The Diadem
With trumpets ringing, commanding
attention, the fanfare of the ancient spectacle underway, Elizabeth stepped
into the nave of Westminster Abbey, dressed according to the words of the
Garter King of Arms.
“The QUEEN in Her Royal Robes of Crimson Velvet, hemmed with ermine and
bordered with gold lace, wearing the Collar of the Garter; on her head a Diadem
of Precious Stones.”
Elizabeth
wore a crown on her way to be crowned!
Well, it was a diadem in fact, the George IV Diadem. Her father had worn it before her. She was Royal, and she was about to be
Majesty in oath, anointing, and coronation. It had been hers to choose her gown, but her position
commanded the robes, the collar, and the diadem.
We, too, wear a diadem on our way
to be crowned! We may have read
the words many times over:
“He
has crowned us with lovingkindness and compassion (Psalm 103:4.)” We are royal by re-birth and, as temples of the Holy
Spirit, majestic and holy, and we are crowned now, and we will be crowned.
Our heads are not bare! We go about, in the city, in the
country, alone and in a crowd, wearing the resplendent diadem of the Lord’s
pleasure and of His favor. Our God
esteems loving kindness and compassion more than all the glittering treasures
of earth, and with them He has crowned us. He knows how to beautify earth and sky and sea, and you and
me!
Is this diadem less glorious
because it isn’t fashioned by human hands and diamond encrusted? We know better. The George IV Diadem bore over 1300 diamonds,
totaling more than 300 karats, an enormous weight of stones! It flashed and sparked in even the black
and white film footage of the Day.
Ours is the honor, the symbol on our heads that His Majesty, our King,
has chosen for us. Kindness,
honest, unpretentious kindness, is breathtakingly beautiful when one can find
it. Our God has adorned our heads
with the most costly and brilliant corona of all: kindness and compassion.
What is majesty to us is only what
is expected of us. It isn’t beyond
us because, like everything else that sets us apart, it is of God. We can love with the love with which we
have been loved … and we can show kindness and compassion just as we have
received them.
We are not at liberty to be beautified
with spiritual splendors and then withhold them from others. We are crowned because we are of the
household of God. Nothing is
lacking.
Queen Elizabeth wore that glittering
diadem into the Abbey, but it was the venerable St. Edward’s Crown that waited
on the altar, and the altar sanctified it. We will see more and more clearly that the Coronation
ceremony was a “putting on” of Regalia and vestments that were freighted with
royal and spiritual power because they came from the Scripture through the
Church, to the State, and sometimes delivered back to the Church to bequeath
them. When Queen Elizabeth had opened
her first Parliament, the Imperial Crown was present on a royal cushion, but
not on her head, awaiting the Coronation Ceremony.
We are what we have been chosen to
be, but it is not yet seen what we will be, neither on earth nor in
heaven. It will be of untold value
to us if we will settle the issue of our majesty. It is not inherent, but in Christ Jesus it is ours.
Diadems and tiaras, rare ones,
beautiful pieces, some old and some new, were hers to wear during the year
leading up to her Coronation, and she was privileged to wear them, but a crown
waited in the wings (actually, in the Tower of London, under guard!) She wore graciousness and kindness,
wisdom and strength during that first year, waiting, but she never went out
bare-headed. Neither do we.
photograph taken:
Nottingham Council House, Wikipedia
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