June 29 - Royal, Monastic Joy!

          There was so much more . . . from the full ecclesiastical service to the Coronation Chicken, a curried specialty by Constance Spry that was printed in ladies’ magazines world-wide, to the unparalleled fireworks display that went on and on that night as Elizabeth and Philip returned to the palace balcony.  At 10:30 they made their final appearance and Coronation Day was ended.  The partying in the streets went on, but Elizabeth had to get some sleep; she had to be at work in the morning.

          So now, we too, having taken this exhilarating trip through the wonders and privileges of our own royal lives, must take our places inside a more enduring Kingdom.  Our King has made us fit to serve and celebrate the Heir to all the glories of heaven.  We must get to work!  We will be taking a look at the “work” of this Kingdom, examining the “work” of another monastic figure, a savior before the coming of the Savior.

We will ever remember that our first responsibility is to “believe in the One Whom (the Father) has sent.”  This will always be our first work.  (John 6:28, 29)

          So we open the lid to our own “red boxes” . . . the blood-colored ones . . . with our own ciphers on the lid; what does yours say?  We will today read this first correspondence of our newly crowned and anointed lives . . .

God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered; and those who hate him shall flee before him! As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away; as wax melts before fire, so the wicked shall perish before God!  But the righteous shall be glad; they shall exult before God; they shall be jubilant with joy! (Ps 68:1-3)

On the Balcony at Buckingham Palace

Rotherham Web

June 28 - Almost Home

          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 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 “Te Deum,” and then the trumpet fanfare began afresh . . . trumpets, organ, choir and orchestra . . .

          “O Lord, save thy people, and bless thine inheritance!

          Govern them: and lift them up forever!”

          Now the swords began to move beside her, born again by her ministers, and the Archbishop led 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 was divested of all her ceremonial robes and was adorned for the first time with the luxuriant 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.

          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 to the diamonds at her ears.  Even on the black and white film, not yet governed by every degree of precise film-making, glittered and danced with the play of light.  

Glancing for one moment at the Throne where she had so lately sat, she began her long trip home.  

Oh Lord God, that we your people would step into and ever travel the road toward our own home, and in the brilliance of Your Majesty.  Blessed be the name of our God and King forever and ever more.

In Procession to the West Door

Rotherham Web

June 27 – Come Ye Before Him and Rejoice!

          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, “All people that on earth do dwell . . .”

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.  The only reference made to him during the ceremony occurred as the Archbishop prayed for him, especially blessing the dignity and honor of his service in the Name of the One to whom belong all power and dignity.  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.   

A Crowning Communion

by Rotherham Web

June 25 - Of Crowns and Crosses

          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.”

          In vain would we in Cor Unum spend these many days investigating an ancient ceremony, an Anglo-Saxon monarchical rite, if it were to make us wish we could grow up to be princesses . . . or kings and queens on the earth. 

          Yet there was a day, a time, when something more ancient, something eternally sacred, something of consummation far more holy and secure, happened to us.

          A few more days, beloved . . . for a few more days, let us gaze upon that day and time when we were crowned with the Crown of Righteousness which Jesus Christ fashioned on the cross of our shame.

Elizabeth in Garter Robes

Pietro Annigoni

June 21 - Loyalty

          After Philip had paid his 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.

          Then the Duke of Norfolk, and with each successive degree of lordship, the dukes that shared that degree repeated the words of oath and loyalty that were spoken at Elizabeth’s feet, until all that was royal 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.

          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.

          Aren’t we glad, here in Cor Unum, that we are, each and all of us, only once removed, and in Him . . . we are not removed at all.  We are seated at the right hand of God, enthroned in heavenly places in Christ Jesus our Lord.

          Recognition, Anointing, Investiture, Proclamation, Crowning . . . we are not removed at all.  The more momentous matter might be . . . 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, saying what He heard the Father say, doing what He saw the Father do.

          To this day, Elizabeth is known to say, “This is what my father would have done,” and when she makes that observation, she is constant in her decisions, and at peace. 

In the Throne Room - With the Family!

Rotherham Web

June 20 - Making One Another Great

          A right understanding is one of the greatest faculties any of us can ever obtain.  Paul prays for the Ephesians that they might be given a “spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of (Jesus,)” and that their eyes may be opened to know what are “the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power to us who believe.”

          Elizabeth and Philip would need that kind of wisdom and understanding. 

          She sat upon a throne, high and lifted up, and all the regalia of State and Majesty had come to her, and from the altar of God.  The Archbishop himself had bowed before her.  The ancient crown of St. Edward was upon her head and robes of splendor adorned her.

          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 in Cor Unum about the ministry of making sure each marriage partner fulfills the ministry God has given.  He, who would almost certainly have been the King of Greece had that monarchy survived, has certainly helped make sure Elizabeth fulfilled hers.

 

"The End of the Day"

Rotherham Web

June 14 – 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.  Not a bad system, when we think about it.

Phillip's Obeisance, His Honor to Protect and Defend

June 13 - Enthroned

          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 in Cor Unum that we have a rightful place . . . a necessary place.  This is what Elizabeth saw and believed on behalf of her role in the history of her nation.  By royal tradition, Kings and Queens have taken their place; by the Word of God, we in Cor Unum are lifted up to take ours at the right hand of God.  Should we fail to do so, families and churches and governments (and nations 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.

Her Majesty

June 12 – “Be Strong and of Good Courage”

          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.”

          Those who have been with us from the beginning in this Cor Unum experience will remember that the first words spoken by the new arrival in a Carmelite monastery are . . . “Passio Christi, conforta me! . . . Passion of Christ, comfort me!” 

          Elizabeth would need it.   She would be faced within days with the a most heavy, difficult, knotty problem, one that would not end well for her sister, Margaret, although it ended best, thanks to Elizabeth’s wisdom and patience.

          The crowned Queen has much in common with those Carmelite Sisters who are crowned as well, on the day of the Profession of their Final Vows.  Usually the crown is a garland of flowers, but that diadem means at least as much to them as Elizabeth’s did to her.  She was preparing to reign as Monarch, servant to a nation, wedded to a People.  They hope to reign in life as servants of God, betrothed to Jesus Christ, and servants to those whom He loves.

          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 so very far removed from a monastic choice, is it?  Not at all far removed from our lives, rightly lived, here in Cor Unum, for we are “bought with a price, and we are not our own. (1 Corinthians 6:19 and 20)

Crowned, and Given

June 11 - Crown of Glory and Righteousness

          In another moment, the bells in the north-west Abbey tower will be pealing wildly, and ‘by signal given’ the mighty guns at the Tower will be firing.  The millions of souls on the streets will be cheering “God Save the Queen!  God Save the Queen,” but first the cry is raised inside the Abbey.   In just a moment, a  crimson wave will produce hands and arms uplifted, placing sparkling coronets on humbled heads.  In that moment, England and all the Commonwealth will be crowned in the glory of this coronation.

          The Archbishop is standing before Elizabeth, whose eyes are fixed upon him.  The coronation crown has been situated just so on its cushion, and many practices on stand-ins have guaranteed that it will be put right side to the front on the royal head, as has failed to happen in coronations past.

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.”

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 at least those members of Cor Unum, there that day, and all these members here today, in the splendor and glory of that wonderful coronation moment.

St. Edward's Crown

 dbking/flicker

June 8 – Holding Our Breath

          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 royal headgear.  Their colorful uniforms were a medieval splash in the gold and scarlet arena.  With a bow, they presented to the titled owners the symbol 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 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.  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.

          May the Abbess ask once more, who last brought from the Altar of God the blessing of God upon our heads?  In our day, as in most generations, one’s head is more apt to be teased or turned than blessed, but if neither pastor nor preacher, friend nor family has ratified the blessing and sanctity of the “abundant grace” and  “princely virtues” that are ours in Christ Jesus, receive this day a crowning blessing, 

“May the servant who reads these words be blessed to behold You throughout each day, and may the head of the one who looks to You be crowned with joy, and the heart filled with gladness.  May hope, by which we are not ashamed, be the royal emblem of Majesty visible to all, and may the Wisdom, the Righteousness, and the Sanctity of Your Son Jesus be throne and robe and ring, as surely as You have crowned us with lovingkindness and tender mercies. Amen.”

"Crowning Moment"

Rotherham Web