Warmest
greetings to friends who have read and encouraged this work along the way, and welcome to those who have just “tuned in.” We are about to embark on a happy, holy season, a privileged
time together. Once, sixty years
ago, a well-known and well-loved public figure – Majesty, in fact – took the
same journey.
In
the spring of 1953, Archbishop Geoffrey Fisher, the Archbishop of Canterbury,
composed for Elizabeth II a devotional for her private use during the final
thirty days leading up to her crowning.
She had been Queen for fifteen months when the book was completed and
presented to her, but now the ceremony of Coronation was at hand. It was a church service, really, with
eye-popping and soul stirring royal magnificence.
It
was also, as we will see, an earthly template, rich in symbolic truth, for the
majesty that belongs to those who “seek first the kingdom of God and His
righteousness.” (Matthew 6:33) It
may be that our perspectives of royalty, of reigning, and of the realm in which
we live will undergo a consecration long overdue. Sixty years ago, on June 2 of that mid-century year,
Elizabeth’s life was consecrated to her vocation, and she has lived up to her
vows. Because we don’t make any
promises when we come to Jesus Christ by faith … does not mean that there are
not obligations of majesty upon us!
The
country had suffered through two devastating World Wars. Inflation and unemployment were still
cutting deep into the national psyche, and the worst of the rationing and
privations were nowhere near forgotten.
Elizabeth had, only four years before, purchased the fabric for her
wedding gown with ration cards and a small behest from the government.
Now the
realm was eager to take part in all the color and pageantry of Her Majesty’s
Coronation. Preparations were underway
throughout the Kingdom and the Commonwealth. Innumerable councils and
committees had formed immediately following the funeral for Elizabeth’s father,
King George VI; now all their combined logistics and efforts would be
proven. London was adorning itself
with bunting and banners and images of the Queen on everything from post cards
to postage stamps, and from biscuit tins to button badges. A Gallup poll taken at the time
estimated that 17 million people would take active part in the celebration, and the rest of the world, for the first time ever, would be able to see televised film coverage of the event.
The
Archbishop was delighted with the national enthusiasm, and he endeavored to make sure that Her Majesty’s subjects knew what was about to take place in
the heavenlies as well as in London … and what that could mean to them. The book he wrote for Her Majesty has recently
been put on display in London, with a collection of treasured religious
writings and artifacts, but it is not available to us. In searching for a copy of it, I came
upon an obscure little volume of the Archbishop’s, “addresses interpreting the
Coronation.” It is titled, “I
Here Present Unto You …,” which were the opening words of the manuscript he
had given to the Queen.
While Elizabeth
was reading and praying through her devotional, he was taking every opportunity
to bring the glories, and particularly the religious significance, of the
ceremony home to every Briton. In
sermons and speeches, he talked about the divine responsibilities and spiritual
benefits that belonged to them all as she was crowned the fortieth monarch of the
realm since William the Conqueror.
Six of these essays are compiled in the book. Here are a few representative words from it:
“She
(Elizabeth II) accepts the responsibility God lays upon her. She seeks and receives from God, as his
anointed servant, strength for her task.
“Her
responsibility is ours too. God
has throughout history called nations, even nations that knew him not, to do a
special work for him. God has not
a few times spoken to this nation, laid a mission upon it, and given it the will
to obey and the power to perform his call. …
“Events
have indeed taken from us much of our power, economic, political,
military. But to this nation, as
to its Queen, is left the harder, the humbler, more splendid source of power:
to be . . . what God calls us to
be in the world . . .”.
That is
why we are here and what we will see during the next month. Although each of us has an appointed mission in life, we have sometimes cast off His majesty with humble-speak which is not as true as it is that we are given to "reign in life" in Christ Jesus our King. Let us see where the next thirty days will take us as we investigate what it is to be part of a royal family, a royal inheritance, and a royal obligation. We may truthfully say with God's servant, Job:
“I put on
righteousness, and it clothed me; my judgment was as a robe and a diadem.” Job
29:14, (21st Century King James Version) Amen.
St George's Chapel
Windsor Castle
Cristian Bortes, Flickr
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