May 31 - Receiving the Orb

 


 “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 to Buckingham Palace, in full view of all the crowds that had filled every inch of space along the route.

          This Monarchy is an unusual thing.  The Queen must summon Parliament, but the notes she reads 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.  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 predecessors, not with that kind of power, nor that kind of danger.  The world has turned over.  People are vested with personal responsibility for self-government . . . and in many places, 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 – oh, may it please God that we should consider well! – what alterations might we 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, were we 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 the eternal Word of God?  How would we make sure?  Would we be certain our guidance came from God and that our minds were “stayed” on Him?  How would we be certain it were so?  Would we lead and reign in peace and determine that our exalted position would make and not break us?  How would we proceed?  

          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.  At the very least, we reign over our souls, or we are meant so to do.  

Oh, that we would take as much care over these “everyday monarchies” as Elizabeth was sworn to take over her peoples, that we might safeguard and prosper their souls and ours, wherever we have been given dominion.  It does appear that we will be judged according to our care, or the lack thereof.  (Matt. 24:45-51)

Receiving the Orb
Rotherham Web

May 30 - The Mantle

Now the Stole Royal was presented and put in place and then the Imperial Mantle.

          This was a cope, like those worn by Cardinals in the Catholic Church.  Elizabeth’s was 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.  Brian Barker said in his account that there was an audible gasp from one of the Peeresses in the Abbey.

          The Archbishop spoke to her in her splendor:  “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.”  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 Representative Who is in the Exact Image of God; we may seize and hold, with true faith and in the power of right humility, the words we hear . . . and never let go.  For this, we came into Cor Unum, dear Sisters . . . and Brothers.  Listen . . .

          “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)

           Let us wear, dear ones, the mantle of the Lord's glory, the visible radiance of the indwelling Spirit of Christ.  We won't have to pretend, when we have been with Him.  We won't have to smile and wave and behave like Charismatic Pageant Winners . . . we will be full and overflowing with righteousness, peace, and joy, and we will shine in our generation and in all tribulation, for it is Christ in us, our hope of glory.  Amen.

5mm of gold, flattened to half a square meter

by permission, PHGCOM

May 29 - Sincerity and Wisdom

          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 the gifts of the people to their Sovereign and symbolic of 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.”  In this moment of the Coronation Ceremoney, her subjects had taken part, and both Elizabeths wore their gift,  their contribution in the presentation of the Regalia. 

How 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, so that the purchaser would go home with water vessels shaped without 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.

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 than it was fifty years ago, 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 Monastery of the Heart.

The Armills, gift of the people

Wikipedia

May 27 - The Sword Returns to the Altar

Her Sword, presented to her from the Altar of God, at the hand of God's representative.  Her Sword, returned by her to the Altar of God, in tunic of humility and garments of majesty, with uncovered head.  Her sword, redeemed by the State that it might stand guard beside her, unsheathed.

In a culture many cannot quite know, including many who live within it, God-given sovereignty is guarded by those whom the Crown will guard.  It is a bit of a dance, but we understand.  It was as if the Marquess was speaking on behalf of a nation . . . "We will protect what God has given and what our Queen has surrendered . . . we will watch and guard the gift of God, for she guards us before Him."  

Which one of us in Cor Unum can help but think, "That would work very well in the Body of Christ!  Every gift and power of God upon the Altar of God; every one among us redeeming the honor of the other, bearing unsheathed defense of the majesty of all," the Word of God spoken and never returning void to His throne.

Rotherham Web

May 25 - 100 Shillings

It means much to the British that those who defend others are by their Monarch defended. 

With a surreal rustling of the twenty-three pound Supertunica upon the Abbey floor, the Queen was making her way to the Altar once again.  Still bare-headed, she was bringing the Jewelled Sword back to the Lord. 

 The Sword is made of steel, etched in blue and gold, with a hilt of gold and with diamonds, rubies and emeralds on the pommel.

It lay flat and glittering upon the open palms of her upturned hands; her concentration seemed divine and fierce and childlike, all at the same moment.  A Monarch, a Queen, a woman . . . a young woman . . . covered from her neck to the floor in the coat of silk, each thread wrapped in gold, bearing the Sword of the Offering, the Monarch's personal sword, back to the Altar of God.

It could not remain there.  The Marquess of Salisbury stepped forward once more.  In his hand was an embroidered bag, tied tight.  In it were 100 newly minted shillings, for the Sword had to be redeemed.  He who had born the Sword of State now bore the Queen's own Sword.  He would, according to royal tradition, "carry it naked before her Majesty during the rest of the solemnity."  The 100 shillings would become an everlasting treasure belonging to those who serve Abbey Westminster.

          We will speak once more tomorrow of this sword, but for today, let us remember through the hours before us that “the Kingdom of God must be fought for aggressively and obtained through perseverance (Matt. 11:12, Francis Frangipane, This Day We Fight.)  It is given to us to fight and win the liberty that others have yet to enjoy. 

These things we know to be true, although our passive spirits may not yet have born the Sword of our State to the altar of God.  It is here in Cor Unum that we join the battle; here in monastic devotion and in monarchical dedication that the disciplines of love begin to see others set free.   

We bear the Sword of our State . . . redeemed and royal and ready to pay the price that others may live.

The Sword Returns to the Altar

Rotherham Web

From the moment the Queen had arrived at the Abbey, the elderly Marquess of Salisbury had been bearing, in two handed grip, with the blade upright, the Great Sword of State.  The sword is over 4 feet in height and weighs more than eight pounds. 

The Golden Spurs were brought to Elizabeth, the first of the Regalia to be presented, ancient objects of Knighthood and chivalry, and representing the supremacy of monarchs over those who ride out from the Coronation in her loyal service.  In days of old, these were worn by Kings at their Coronation, but Elizabeth laid her hand upon them and sent them once again to the altar. 

Now, something of a Sword Dance began, as the Marquess surrendered the Great Sword of State to the Lord Chamberlain of the Household and then the Sword of the Offering was placed in his hands.  This sword was then presented to the Archbishop, who brought it before God at the Altar, praying these words from the Liber Regalis, that the Queen might use it “as the Minister of God for the terror and punishment of evildoers, and for the protection and encouragement of those that do well.”  Somebody has been reading their Scripture passages!

Then, joined by the Archbishop of York and the Bishops of London and Winchester, the bejeweled Sword caught the light and sparkled all the way to Elizabeth and was placed in her hand, blade up. 

“With this Sword do justice, stop the growth of iniquity, protect the Holy Church of God, help and defend widows and orphans, restore the things that are gone to decay, maintain the things that are restored, punish and reform what is amiss, and confirm what is in good order . . .”

What comes next?  In the presentation of the Regalia, we will see, tomorrow.  What comes next for us in Cor Unum is to discover . . . are we doing with the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, what royal priests are meant to do?  Are we doing justice, stopping the growth of iniquity, protecting the Body of Christ, helping and defending widows and orphans . . .

May 23 - Shining Like the Sun

          As the Scriptures have promised us, those who humble themselves will be exalted.

          The crown-less Elizabeth, in a symbolic gown of monastic simplicity, hidden from view, anointed to care for others in the power and ministry of the Holy Ghost, must now receive the emblems of her authority, and she must “put on” the adornments of her new life.

          First, the Colobian Sidonis, a white linen undergarment which she wore over her coronation gown and the anointing dress.  From earliest times, from the days of the Emporers of Byzantium, the mortal monarch has been loathe to put on glory without first accepting the garb of simplicity and humility.

          Over the Colobian Sidonis came the resplendent Supertunica.  She looked the vision of a Byzantium Empress in it.  With flowing skirts and sleeves reaching nearly to the floor, she was covered in the gold of it from head to foot.  It was belted at the waist by a golden girdle.  Now, in shining, golden splendor, Elizabeth returned to St. Edward’s chair for her crowning.

          Bare-headed, a vision of ancient and distant splendor and majesty, what shines through the gold and the orthodoxy was “right.”  The symbols of power were about to come to her in succession, but without crown or diadem, the surpassing majesty of the next part of the ceremony was captured in the real-life display of the Windsor motto, “Dieu et Mon Droit” . . . God is My Right.  

          Now by anointing and by proclamation, by the authority of the Church and the consent of the people, by her own Oath and Promises, she was standing rightfully at the head of a nation, rightfully clothed in ancient and royal majesty, in the perfection of both humility and honor together, and she was about to receive every token of her rightful “highness” as their Guardian and Defender of the Faith.

          Is there a correlation between Elizabeth on that day and us, the Brothers and Sisters of Cor Unum, when in the humility of Christ we at last reckon ourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus, when we “put off” the old man with its corruptions and lusts, and “put on” the anointing which IS Christ? Not at all that we may walk back in front of a mirror for the rest of our days, but, as Elizabeth would have to do the NEXT morning, to get down to the business of being heir of God and co-heirs with Jesus Christ, Guardians of those know Him and of those who need Him, Defenders of the Faith in all our appearance at His throne?

          A shining, golden imagery for us, certainly, but if we will heed it, may it be for us an abiding reminder here in Cor Unum, that we reign in the splendor and the majesty of the Holy Spirit of God.


The Supertunica

May 21 - A Charge to Keep

          As the canopy was removed and Elizabeth rose, anointed, and then knelt at the faldstool placed before St. Edward’s Chair, Archbishop Fisher lifted his hand and voice to bless the young Queen, consecrated through his own faith and obedience.  He spoke the words of which St. Dunstan had spoken over Edgar, the first King of All England, and very distant relative of the woman before him . . .

          “by his holy Anointing pour down upon your Head and Heart the blessing of the Holy Ghost, and prosper the works of your Hands: that . . . you may govern and preserve the Peoples committed to your charge in wealth, peace and godliness.”

          Whatever before, all the pageantry of the processional, all that was yet to come, the Investiture, Crowning, and the Homage, none could have, none did so visibly, move the soul of the minister than the Anointing.

          For us in Cor Unum, we know that it is the “anointing which destroys the yoke”  (Isaiah 10:27)  We know it; do we remember it and hold that truth as sacred day by day, just as Elizabeth must wake up and be a monarch every morning?

          She reigns as Her Majesty over millions of people; we may, if we will, walk in the majesty of an Anointing that will relieve and release those around us from all bondage.  Hers is a great calling; she has taken every part in good conscience and born the burden.

          Ours will be as great . . . greater . . . toward those who have not known love or truth or purity or hope or joy or purpose or strength or peace.  She must be the lawful and consecrated Queen of her realm, daughter of a King; we must be the lawful and consecrated children of the Most High, co-heirs with Jesus Christ, our lawful and not-at-all distant relative.  It is our birthright, here in the sanctity of Cor Unum.

May 18 – The Anointing

          We’ve heard before . . . “A King is Crowned!”  “The Queen at Her Coronation,” but nobody told us about . . . THE ANOINTING!

          Now the music of Handel’s “Zadok the Priest” took the participants and guests to another place, to that time on earth when kings and priests were anointed by God to the service of His people. “And all the people rejoiced ... rejoiced, and all the people rejoiced!” The volume was intense and the chorus began to echo into “Amens” as only Handel can do!  The trappings of coronation bowed in the tide of those “Amens” to the austerity of anointing ... Elizabeth removed her glittering diadem with her own hands.

          The Lord Great Chamberlain did for Elizabeth which every Lord Great Chamberlain before him had done and too the Royal Robe as it was folded in perfect symmetry by the Maids of honor; the precious Collar of the Garter and all its symbolic protection was removed, and the glimmering Coronation Gown was covered by a nearly nun-like garment, plain and white, only superb in its design and Elizabeth’s delicate figure.

          Nearly no one saw it.  At last Elizabeth was seated on the Chair of King Edward, not yet enthroned but sitting where monarchs had sat for a thousand years. The Garter King of Arms summoned the four knights of the order who took the silver staves of the cloth of gold canopy and bore it over Elizabeth.  Suddenly, she was gone, invisible to all but a very few.  One who was able to see her face thought she looked more withdrawn from the mundane than the canopy could make her.  The cameras were turned off.

          From the beak of the tiny Ampula, drops of anointing oil fell into the Spoon.  Alone with the Archbishop, her “hands, breast, and head” were anointed, blessed, and consecrated to rule and govern under God, just as have been our service, our love, and our wisdom, here in the Sanctuary of Cor Unum.

The Anointing

Rotherham Web

May 17 - Spoken Over Us

          “O Lord and heavenly Father, the exalter of the humble and the strength of thy chosen, who by Anointing with Oil didst of old make and consecrate kings, priests and prophets, to teach and govern thy people Israel: Bless and sanctify thy chosen servant Elizabeth, who by our office and ministry is now to be anointed with this Oil and consecrated Queen . . .”

          A moment before, the Archbishop had invoked the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit, and now, when he had prayed over the young Queen and before the people, Elizabeth rose from her knees and the voices of the choir rose, as from the top of a high mountain, as though filling the national valleys that remained following two World Wars and the death of two monarchs and the abdication of one, flooding the dry tributaries of despair and deprivation . . . in the eyes of the subjects to the British crown, at home and around the world, God had given a Queen, and He was about to anoint her to the most high calling of keeping and defending the Faith. 

          If Members of Parliament forget the people in their struggles for power and position, she would not.  If the whole world collapsed in a heap, Great Britain would still have a Queen whom God had given.  This, as best an outsider Abbess can relate, was the joy and hope and exaltation in the Realm and Commonwealth that day.

          We have never awakened to a Coronation Day; no one has ever spoken over us the words of majesty and consecration that Elizabeth heard that day.  No one has ever prayed for us quite the way the Archbishop prayed for the new Queen … but … the Word of the Lord is full, from start to finish with proclamations like this:

“I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand-- I who set the heavens in place, who laid the foundations of the earth, and who say to Zion, 'You are my people.'”  (Isaiah 51:16)

by permission,

ceremsin, Wikipedia

 

May 16 - "Veni, Creator Spiritus!"

         

          Elizabeth sat upon her Chair of Estate, before her the faldstool at which she would kneel when not at the altar.  Archbishop Geoffrey Fisher prayed over her bowed head that “thy servant Elizabeth, our Queen . . . may so wisely govern, that in her time the Church may be in safety, and Christian devotion may continue in peace.”  These words had been spoken over the monarchs of the realm since the coronation of King Edgar in 973.

          Then, almost as if it were any service of any year, the Epistle and Gospel messages were read, and as they concluded, the voices in the choir began to sing the Nicene Creed.  The great and beautiful proclamation of faith filled the Abbey to the vaulted ceiling.

          Now Archbishop Fisher brought the entire congregation to the sacramental moments of the ceremony, intoning the ancient Latin cry and hope, “Veni, Creator, Spiritus” . . . “Come, Holy Ghost . . . our souls inspire.”

          He had approached the altar, and his hand enfolded the Ampula, a tiny vessel, all of gold, surmounted with an eagle, and one of the few pieces of the Service and Regalia to have survived Oliver Cromwell’s purge of the Crown possessions.  Inside the Ampula was the anointing oil, an anointment so precious and rare that on behalf of its formulation, the perfumer had stopped smoking for six months in order to assure the most pure and perfect aroma, and so that Elizabeth would never say, as had one of her predecessors, that it “stank.’

          Elizabeth was within moments of the Anointing.  Once she would smell that perfume.  Once she would wear it.  Once she would wear St. Edward’s Crown and sit upon his throne.  Once she would hear these words.

          We, in Cor Unum, may hear that which has been spoken over us day after day, if we will listen in the volume of the God-breathed text: “As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you . . . just as it has taught you, remain in him.”  (1John 2:27)

          Shall we?  Shall we earmark those words and read them morning by morning for a season?  Shall we hear them even more certainly than Elizabeth heard the words of the Archbishop?  We may, if we will, here in the Monastery of the Heart.

ceremsym
Crown Jewels

May 15 - "Here is Wisdom!"

There was a lot of history between Elizabeth and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.  By his very dress, in his black Geneva robe, he was there, but he was saying, “We have a different take on things in Scotland.”

          We have a different “take” on things if we are in the American corridor of Cor Unum, but we are beginning, as never before, to respect and actually to appreciate our differences.  Now we can learn and begin to move forward more steadily.

          In all his austere simplicity, to the Moderator was given the high honor of presenting the Word of God to a Sovereign.  She hasn’t left if on a shelf, either.  She knows the Scripture, and she uses her Book of Common Prayer and has for all these many years.  It might well be said that if we failed to pray one day, she does not.  There is something to be said (and isn’t that why we’re here!) for rule and form and regimen.  Sometimes a simple discipline will do what zeal does not!  There’s another good motto for our door posts!   

     

          Ladies of the monastery, gentlemen, what do you suppose?  Do you think that if we asked the Lord to assign an angel to present our Bibles to us each morning that we might be so served?  We could ask the Holy Spirit to render that service to us, and while the volume might not float across the room to us, we all know that we shouldn’t be surprised if we received the quiet but unmistakable answer to our prayers, perhaps a gentle reminder, or our eyes might fall just on the spot where our Bibles lie.  

Unless we dismiss the ministry that comes to help us take up the Word of God, it will come; the Lord knows we cannot even remember without help, but when help comes, we must not turn aside, and some things must just come FIRST.

Sometimes we need to ask for the TIME we need, but we ought to be very careful when it is given that we don’t fill it up with something else SO QUICKLY that we never see what we had!  In all the splendor of the Majesty of Jesus Christ and of His Word, let us begin to receive from the austerity of good discipline.

Cranmer's Book of Common Prayer, 1549

PD-US, by permission        

May 14 – “I Am Willing”

          The coronation regalia had preceded Elizabeth into the sanctuary and had been placed upon the altar.  We will see what those pieces represent to her and to us, but before that, her Majesty was confronted with the oaths of her high position.

          “Madam, is Your Majesty willing to take the oath?” asked Archbishop Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury, wearing a cope almost as elaborate as Elizabeth’s gown.  It was a gift from the Bishop of Kobe, a gesture of Christian reconciliation following the horrors of the last war.

          “I am willing,” answered Elizabeth, and she gave her promises to the vows of fidelity to the state, the people, and the Church, promising to tender justice with mercy, to respect the laws and customs of her people, and to maintain and preserve the Church of England and its clergy.

          “All this I promise to do.”  With this pronouncement, The Queen rose from the Chair of Estate where she had been seated, and with the great Sword of State going before her, she made her way to the altar.  There she knelt and kissed the Bible upon the altar and signed her oaths before returning to her seat, there to receive a Bible from the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.  His appearance was prominate, for he alone was dressed in black robes, his Geneva gown, and he addressed Elizabeth with these words, “Here is Wisdom; this is the royal Law; these are the lively Oracles of God.”

          Now the choir voices rose again, singing, “Behold, O God our Defender; and look upon the face of thine Anointed; for one day in thy courts is better than a thousand.”

          We did not know . . . we were not aware.  This service was much more than a show of royal splendor.  If ever there has been an earthly display of all that is inherently ours in Christ, this could be it.  We are they who defend the lost and the sinful and the hopeless before God, and He delights that we should do so.  He does not need or at all require that we should champion Him, but that we should so love His Gospel, His Kingdom, and His Son that we would be given to His people everywhere.  This was Elizabeth’s moment, a royal laying-down of her life for the sake of a kingdom.  We have much to learn from all that happened next.

"Joyeux"

French Sword of State

by permission, Siren-Com

May 13 – “Vivat! Vivat!”

          Oh, to be glad!  To be glad when the alarm clock goes off, glad when it’s raining and when the sun is shining, and glad when we put our heads on our pillows at night.

          The monastic has every reason to be glad, for she is living the life she chose, the one she wanted for herself.  But  …  what about the monarch?

          Elizabeth II did not chose her life, and as we have said, it looked as though she might be forty or fifty years old before that life caught up with her, before the rigors of reigning would be hers.  Instead, at the tender age of twenty-five, she was Queen.

          Whether we in Cor Unum are entering our twenties or leaving our seventies, we would be GLAD that majesty has come to us.  Elizabeth’s came through birth and through death, and so has ours. 

          She entered the nave on that coronation day, and all the work of architects and carpenters and designers had turned it into a stage, with golden carpet and a raised dais for the throne.  This team of producers knew that people would want to SEE her, and so it has been for these many years since.

          By now the choir was proclaiming, “Vivat! Vivat Regina Elizabetha!  Vivat!  Vivat!  Vivat!”, and the sound of their exclamation was even more thrilling than all that had gone before.  “Live!  “Live, Queen Elizabeth!  Live!”  It was a shout, enough to make the hair on one’s neck stand up, even today.  For the last time ever in her life, Elizabeth bowed, north, south, east, and west, to the will of her people, her acknowledgement that she would reign and serve, and for her it was with gladness of heart and the fullness of duty.

          Her countenance was absolutely solemn all during the ceremony, which was to her a religious procedure, as it was meant to be, but she has been smiling ever since, learning to be more generous with her smiles, which are electrifying.  Let us take a lesson from her today, and may we embrace our duty with gladness and rejoice, for like Ezekial’s bones, Someone has spoken over us, “Live!  Live!”