and unto your heirs and successors according to law.  So help me God.”

         All the bishops, kneeling in their places, repeated the words with him.  State bowing before God, and God’s ministers pledging their devotion to the Realm.  

         Elizabeth's beloved husband came next.  Philip had to remove his coronet and leave it with Master Duncan Davidson on the scarlet cushion before mounting the dais to kneel before his wife.  He had scarcely seen her face since entering the Theater, but she had for him a very small, soft smile.  He who had held her hands through the ordeal of her father’s death, now placed his in hers and swore to be her “liege man of life and limb, and of earthly worship; and faith and truth I will bear unto you, to live and die, against all manner of folks.  So help me God.”

         He stood and leant forward to touch her crown - and kiss her cheek - before walking backward down the steps to regain his own coronet.  One wonders what Philip might be able to teach us about the importance of making sure each marriage partner fulfills the ministry God has given.  He, who was in line for the throne of Greece had that monarchy survived, has certainly helped make sure Elizabeth fulfilled hers.

         After Philip had paid homage to his new Queen, Elizabeth’s uncles came.  The Dukes of Gloucester and Kent, her father’s brothers, came and presented themselves before her.  This . . . is not easily understood.  The throne had not come to them; they came to bow before law, tradition, and sovereignty.

         Then the Duke of Norfolk, and with each successive degree of lordship, the dukes came and repeated the words of oath and loyalty that were spoken at Elizabeth’s feet, until all that was noble in the land had vowed to defend and serve this young Monarch.  The very next in succession, however, the young Prince Charles in his immaculate white coronation suit, had grown fidgety and had been quietly removed from the royal balcony.

         What would it be like to know that one was, shall we say, 17^th in line for the same throne upon which Elizabeth sat?  Or 34^th?  Or third?  All the peers of the realm have their order of descent.

We are, each and all of us, only once removed, and in the Lord our Savior, we are not removed at all.  We are seated at the right hand of God, enthroned in heavenly places in Christ Jesus our Lord, and He has come to take His seat on the throne of our hearts.

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:1-3, NIV)

         The momentous matter is before us . . . did we wake up this morning to reign and rule with our Lord Jesus Christ?  Will we, today, be about our Father’s business just as He was, paying unfailing homage to the finished work of Jesus Christ.

         Elizabeth was known to say, “This is what my father would have done,” especially in the early days, and that was wisdom, for he was wise, and it kept her at peace while she found her footing. 

         Jesus is our footing, and the pathway for our feet.   

Brian Barker has captured a moment in time for us in his splendid book.  When the Queen Was Crowned:

         “As Baron Mowbray came slowly backward from the Homage, silence fell briefly on the Abbey.  The ceremony of the Coronation was over.  The Queen had been crowned as Alfred was crowned, anointed as Edgar had been anointed, had been sworn as the Lion Hearted had once been sworn and had received the Homage in the words and form in which the Lords of the Council had knelt to do their Homage to the first Queen Elizabeth.  I think that all of us there who looked towards the young Queen Elizabeth, crowned and golden, felt that something very important, very old and sacred, had been consummated in that place.”

         There was a day, a time, when something more ancient, something eternally sacred, something of consummation far more holy and secure, happened to us.  Let us this day and from this day, ascend to that throne where we have been made welcome.  Let us regain our crowns at the Lord’s feet and, in the paths we walk on earth, walk no more as mere men.  (1 Corinthians 3:3)  Amen.

Wedding photo,

Prince Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh

public domain

Day Thirty – “Be Strong and of Good Courage”

         The bells in the north-west Abbey tower are pealing wildly, and ‘by signal given’ the mighty guns at the Tower begin to fire.  The millions of souls on the streets are cheering “God Save the Queen!  God Save the Queen.”  Archbishop Fisher lifts the ancient crown very high; it seems suspended in air for a moment, and then . . . it rests where it belongs, on the head of the Sovereign of the Realm, the fortieth from William the Conqueror, but at least the 63^rd from the very first rulers of the British Isles.

When the tumult in the Abbey finally began to recede, the Archbishop spoke these words that had been spoken over those who had sat where she was sitting since 973 . . .       

 

“God crown you with a crown of glory and righteousness, that having a right faith and manifold fruit of good works, you may obtain the crown of an everlasting kingdom by the gift of Him whose kingdom endureth forever.”

From the first entries in this little volume, we have been moving toward this day.  We spoke of traveling through life, crowned with lovingkindness and compassion, as Elizabeth wore the George IV diadem to her Coronation.  St. Edward’s crown, magnificent upon her royal head, is to us that other crown, the one which we are yet to wear.

Might not there have been a faithful little housewife, a humble coal miner or gardener or cobbler or bank treasurer who knew, as the moment came at last, that their moment would come some day, when they would have crowns of righteousness to lay at the feet of Jesus?  Without doubt, such thoughts must have filled the hearts of many, those who knew their Bibles, who knew that a royal heritage was not Elizabeth’s alone.

         As the cheering went on in the streets, one jubilant crescendo after another, the choir inside the Abbey took up a ten century-old anthem, the “Confortaré” of King Edgar’s day of enthronement.

         “Be strong and of good courage,” they sang.  “Keep the commandments of the Lord and walk in His ways.”

         If ever she had been her own woman before, that life had come to an end for Elizabeth, but she willingly gave herself to the Recognition and the Anointing and the Investiture and the Crowning . . . not at all far removed our lives, rightly lived, for we are “bought with a price, and we are not our own. (1 Corinthians 6:19 and 20)

         Now the Archbishop, in his full ecclesiastical splendor, pronounced the Benediction over Elizabeth and the Peoples of the Commonwealth during this reign. 

         An honor guard of peers of every degree was forming up the steps to the throne. 

At earliest coronations, and according to the Liber Regalis, the Sovereign was to be enthroned at some height, where he would be visible to the people, and he was lifted, literally carried, to the throne.

Elizabeth rose from St. Edward’s chair, facing the congregation for the first time since the Recognition.  She looked so small and so strong and so delicate and so determined.  She mounted the five steps, and by simply reaching out to touch her as she turned (and to help her with the yards in length and pounds of weight of her robes,) they “set her” upon her throne. 

“Stand firm and hold fast from henceforth the seat and state of royal and imperial dignity . . .” said the Archbishop.

“ ‘Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong . . .’, and ‘Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free . . .’, said the emissary of the Bishop and Guardian of our souls.

“Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and my crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved.’”  (1 Cor. 16:13, Galatians 5:1, Philippians 4:1) 

Day after day we have seen that we have a rightful place . . . a necessary place . . . in the Kingdom of God, and thus in history.  This is what Elizabeth saw and believed on behalf of her nation, and although our history is lived out on a very small stage, it is still recorded in heavenly annals.

We are lifted up to take our place at the right hand of God. (Colossians 3:1, 2)  Should we fail to do so, families and churches and governments, and nations which are comprised of these, will fail.  Our reign will be lost and the Kingdom of God will not prosper in our sovereign care, for caring is sovereign, as Elizabeth knows so well.  These thirty-two days together are about the majesty of caring enough to make sure we live according to the royal law of love.  This will require diligence, effort, perseverance, planning, the willingness to be misunderstood, and sacrifice.

The Queen went out from Westminster Abbey to return to work the next morning, a grueling schedule, an unbending regime, a heavy burden of responsibility.  All the Regalia and all the Vestments were returned at close of day to the Tower of London, and the Queen returned to her desk, her “boxes,” delivered twice daily, every day, of official correspondence,  her meetings and briefings and public appearances.

We have seen Her Majesty, seated in splendor upon her Throne, but when the new day dawned, she was, as before, one of the hardest-working women on earth, now consecrated to every effort, every difficulty and decision, and yes, every sacrifice.  She has made a point of making others feel that their work and service matters supremely.  Her life tells us: if we will do what we have been given to do with all our hearts, persevering in all trial and all affliction, if we will continue in peace and goodwill, trusting in God and doing what is right, we will not fail of the majesty of our calling. 

She has not failed.  She has triumphed, and so shall we, for Christ is our life, and His love never fails.  We are crowned and robed with it, vested with faith and hope, possessing the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and wearing the Lord’s signet … “I am my Beloved’s, and He is mine”  (Ephesians 6:17 and Song of Solomon 6:3)

This remains … we may take the seat of sovereign care, where we will bear the burdens of others and so fulfill the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2,) casting our own care upon Him Who cares for us (1Peter 5:6, 7.)  This is majesty . . . this is the wearing of the royal robes and the possession of the almighty scepter. (Psalm 125:3)  This is the day-to-day measure of a life that will one day be crowned on high.  (Revelation 2:10)

Tomorrow and the next day, we will see the last and vital parts of this ceremony.  Today, we are crowned in beauty, robed in splendor . . . even if all that others see is that we took time with them, that we maintained a happy hope, and that we found our joy in the life we live in our Savior, the Humble King of Kings and Lord of All.

portrait by,

Sir Terence Cuneo, 1953

Day Twenty-NIne - Privileged Sight

“The still figure in strange golden vestments seemed to have receded into a time far remote from our own.  She was like an image in a hieratic ikon, a page from an old richly illustrated manuscript . . .”  These are the words of Brian Barker, O.B.E., who stood among the very few alive on the earth who were able to see Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, as she sat, resplendent, in King Edward’s chair. 

There were eight thousand royal and other invited guests in attendance, ringed about on the streets of London by three million more, but Elizabeth Alexandra Mary was alone before God and His representatives, receiving beautiful and priceless relics of coronation antiquity.  In fact, she was accepting something much, much more beautiful and without price.

         Elizabeth was accepting responsibility before God.

Hers was to care for a nation, the answer to a calling that some say has become merely emblematic, yet her calling makes England . . . England!  Those who line the street to meet her when she steps out of her limousine will bow or curtsey to her, some wearing business suits and some in blue jeans.  When she smiles at them, they beam a happy, privileged response.  They did then; they do still.  She is a beautiful woman, particularly beautiful in her devotion to duty, because her people are her duty.

         Brian Barker wrote . . . “The silence in the Abbey was intense.  The Queen was sitting stiffly upright in the old high-backed chair, a figure of shining gold with the jeweled Sceptres in her hands.  At that moment we saw her as no one would ever see her again in her lifetime.  She was remote from any familiar conception of royalty  . . .”

Precisely.  This was a moment in time that transcended earthly majesty, though it was replete with it.  Elizabeth was clothed in an actuality of consecration to God and duty toward man that none of us will ever experience, sartorially or ceremonially, but she was not gowned or vested with more salvation, more unction, greater anointing or responsibility than is ours for the calling with which we have been called.  We are vested with the promises of God, clothed in Jesus Christ and robed in righteousness. 

As was true of Elizabeth in that moment, our splendor may not be seen by all, and seldom is our consecration put on view, but it is as real as was Her Majesty’s, and it is eternal. 

In our Lord’s Majesty, and in His humility, we bear the glory of royal and eternal love and sacrifice. 

*****

The Peers of the Realm, those with royal connections by birth and bequeathment, had brought their coronets to the Abbey, but they were not wearing them.  They had come in their scarlet robes, with rows of ermine (or rabbit if necessary) depicting their rank, but their coronets had been left in the care of their pursuivants.

         These youngsters now entered the Theater, bearing the noble headgear.  Their colorful uniforms were a medieval splash in the gold and scarlet arena.  With a bow, they presented to the titled owners the symbols of their royal dignity and their subservience to The Crown.

         The Archbishop was at the Altar.  He lifted St. Edward’s Crown high, and it responded with a flash of diamonds and rubies and emeralds . . . gemstones so large that it would take all the carats at a large jewelry store and more to equal their weight . . . and, setting it back upon the Altar, he blessed it.

         “Bless we beseech thee this Crown, and so sanctify thy servant Elizabeth upon whose head this day thou dost place if for a sign of royal majesty, that she may be fitted by thine abundant grace with all princely virtues.”

         The Archbishop came down from the Altar, and the Ministers of the Church came with him.  The Dean of Westminster was bearing the Crown on a scarlet cushion, two tiny gold stars indicating the front to guard against the backward placement that had occurred at Her Majesty’s father’s Coronation.  All those given on earth to represent heaven’s glories now approached where the young woman sat, seventeen months Queen, now to be crowned and enthroned.

They stood before St. Edward’s chair where Elizabeth sat motionless.  The Archbishop lifted the Crown again, very high, the sleeves of his robes falling back; no one breathed.  Then it was done.  The Crown descended and rested on Her Majesty’s head.  A wave of motion swept over the sections of the peerage as they placed their own coronets upon their heads, noble because she is royal.  The cry rang out, “God Save the Queen!  God Save the Queen!  God Save the Queen!”

We pray that Elizabeth may, in the purity of heart and purpose that God gives, that He had in mind when He saw her, sitting alone and unobserved, obtain His secure blessings for the throne and nation of England and its Commonwealth partner nations.  As God saw her heart on that day, as He sees her even now, and as He sees all those whose hope is in Him, may He openly reward us with a revival in our hearts and in our leadership, in our homes and in our governments in this hour. 

No potentate on earth is clothed in more splendor or vested with greater privilege than we, and none hold more power and authority than do those who obey the voice of God and walk with Him, in the fellowship of His Spirit.

Amen.

photo - Rotherham Web

Day Twenty-Eight - Two Scepters, One Glove, Mercy Triumphant

         In a moment, Queen Elizabeth will be holding both the Royal Sceptre and the Rod of Mercy and Equity in her grasp.  She will be fixed and transfixed by the power she holds in her hands, the power to bless and protect.  Others are brilliantly clothed, others wear robes and mantles and sparkling jewels, and in the moment when St. Edward’s crown in placed upon Her Majesty’s head, the peers may don their coronets, but only the Queen will sit enthroned with double-fisted authority.

         Today, all that authority is vested by the people and worked out in Parliament.  Yet, by the people's choice, warrants and medals are issued in her name.  Warriors fight and postal workers deliver the mail in her name.  They choose to honor and respect Her Majesty’s majesty.  Very little of what she does, very little, comes of her own volition, but everything she does issues from theirs.  She has much less power than an American President, though he may wish he had nearly as much influence.

         Before the Rod and Sceptre are delivered from the Altar, as has been done from antiquity, she receives a Glove.  Lord Woolton, one of the newest peers at that time, came and knelt before Elizabeth and presented to her a glove for her right hand, the symbol of the abolished Danegeld.  This glove reminds her, even in such a glorious moment, superlative beyond measure, to have a gentle hand in taxation.  In this ceremony within the Ceremony, barons of old had kept their place in the Coronation in perpetuity, reminding the Monarch that without their supervision, their management of lands and lakes and laborers, there would be no England over which to rule.

         No British monarch can set or establish taxation in this day, but once again, at the Coronation, Majesty represents fealty to the people.  Elizabeth and her family have further taken only very paltry cost-of-living style honorariums from the government, considering the expenses of their travel, entertainment, staff, and such matters, and the Windsors have themselves submitted to taxation.

         Sometimes, in the places where we reign, be it over pre-school children or five-star financial conglomerates, sometimes what we DO NOT ASK of others will tell our tale.   

     

         The Royal Scepter, the Scepter With the Cross, was presented to Elizabeth simultaneously with the Scepter of Mercy.  The first is ornamented with the Cullinan Diamond, Cullinan I, the Great Star of Africa, the second largest diamond in the world.  It was a potent illustration that she was given to reign in the steadfastness of “Kingly power and justice.”  The Rod with the Dove, bespoke the powerful injunction that justice was to be so executed that she would never forget equity and mercy.  “Be so merciful that you be not too remiss; so execute justice that you forget not mercy  Punish the wicked protect and cherish the just, and lead your people in the way wherein they should go.” 

         Elizabeth was still seated in King Edward’s Chair, facing the altar, not the audience.  Not yet enthroned, she was in her rightful, royal place in the high-backed chair where centuries of Monarchs, her relatives of old and of late, had been seated.  At that point in the ceremony, even her husband, Duke of Edinburgh, could not see her face. 

The Swords and the Sceptres, the Orb and Armills, the Spurs and the Ring and the Glove had come to her one by one from the Altar of God.  Her head was still bare; she was wearing emblazoned gold on top of silk on top of linen over beaded and embroidered splendor, but very few saw the calm, resolute, certain, ready, God-fearing humility that those nearest her believed to have been apparent.

Strength and resolve adorned her more majestically than her robes and regalia. She would fulfill her destiny by the grace and in the reverential fear of the Lord.  Clothed in majesty, seated in glorious purpose, having every right to be where she had been chosen to be, she was no usurper. 

All that took place that day, and the essential purpose of this volume, was the extremely evocative representation on earth of heavenly majesty, and that majesty ever and always under God and under Him alone.  Hear these words, then, today, and tomorrow we will see her crowned . . . we are

“Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ; grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again into a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.  (1 Peter 1:2-5)

We, at the right hand of God in Christ Jesus, are not usurpers, either.



Scepter With the Cross, Wikipedia

Day Twenty-Seven - The Ring, Please!

         Now the beautiful sapphire and ruby ring is placed upon the Queen’s finger.  It weighs an astounding 84 and ½ carats.  Rubies form a glittering cross over the enormous sapphires, and fourteen diamonds encircle the stones.

         This is the Wedding Ring of England, worn on the ring finger of the right hand.

         We hold out our hands . . . what signet do we see there?  The Prodigal Son was adorned with the Father’s ring; the naked castoff was washed and clothed and given the jewels of honor to wear.  (Luke 15:22, Ezekial 16)

         “Receive the ring of Kingly dignity, and the seal of Catholic faith.”  This is the band of faith in Jesus Christ, and it signifies " 'till death do us part' " in her relationship with her people.

         Does it sparkle, the ring upon your finger?  Does it gleam with promise?  Does it betoken love and eternal fellowship?

         Famously, during the Coronation Service for Elizabeth’s Great Great Grandmother, Queen Victoria, the Ring was forced onto the wrong finger causing Her Majesty excruciating pain during the rest of the ceremony.  Here is a pithy and poignant reminder for all of us: despite the hundreds of admonitions written in Scripture for our encouragement, written to inspire our love, our devotion, our service, and our very high place in Christ Jesus our Lord, many do walk away from the Betrothal.  Never will He force it upon our finger.  Nearly all of us at times want the crown without the ring. 

         He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice, to love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?  (Micah 6:8)

Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness . . . Eph. 4:1,2

Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. (Colossians 3:1,2)

“‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the great and foremost commandment.  The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40)

These are “Kingly dignity” passages, the call to a majestic vocation, but may we, with deepest respect and reverence, bow before the King Who gives a ring and takes us as His own in love.

The Coronation Ring

Wikipedia

Day Twenty-Six - "Take the World, but Give Me Jesus"

         “Receive this Orb, set under the Cross, and remember that the whole world is subject to the Power and Empire of Christ our Redeemer.”

         With these words, the golden Orb, one of the most valuable pieces of the Regalia, was presented to Elizabeth, from the Altar of God.  Outside, in the Coronation Coach, a special bracket had been fixed that she might carry it all the way from the Abbey on the return to Buckingham Palace, in full view of all the crowds that had filled every inch of space along the route, as many as twenty deep.

         Constitutional Monarchy is an unusual thing.  The Queen must summon Parliament, but the notes she reads there are not her own and must be read word for word.

         Money and passports and stamps are issued in her name; ambassadors conduct their transactions on behalf of Her Majesty, but Parliament tells them how to proceed, what to do.  It is said that if ever a Monarch were condemned to death, he or she would have to sign his own death warrant.

         Certainly, Elizabeth did not receive the Orb as did many of her early predecessors, not with that kind of power, nor that kind of danger.  The spectators that would cheer to see it knew that it meant blessing and protection to them, not taxation and servitude. 

The world has turned over.  People are vested with personal responsibility for self-government, and in many countries, government is subject to the people.  Yet, in a mysterious way, Kings and Queens of today remind us that when God begins to bless a nation and chooses to lift a leader into prominence, royal or spiritual . . . royal and spiritual! . . . He knows where they live; He remembers what He has begun.

         Shall we consider today what alterations we might have to make if we were to become responsible “under God?”  If it were our duty to lead a nation, if it were our responsibility to shepherd a people, if we were King David’s rightful heirs or sons of the Levites . . . or Windsor children in line for the throne . . . what advice would we give ourselves?

Would we be sure we knew and understood what God says about leading and serving?  How would we make sure?  Would we be very watchful that our everyday guidance came from God so that we would not make tragic, national mistakes?  How would we make certain it were so?  Would we lead and reign in peace wisdom?  Would we determine that our high and exalted position would make and not break us?  How could we be sure? 

         It would be hard to miss the point . . . we do reign, all of us, over something.  Some reign over a home, some over a classroom, over an office, over our own children, over a military platoon or brigade, over a bus or a business; everyone reigns somewhere.  At the very least, we reign over our own souls, or we are meant so to do. 

Oh, that we would take as much care over these urban and suburban and interior monarchies as Elizabeth swore to take over her peoples!  We have the privilege of safeguarding and prospering their souls and ours as we pray, wherever faith and hope have given us a spiritual dominion.   We hold the Orb of compassion, whenever we cannot bear to see depression, divorce, disease, despair, deception and death reigning in the lives of others.  Many of us hold someone’s “world” in our hands.

Toward that exalted end, the Word of God reminds us from Genesis to Revelation that all God bequeaths to us, He will perform; He will bring wonderful success … we are His workmanship, with great responsibilities over which we must reign.  (Ephesians 2:10)

         Now his master saw that the LORD was with him and how the LORD caused all that (Joseph) did to prosper in his hand.(Genesis 39:3)

         And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.  (2 Corinthians 9:8)

(Title quote attributed to Fanny Crosby, blind hymn-writer)

Day Twenty-Five - Not Yet Crowned

  The Queen, Her Majesty Elizabeth II, is robed in splendor.  Still bare-headed before God, not yet “Inthroned,” she has been endued with royal majesty and Anointed for the gifts and graces of sovereignty that come only from the Spirit of God.  St. Edward’s Chair has been her seat, as it has been for sovereigns before her for hundreds of years.  Beneath it lay the Stone of Scone (the “Stone of Destiny,”) Scottish Coronation Stone, captured but returned to the Scots, with the proviso that it be on hand for the Coronation of every British monarch.  More than the non-British can understand, this day has not been Elizabeth’s alone; it has belonged, it has been sacred, to her and to her people together.

As perhaps “they” have not always understood the roots and the effect of American liberty, “we” have also not always comprehended why the British would wish to have a King or Queen to stand for them before God.  Some monarchs have done just that; others have not.  Some have been fiercely protective of their country and their subjects; others have been only fierce, and even reprobate.  It is likely that Elizabeth’s father, King only through the abdication of Edward VIII, kept Great Britain from Nazi overthrow and maintained a vital resistance until intervention prevailed at last.

Interviews with police officers, statesmen, her ladies-in-waiting, peers in attendance, choristers, and by-standers who took part in the great Coronation Day of 1953 repeat the same sentiment … if they could re-live any twenty-four hour period in their lives, it would be that day.  It was a holy occasion of calling upon God, of hoping that He would give them grace in their earthly sovereign, of being deeply grateful that Brittania remains. 

         They have different personal recollections, but so many tell how delicate and young Elizabeth looked, and yet how perfectly ready and suited for the job at hand.  They say that the standing was interminable, but the ceremony seemed brief.  They all say that the sounds, the music and the intense volume of the choirs and the rustling of her robes and the shouts of acclaim, were the most exhilarating parts of the whole.  Interviews fifty years later brought a glaze over their eyes and caused their voices to break with emotion.

         We are taking time today, just as there were a couple of moments during the ceremony when time itself seemed to stand still, to be there with her and to be here together, robed in the garments of praise and righteousness, pure with the purity of our redemption, anointed by the Spirit of God, without oaths but with the decision that God will honor and to which He responds: we will walk with God.  We will be led by, we will be filled with His Spirit.  Our lives are His, and He is our life.

         Her Majesty has out-lived a great many of those who were in attendance, and we give thanks for her long life.  Long live Queen Elizabeth!  It must be wonderful to have anthems sung, people asking wherever one goes, that God may give one a long life, full of happiness, victory, and choice gifts from His tremendous store.

         The Word of the Lord tells us that songs are sung over us, and these not by choristers but by God Himself (Zephaniah 3:17.)  Perhaps angels join in.  What does He sing; what are the lyrics of His Song?  Some of them are penned in the Song of Songs, words like  . . .

You are altogether beautiful, my darling;
    there is no flaw in you. …

 You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride; 
you have stolen my heart
with one glance of your eyes,
with one jewel of your necklace.

How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride! 
How much more pleasing is your love than wine,
and the fragrance of your perfume more than any spice!  (Song of Songs 4:7-10)

         Who can answer a love like this?  How humbling must that Day have been for Her Majesty!  The love and the honor her peoples give to her has always been her support and her stay … we are loved by God.  He bears us in His arms.  He is the Lifter of our Heads.  He has loved us with an everlasting love and drawn us with cords of love.  His delight is in us, His faithful ones.  Our seat is unspeakably higher than her Chair and even than her Throne … we are seated in heaven even now, with God in Christ (Colossians 3:1, 2)   We trust that her Throne was high to her because her soul was, as ours, God's own.

         We have a few more days to spend together, and we will see Elizabeth crowned and enthroned.  May God grand that before this week is past, we will see ourselves where we belong, in Christ, at the right hand of God, loved, strengthened, forgiven … and royal.

Detail from Pietro Annigoni's portrait of Her Majesty,

National Gallery

Day Twenty-Four - The Mantle

         Again the Queen stood, now to receive the Stole Royal and the Robe Royal.  Already resplendent, she was about to be gowned in the magnificent golden “Mantle,” a cloth-of-gold garment, four-square, lined with crimson satin and embroidered with silver-threaded eagles and crowns.

First, the Stole Royal was presented and put in place, just like the long and often beautifully embroidered stoles worn by priests.  There are several ideas as to the significance of this piece, ranging from the illustration of the towel with which Jesus girded Himself and washed His disciples’ feet, to the binding cloths that wrapped Him in death.  We wish we knew what this piece meant to Her Majesty, but we know it was as close to a liturgical garment as she would receive.  It was draped over her neck and very gently around her arms.

Now the Close Pall, the Pallium, the Robe Royal. 

“Receive this Imperial Robe, and the Lord your God endue you with knowledge and wisdom, with majesty and with power from on high; the Lord clothe you with the robe of righteousness, and with the garments of salvation.”

Oh, in the Name of the Lord our King, do we not see, do we not know, that these are words which belong to our tongues, to speak what Elizabeth must have felt that day, to rejoice in them continually, and just as she may do in her own spiritual clothing?  Isaiah 61:10 . . .

“I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.

As one of the peeresses gasped audibly when the Robe was held up for Her Majesty to put on, our garments are enough to make her faint!  They are enough to make us “faint not,” but to be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power!

         This was a cope, like those worn by archbishops, priests, and popes,  woven of pure cloth of gold, embroidered with roses, the Tudor symbol, and the thistles, leeks, and shamrocks of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, respectively.  At this moment, as much as at any other time in the ceremony, it was as if the Church hierarchy welcomed her among them. 

         When the Representative of God’s people in a certain place has authority and bestows it thus, the wise will take hold with faith and humility and never let go.

         We may, if we will, go today to words that have been spoken to us by God’s  Only Begotten Son, Who is in the Exact Image of God; we may seize and hold, with true faith and in the power of right humility, the truth we hear . . . and never let go

         “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.”  (John 17:22, 23)  Amen.

Queen Victoria in Coronation Robes

Charles Robert Leslie, public domain

Day Twenty-Three – The Armills

         For the first time since the coronation of the first Elizabeth, the Dean of Westminster brought the two Armills from the Altar.

         These were bracelets, wide and thick and solid gold, lined in velvet as cushioning for the Queen’s wrists.  The Armills were a unique addition to the ceremony, for they were the gifts of the people to their Sovereign.  They were, symbolically, Sincerity and Wisdom.  The Archbishop’s prayer was that they would “betoken the Lord’s protection, embracing her on every side,” and be to her “pledges of the bond which unites you with your Peoples,” whose gift they were.

These words were spoken also, that she would be “strengthened in all her work” and protected against every enemy, “bodily and ghostly.”  It is of interest to us, and important, that attention was given to Her Majesty’s spiritual protection, and that Sincerity and Wisdom were given for her defense.  It was a wise gift!  Sincerity and wisdom do safeguard us, when we keep them close and live by them.

In this moment of the Coronation Ceremony, her subjects were taking part, like the aunt whose necklace the bride wears to her wedding.  Both Elizabeths wore this honored gift, the people’s contribution in the presentation of the Regalia. 

We look, sometimes in vain, for Sincerity and Wisdom in our leaders.   Not politically correct sincerity, but the kind that is what the word implies sin cere . . . without wax.  As products of old were so labeled, that the purchaser would not go home with water vessels  fashioned with wax fillers that would melt and result in leaks, we want to be led by those whose lives and policies won’t melt in the heat of day.  We want to be those whose lives and testimony won’t melt in the furnace of life.

One thing is certain . . . Elizabeth hasn’t melted.  In her designer clothes and fetching hats, her pocketbook over her arm and her smile even more warm today than it was on that glorious morning, she doesn’t melt.   The Armills are stored away for another Coronation Day, but she has fastened Sincerity and Wisdom about her, as must all of us, here in the royal Kingdom of God’s Son.

The Armills

Wikipedia

Windsor Family

         The Windsors have been a rare and wonderful mix of devotion to duty and delight in simple pleasures.  They seem to do well, as is true for most of us, when they marry light hearts to regimentals. 

         The Queen’s mother, nee Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, was the life of every party in sweetness and fun, sought after by all but won by none, until Prince Albert came along.  It took time (and three proposals of marriage!) to convince her to leave her happy home life in Scotland, to trade it in for a royal husband.  Prince Albert, later George VI, was wound much tighter than she, but he adored her.  She lacked neither money nor position, and she wanted no part of the intrusions of monarchy, even in marriage to a second son.  They loved one another, enjoyed one another, and weathered the abdication and the horrors of World War II hand in hand and heart to heart.  This happy soul lived a year beyond her hundredth birthday, at which she insisted upon standing at the gate to receive the salute as a long parade in her honor passed by Clarence House.

         Her daughter is the more regimented of the two current occupants at Buckingham Palace, by necessity and probably by nature, as well, although the Duke of Edinburough was an up and coming Lieutenant in the British Royal Navy for many years.  He is the jokester, and not without incident, but she loves to laugh, so they’ve managed well together, even with the media finding fault, severing trust, and opening tender schisms in their family.  Despite the personal tragedies of more recent decades, they’re still laughing.

         The Windsor family is, essentially, just like yours and mine, under glass.  Always scrutinized.  Never off the clock, not entirely.  They stay close; they keep going.  Perhaps they know that the vast majority of people are pulling for them.  Let’s hope they do.  That would have to help.

         

The Princess of York

Elizabeth with a Disabled Soldier

public domain