What the Queen Said At Her Coronation

There has been much debate about what the Queen said and meant during the week, also plenty of speculation over who actually wrote her words, however curiosity was niggling me over something else and it is only this morning with Kelvin’s blogging nudging me again that I have finally dealt with it.

In Westminster Abbey on the 2nd June 1953 Queen Elizabeth II was crowned, but not before she took the Oath – now I have in my possession ‘The Form and Order of her Majesty’s Coronation’ so I dug it out and read it again, in particular the bit which is often quoted but also the Oath.

The bit which people often talk of and which Prince Charles has referred to in the past is a prayer spoken by the Archbishop when the Ring is placed on the fourth finger of the right hand of the new monarch:

Receive the Ring of kingly dignity, and the seal of Catholic Faith: and as you are this day consecrated to be our Head and Prince, so may you continue steadfastly as the Defender of Christ’s Religion; that being rich in faith and blessed in all good works, you may reign with him who is the King of Kings, to whom be the glory for ever and ever.  Amen.

This is a Christian prayer and quite clearly is praying that the monarch will continue to defend Christianity.  As a prayer it is a hope, a wish, a religious desire, but I would venture to say that there is nothing binding either the current Queen or even Prince Charles when/should he become the monarch in these words.

The point when the Monarch is handed the Sword is another time when a prayer is said which could also be thought of as being under the above concept:

Receive this kingly Sword, brought now from the Altar of God, and delivered to you by the hands of us the Bishops and servants of God, though unworthy.  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 ar gone to decay, maintain th things that are restored, punish and reform what is amiss, and confirm what is in good order: that doing these things you may be glorious in all virtue; and so faithfully serve our Lord Jesus Christin this life, that you may reign for ever with him in the life which is to come.  Amen.

I would argue that the mention of the Church in this passage includes all Churches, even the Roman Catholic Church. However the bit that is possibly most relevant to the current debate is at the end of the oath which is taken right at the beginning of the service, when the Archbishop asks:

Will you to the utmost of your power maintain the Laws of God and the true profession of the Gospel?  Will you to the utmost of your power maintain in the United Kingdom the Protestant Reformed Religion established by law?  Will you maintain and preserve inviolably the settlement of the Church of England, and the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government thereof, as by law established in England?  And will you preserve unto the Bishops and Clergy of England, and to the Churches there committed to their charge, all such rights and privileges, as by law do or shall appertain to them or any of them?

The Queen then replies:

All this I promise to do.

The rubic then states:

Then the Queen arising out of her Chair, supported as before, the Sword of State being carried before her, shall go to the Altar, and make her solemn Oath in the sight of all the people to observe the premisses: laying her right hand upon the Holy Gospel in the great Bible (which was before carried in the procession and is now brought from the Altar by the Archbishop, and tendered to her as she kneels upon the steps), and saying these words:

The things which I have here before promised, I will perform, and keep.  So help me God.

The first part of that asks – Will you to the utmost of your power maintain the Laws of God and the true profession of the Gospel?  I would venture to say that this is a personal oath, a question being directed to the monarch themselves to respond to concerning their own faith.  So no problem with that bit then, the Queen is well-known for being a devout Anglican.

The second part asks – Will you to the utmost of your power maintain in the United Kingdom the Protestant Reformed Religion established by law?  This part is dependant on the monarch’s power and the law of the land.  However even if these two fall by the wayside there is nothing in this part that says the Protestant Reformed Religion should be the only religion in the land, only that a monarch should promise to maintain it.

It is the final two parts that come in to play and are probably why, as Kelvin pointed out, the speech didn’t make much sense in Scotland.  Will you maintain and preserve inviolably the settlement of the Church of England, and the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government thereof, as by law established in England?  And will you preserve unto the Bishops and Clergy of England, and to the Churches there committed to their charge, all such rights and privileges, as by law do or shall appertain to them or any of them?

The Queen by oath has sworn to prohibit violation to secure from destruction, infringement, or desecration, the Church of England and what it stands for, as long as it is within the law of the land.

At another point in the Coronation service the Dean of Westminster delivers the Armills to the Archbishop who places them on the Queen’s wrists with these words:

Receive the Bracelets of sincerity and wisdom, both for tokens of the Lord’s protection embracing you on every side; and also for symbols and pledges of that bond which unites you with your Peoples …

The Queen’s Peoples, the people that she is bound to; are people of various faiths and of none; people of the Church of England and of other Christian denominations; people who want to tear down all faiths, and those who want the world to see that only their faith is the right one.  The Queen is bound to them all, even those who would rather not have a monarch at all.  The Queen in what she said defended her own faith and kept to her coronation oath, but not at the expense of the different faiths that some of her People hold, a delicate balancing act indeed, here is the full text of what she actually said:

Prince Philip and I are delighted to be with you today to pay tribute to the particular mission of Christianity and the general value of faith in this country.
This gathering is a reminder of how much we owe the nine major religious traditions represented here. They are sources of a rich cultural heritage and have given rise to beautiful sacred objects and holy texts, as we have seen today.
Yet these traditions are also contemporary families of faith. Our religions provide critical guidance for the way we live our lives, and for the way in which we treat each other. Many of the values and ideas we take for granted in this and other countries originate in the ancient wisdom of our traditions. Even the concept of a Jubilee is rooted in the Bible.
Here at Lambeth Palace we should remind ourselves of the significant position of the Church of England in our nation’s life. The concept of our established Church is occasionally misunderstood and, I believe, commonly under-appreciated. Its role is not to defend Anglicanism to the exclusion of other religions. Instead, the Church has a duty to protect the free practice of all faiths in this country.
It certainly provides an identity and spiritual dimension for its own many adherents. But also, gently and assuredly, the Church of England has created an environment for other faith communities and indeed people of no faith to live freely. Woven into the fabric of this country, the Church has helped to build a better society – more and more in active co-operation for the common good with those of other faiths.
This occasion is thus an opportunity to reflect on the importance of faith in creating and sustaining communities all over the United Kingdom. Faith plays a key role in the identity of many millions of people, providing not only a system of belief but also a sense of belonging. It can act as a spur for social action. Indeed, religious groups have a proud track record of helping those in the greatest need, including the sick, the elderly, the lonely and the disadvantaged. They remind us of the responsibilities we have beyond ourselves.
Your Grace, the presence of your fellow distinguished religious leaders and the objects on display demonstrate how each of these traditions has contributed distinctively to the history and development of the United Kingdom. Prince Philip and I wish to send our good wishes, through you, to each of your communities, in the hope that – with the assurance of the protection of our established Church – you will continue to flourish and display strength and vision in your relations with each other and the rest of society.

A Continent Apart

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Photography

I find something very beautiful about decay.  Partly it is down to the colours and shapes, partly it is the wonder of nature reclaiming her own despite what we might think something should be made into, and partly it is to do with the beauty that lies within death itself.  I know, I know, not a popular statement to make in today’s modern world were death is all but hidden and talked about in whispers.  Anyway I wasn’t going to talk about death but boats and how in different continents the slow decaying of a boat can have very two very differing impacts.

As we drove along one of the many coastal paths we traversed during our holiday we rounded a corner to be met with this view.

The waters of the west coast of Scotland slowly reclaiming a boat which once sailed them.  The bright Autumnal colour it once had disappearing with each tide and the wood soaked by the sea water first looses its paint then crumbles and sinks into the silt unforgotten until maybe in a million years it will be rediscovered as coal or oil. Where had that boat sailed?  What has caused it to be abandoned?  Who were its crew?  Why had they stopped loving her?  Lying listing on her side still tethered to the land, foreign to her being she retains a forlorn beauty as her younger sisters bob on the waves behind her.  Will those fiberglass youngsters have such a repose?

It is not just abandoned wooden boats that grab my attention, I do like a bit of rust.  Like this rusty post from a long unused jetty, something once so strong and secure now flaking away under the elements.

Which brings me to the title of this blog.  While a one wooden boat in Argyll might be beautiful in Africa off the coast of Nigeria rusting ships are less so, not in the nature of their decay, but in the impact that they are causing.  Oil companies which make huge profits are in part to blame using cheap ships which are not really seaworthy and then abandoning them along the coast.  You can read and see the BBC news report about the problems they are causing for the locals here.

The Beauty of Lent

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Liturgical Seasons

It may be a bit late this year, but Lent is now finally upon us, those forty days when we are often urged to look beneath our surfaces and find the horrors that are lurking there so we can chase them out and be miraculously more ready for Easter, than if we had left them buried and forgotten.

Now I am not saying that there isn’t a place for confession and noting those things which we haven’t got quite right and addressing them because I firmly believe that there is.  The old saying ‘confession is good for the soul’ is loaded with truth for when we confess our souls are lightened from bearing the burden of remorse, or revenge or bitterness, that we all too easily carry around.  While God rejoices in the good confession does for us, we are sadly mistaken if we think that confessing means God loves us more.  If it did, it would also mean that God’s love is conditional and shows partiality, which it doesn’t.  God loves us not despite our failings but regardless of them, God loves the beauty and promise that is within us.

Amidst all the harrowing pictures to come out of New Zealand after their devastating earthquake came this one:

The quake was such that some icebergs toppled over in the Tasman Lake.  Instead of the dirty side of the iceberg which we often see we see the beauty which is usually beneath the water.

Inside each of us, maybe deep inside but there nevertheless, is beauty and this Lent I would urge you to instead of seeking out your failings (which you are probably all too aware of and should be dealing with each and every day of the year) to search for your beauty, your gifts and blessings which often go by unnoticed and unacknowledged.  So that we can rejoice on Easter Day not because we miserable sinners that have somehow still been saved, but because we have searched and seen the beauty within us that God sees and wants to save for eternity.

Time To Find A Voice

The number of people who are undernourished has continued to grow, while slow progress in reducing the prevalence of hunger stalled—or even reversed itself—in some regions between 2000-2002 and 2005-2007. About one in four children under the age of fi ve are underweight, mainly due to lack of food and quality food, inadequate water, sanitation and health services, and poor care and feeding practices.

UN Millennium Development Goals Report 2010 (page 4)

The United Nations 2010 report on the Millenium Development Goals runs to some 80 pages, a pdf of it can be downloaded here.  It was the declared aim that these goals would be completed by 2015, but with only 5 years to go, it looks like some of the goals wont be achieved, with some situations being worse than at the turn of the Millennium.

In 2005-2007, the last period assessed, 830 million people were still undernourished, an increase from 817 million in 1990-1992.  Food prices spiked in 2008 and falling income due to the financial crisis further worsened the situation. The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations estimates that the number of people who were undernourished in 2008 may be as high as 915 million and exceed 1 billion in 2009.

UN Millennium Development Goals Report 2010 (page 11)

For a moment let us turn away from the estimated figure of 1 billion and look at the last period assessed.  Between 2005 and 2007 13 million more people were undernourished.

Starvation, the distress of the famished, is the supreme human calamity, a more miserable end than all other deaths. … famine is a slow evil, always approaching, always holding off like a beast in its den.  The heat of the body cools.  The form shrivels.  Little by little strength diminishes.  Flesh stretches across the bones like a spider’s web.  The skin loses its bloom, as the rosy appearance withers into black while the livid body, suffering pitifully, manifests a dark and pale mottling.  The knees no longer support but drag themselves by force, the voice is powerless, the eyes are sunken as if in a casket, like dried up nuts in their shells; the empty belly collapsed, conforming itself to the shape of the backbone without any natural elasticity of the bowels.

The person who rushes by such a body, how greatly worthy is he of chastisement?  What excess of cruelty will he allow?  Should he not be reckoned with the savagery of the beasts, accused and a homicide?  Whoever has it in his power to alleviate this evil, but deliberately opts instead for profit, should be condemned as a murderer.

Basil the Great

Their voice might indeed be powerless but we have a voice, isn’t it about time we started using it?

Something Different

Now there is something going on called the World Cup, which I believe involves some men kicking a football around a pitch for 90 minutes only some of them don’t like the football.  Maybe that is why they are kicking it!

And there is some kind of record attempt going on in London.  Smaller ball and big bat thingy, 10 hours two of them have been at it, apparently, sounds like attention seeking to me.

And there was also something to do with a red ball and different shaped bat, pared down rounders I think.

If, like me, you aren’t really that interested in sport then you might not be too pleased to hear that the Olympics is also going on.  Ah but this isn’t your usual Olympics, if this was on the television I might just watch it.

What Next, Locusts?

A member of All Saints congregation pointed me in the direction of this article, they were right I did like, ridiculous as it is, so I thought you might like it too.

What next, Locusts?

Arcing the Spark – Yorkshire Sparrows

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Arcing the Spark

The people of Yorkshire are again waking up to a media circus on their doorstep, and like the story of Peter Sutcliffe it isn’t a good news story, it is one that strikes terror into their hearts.  The events are still unfolding, but the lack of respect for people and life is again being plastered over the news.  No I am not talking about the suspected killer, but the victims.

These women led life’s most of us can not even begin to imagine, lives which daily made them victims and targets, but did they deserve what is now happening to their memories?  No.

These women have been murdered, society failed them in life and now, now when the perpetrator of these crimes might be in custody it splashes banner headlines about their lives, uses mournful pictures to underline the picture they wish to paint, and society fails them again.  Okay they might as one paper says have lived chaotic lives, but that is no justification for what has happened to them, and certainly is no reason to make them and their families suffer even more.  I have no doubt this will go on, every inch of their lives will be turned upside down, I am also sure that it will only be the supposedly bad stuff that will be plastered across newspapers and TV reports.  Okay their lives might not have been perfect but whose is?   Their lifestyle might be the reason that they were targeted, but to make the whole story about their lives, to dehumanize them in death as they were by their clients in life, is that acceptable?  Would you want as your eulogy a catalogue of your failings?

Susan, Shelley and Suzanne, where people, people whose lives were cut short, people who despite the mess their lives had become, lived and laughed and most possibly wished for better lives.  They have names, they were women, they were far more than that prostitute or that addict.  They were and are more precious than sparrows, precious enough that God knew the very number of hairs on their head, so precious that God walked beside them, even when everyone else had left them to travel alone.  God cried with them, as they suffered, knew their inner most pain, anxieties and concerns, God knew the desperation which drove them into the lives they led and loved them all the while.  God did not abandon them, daily God was there loving and upholding them.  Society, on the other hand turned its back to them in life and now in their death points the finger, this morning I can’t help feeling that Susan, Shelley and Suzanne are in a far better place, away from all this hypocrisy.

Arcing The Spark – Ascension and The Space Shuttle

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Arcing the Spark

For centuries people dreamed, for decades people hoped, for what now seems like the briefest of times people rejoiced and marvelled, now an end is in sight an end which appears to be slipping by un-noticed.

On Friday (14th May) the space shuttle Atlantis blasted off for probably the final time and over the coming months the space shuttles Discovery and Endeavor will also make their final launches and come to the end of their explorations.  All three trips are to the International Space Station (Atlantis will be kept fully operational until the Endeavor touches down again just in case she is needed for a rescue mission).  However when Endeavor returns safely to the tarmac a line will be drawn under the chapter of space exploration called the Space Shuttle.

Reaching out beyond the gravitational pull of this spinning orb is something that long forgotten generations couldn’t even perceive of in their wildest dreams, the heavens were limited in space, the homes of the gods and somewhere were no mortal could go.  Great chariots pulled the sun and the moon and the stars across the sky, gods controlled the things that issued forth from the sky.  Within Greek mythology there is the story of Icarus giving warning to the heady feelings flight gives and that mere mortals can not deal with such bliss and will crash back to their mortal coil and death.  Ask just about any child where heaven is and they will point up into the sky, and of course on Thursday the church celebrated Jesus ascending back into the sky and heaven in the clouds.  For millenium the vastness above us was the preserve of the myth, of dreamers and a heavenly home.

Living in the time in which we live we know that there is more up there than our far-flung ancestors could ever have conceived or imagined, and that which they did imagine was but fantasy.  This blue planet rather than being the center of the universe, is just one of many billion upon billions of objects in the skies above, most probably near the edge of something beyond our wildest comprehension and among all those billions of objects the place we call home is pretty insignificant in the great cosmos, apart from one fact, it harbours life.

We are a species of never-ending questions, there are countless un-answered questions about the planet we inhabit before we even address the questions that have arisen from space exploration.  Every time a scientist discovers something new, they also discover another array of questions unseen before the screen of the latest discovery was lowered.  The Space Shuttles journeys have opened doors, given great drama and sorrow, fulfilled young children’s dreams as they became the men and women who flew in them, answered some questions, but discovered other questions that we didn’t even know were out there hanging in suspended anticipation on their discovery.  Questions that will not cease to be asked by the ending of the space shuttle programme, but which the ended of raises in itself a question.

Does the end of this era mean the end of space exploration?  Well no, of course not, there has been talk about what might replace the space shuttle, but any such dreams and aspirations are curtailed by costs even without the current economic climate.  One day our travelling will resume and our explorations continue, although I suspect it might be something I wont be around to see, one day the stuff of Star Trek might be a reality as the boundaries of where we can live and work are stretched into and beyond the stars that we can see twinkling in the night sky, when and if that day comes, I suspect there will still be plenty of questions awaiting answers, but one answer will remain true.

As Jesus ascended into heaven he said to his disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit that was going to be sent to dwell within them, that promise remains true for eternity, so regardless of how far future generations travel God will always be their constant guide, be it to the ends of the earth or even beyond them.

millennium

Speed Dating

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election

That is a term which has been used for the political maneuverings of the moment, as the Liberal Democrats have discussions with both Conservatives and now Labour parties.

When I first heard a commentator use that term I have a vision of politicians sitting around a rather seedy hotel while every five minutes or so a faceless individual rang a bell and told them to move round again.  Meanwhile outside the doors the markets push for a decision to be made, like some wedding planner touting for business.

The news media like to get a tag line or sound bite and I suppose someone somewhere decided that ‘Speed Dating’ best described what was going on.  Maybe that individual had recently been to a speed dating event.  However I don’t like it, I think it trivialises the importance of what is currently going on, after all it is the future of our country that is being decided on, the outcome of these discussions will affect our lives.

In the book of Ecclesiastes there is that famous Chapter 3 which talks of how there is a time for everything:

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

The world keeps turning, the ultimate authority still rests with God, and in God’s time the Kingdom will be fully visible and there will be no more policitcal wranglings, but that is yet to come: for now it is a time to give time to be patient, we don’t want rash hasty decisions that mean we repent at leisure.

Arcing the Spark

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Religious Thoughts

I have been away, firstly on holiday which I post dated some blogs about while I have been away again, this time work related at a Preaching Conference called ‘Breaking News’.  I for one often shy away from preaching the news, it can be a risky business, sometimes I take those risks but maybe too often I play it safe.

The conference, probably like most sermons had some low point, however the high points transported, challenged and encouraged me beyond my expectations and the later far outweighed the former.  It might not be a surprise to learn that one of the challenges I am going to engage with is trying to pay more attention to the news in my preaching.  Mother Ruth discovered a great piece of news during one of the sessions which I can hardly ignore as we have a baptism at All Saints on Sunday, but I will leave her to tell you about that should she choose to do so.

Another gauntlet that I have decided to take up, even though it wasn’t actually directly thrown down by anyone, is to use my blog to engage more in ‘Arcing the Spark’.  Making the connections between the sparks that resonate in the Word of God around us – not only in the news, but also in creation, events, happenings, peoples, films, music etc – with the sparks that resonate with the Word of God in scripture, drawing attention to those incarnate and divine connections that surround us.  In what form those sparks with appear on here is yet uncertain – probably as jottings, musings, beginnings, almost certainly not finished, you might have to focus in the brightness of the spark yourselves.  The first one will appear sometime next week and I will try, although not promise, to do at least one such post a week.

The BBC

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bbc, News

Yesterday as I drove from one church to another a dj on Radio2 called the day Easter Good Friday! Only blot on a good Good Friday, and until a moment ago it had spilled from my mind however. I have just caught the BBC news, the article was about Rowan Williams – in my view unhelpful – comments about the Roman Catholic church in Ireland. As part of the piece we saw pictures of the pope venerating the Cross yesterday as the commentator (he can not be called a journalist) told the viewers that Easter was being celebrated!

Please Pass The Cotton Wool

No it is okay I haven’t hurt myself, however it would appear that I might be in danger of doing so just by living, health and safety seems to have gone mad, so maybe the best thing would be to wrap myself in cotton wool before I … well do anything. 

Three stories that caught my attention, the brownies stopped from singing carols in a local shopping center, can be read here, with the supposed changes to the shopping center there at least seems to be a degree of rational about this one.  That can not however be said with this story about a raft race, which you can read here.  It reminded me of the attitude in Iceland were there was nothing despite common sense and a signs to stop people sticking their hands in the scalding hot spring waters.  However the story that takes the biscuit in my view is this one about Cliff Richard fans.  If only such care was shown to those who actually live on the streets, not just choose to camp out on them for a few days.

Call me a cynic if you like but I am increasingly of the impression that health and safety is being used as an excuse by those who don’t like what others are up to.  So before you go and make yourself a cup of coffee and a toasted tea cake, may I suggest you wrap yourself in cotton wool too.  Because by the time you get there they too could be banned too.  After all, not to mention the chance of chocking on a rogue currant stalk in the tea cake, there is the danger that you might scald yourself with the boiling water; cut yourself with the knife when you slice the teacake in half; burn yourself when you toast it; and most dangerously of all drop the tiniest bit of butter on the floor as it glides off the warm butter knife (can’t use any other kind of knife as it might damage you) causing you to slip sending the plate into the air as you go crashing to the floor breaking an arm in the process as you try and save yourself with it and an ankle that whacks against the cooker, banging your head on the floor and causing a concussion from which just before you pass into you could see the shards of broken plate which are now flying towards you which has now plummeted back to the floor inches away from your face!