 |
| Their Majesties King George VI, Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles III. Source: Wikimedia Commons |
I remember the shock of hearing that King George VI had died. It was a time of great sadness.
Along with Prime Minister Winston Churchill the king set an example of fortitude which did much to encourage those of us huddled around the wireless listening to the endless WW2 news broadcasts, so many in fact that I wondered how the BBC would fill the airtime after the war.
My lasting memories of Queen Elizabeth's coronation are of the Westminster Abbey entrance procession to Parry's, I was glad, and of Queen Sālote of Tonga shunning the rain, smiling and waving to the crowds from her open carriage in a procession of carriages with tops firmly closed.
Charles III's coronation will be different. It has been scaled down. Security is a greater risk but the processional route is much shorter.
It will be a multi-faith occasion. I understand the motives but, as I mentioned in my previous entry, I doubt the wisdom of including believers of different faiths and none in what is essentially a Christian service.
On a more positive note, Pope Francis will be represented inside the abbey this time. When Queen Elizabeth II was crowned. the papal representative had to observe the ceremony from 'an especially-built stand outside Westminster Cathedral', because he was not allowed to enter a non-Catholic church.
Pope Francis has also sent a coronation gift, two shards of wood said to have come from the cross on which Christ was crucified. The shards have been incorporated in The Cross of Wales, a new processional cross presented by King Charles as a centenary gift to the Church in Wales.
An ironic choice since the bishops of the Church in Wales have abandoned the received faith of the Church in favour of secularism.
The Pope's apparent obsession with taking the Catholic Church down the same path as the Anglican Church, deciding doctrine by committee, is not encouraging. He has only to look at the Church in Wales to see where that leads. Neither has the Church of England heeded the lesson, allowing revisionists to change Church beliefs for their own ends.
They achieve this by introducing change gradually so that people become accustomed to it. It has happened in Church and State. A glaring example will be the crowning of Queen Camilla alongside King Charles.
Much has changed since I heard of the death of King George VI. I can't imagine what the world will be like when Prince William is crowned, assuming the monarchy is not abolished.
Kung Charles?
ReplyDeleteYou've just blown your Knighthood AB.
🤣
Oops! Thank you LG. I must get my cataract seen to.
DeleteWasn't the Kyrie sung in Welsh at the Coronation both magnificent and moving?
ReplyDeleteI agree wholeheartedly with you.
DeleteThe crowning of the consort is not a new innovation. It has been part of coronation services back to well before the coronation of Victoria. In fact, the only occasions in the last 200 years at least where the consort has not been crowned is at the coronation of a queen.
ReplyDeleteSticky Wicket
Wasn't Welby facing east at communion in violation of BCP rubrik?
ReplyDeleteWorse was the 10 seconds he spent fiddling with the crown on Charles' head and the constant banging of his radio microphone when he adjusted his robes. Plus he didn't sanitise his hands before communion.
DeletePostie
Given that Welby changes direction with the prevalent wind of the moment he wouldn't know East from West or North from South.
DeleteHopefully he'll announce his retirement tomorrow.
The matching copes worn by bishops and others were borrowed from Westminster Cathedral -- their everyday set, in which the wearers looked distinctly scruffy. Far more impressive was the red one worn by the Dean. In 1953 no-one worried about having matching copes; the Abbey has a splendid collection which was shown to its advantage on that occasion. Every dog-collar I saw was a plastic insert, and Welby's cassock-alb which rather clashed with the rochets of the other bishops -- why couldn't he have worn a proper alb, amice and girdle?
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed it enormously. I didn’t spend my time looking at copes and plastic collars, but praying for our King and Queen. I thought the sermon was magnificent and the music quite out of this world.
ReplyDeleteLG
The "gospel" choir were simply dreadful.
DeleteAgreed. Bloody awful.
DeleteI wouldn’t say the Gospel Choir were dreadful, their singing was beautiful, it was their muppetry, i.e. jumping around that I object to.
DeleteIf you don't like muppetry, here's one to avoid at all costs.
DeleteEurovision
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-65485540
Like Gay Christmas.
Some words I came across today
ReplyDeleteAs Charles III is anointed as our King, what are the characteristics of the nation that he
As we commence a new era in our nation’s life, now is not the time for partying and frivolity, although there is a place for that. Now is the time for us to get on our knees and to pray for our King and our Nation. But first, we must pray for ourselves as we acknowledge the part each of us has played in the sorry decline of faith and the moral fibre of our nation.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65507435
ReplyDeleteOff with their heads!
🤣
Church in Wales website, today. Lovely pics from the celebrations at St Andrew and St David's cathedral, for the coronation. Just wondering why the former bishop, Wyn Evans, is pictured using the diocesan crozier ?
ReplyDeleteI can't see this, MO. Can you provide a link?
DeleteI hope that archbishop Andy washed his ears before taking part in King Charles` coronation service for if he had he would have heard the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland say these words to the new King whilst he presented the King with a new Bible - " To keep you ever mindful of the law and gospel of God receive this book, the most valuable thing that this world has to offer. This is the Royal Law, these are the lively oracles of God".
ReplyDeleteArchbishop Welby went on to say " Your church is committed to the true profession of the gospel. Maintain the laws of God and the true profession of the gospel".
Words which archbishop Andy should ponder on and lead him to repentance for what he has allowed to happen within the Church in Wales.
Welby was lying through his teeth, the Church of England is riddled with apostasy, heresy, hypocrisy and filth.
DeleteI agree with you Enoch, I should have included Welby and the Church of England in my last sentence.
DeleteThe chocolate teapot.
Delete#NotMyArchbishop
I thought there were elements in the liturgy that made a conscious attempt to be decolonial. That inevitably made it a liturgy that went against the flow in places, bringing with it creativity in some unexpected areas. The African singing and dancing was one such example. I loved it.
ReplyDeleteThis liturgy was about the future and about our nation as it finds itself today, in all its variegated expressions of faith. I felt it avoided handing over a colonised future in the crowing of our monarchs, and did so both creatively and sympathetically. Good liturgy is the people’s work, and we saw glimmers of that on Saturday.
LG
How predictable of you.
Delete😴 😴 😴
The Welsh Kyrie, beautifully sung by Bryan Terfil, was also another good example of decolonialism in the liturgy. A joy to watch and listen to.
DeleteLG
Rubbish. Wales was colonised almost two millenia ago and the invaders are still here.
Delete“Decolonisliam in the liturgy”? For goodness’ sake! Do you permanently think in ideological cliches? Why should the traditional use of the English language in the English church be colonial?
DeleteRB
Seriously? of course liturgy has been a colonising force - just look at the role of the BCP or Roman Missal for that matter.
DeleteIt was rereshing to see a decolonial elements in the Coronation Liturgy. As I say, good liturgy is the people's work, and we saw some excellent examples of that on Saturday in the crowning of our monarchs. It enacted a decolonised future. Quite majestic.
LG
Yes, seriously. Some people - of whom LG appears to be one - feel compelled to view everything through the lens of colonialism/imperialism/racism, which tends to distort their vision. Even if liturgy has been “a colonising force”, it’s hard to see why the use of traditional English liturgy in a service of the established Church of England should impliedly be viewed as colonial or, therefore, why the use of other languages should be seen as “decolonial”, rather than, say, as merely inclusive.
DeleteRB
You're full of BS, never mind BCP.
DeleteMy point was the service took a nod in the directrion of decolonialism. I welcomed that. Nothing against the language in what I said.
DeleteLG
Couldn't one make a case for saying that the entire Anglican Communion, outside Britain (or even England!) is in fact a relic or consequence of colonialism and empire?
DeleteYes Baptist - it’s a distorted vision that is incapable of seeing that and dismissing it as ideological BS. Good to have a proper intellectual discussion with someone who is not threatened by issues around colonialism and willing to do the hard work of thinking through its wider implications.
DeleteLG
Thank you. I was a Christian (non-Anglican) missionary in West Africa for 5 years, quite a number of years ago now. I don't think that one could specifically regard the Protestant missionary work there as colonialist/imperialist, as the former ruling power had in fact strongly discouraged it (the same could not be said of the long-standing Catholic mission). Now one could regard the entire missionary enterprise as colonialist, as indeed many secularists and anthropologists have done. I'd disagree with that premise, because Christianity didn't originate in countries such as ours nor, in its early days, did it have any links with secular power. However it's clearly true that much of the Church's expansion over the centuries has been linked to imperial and colonial pretensions. Of course we live today in a globalised society where people receive "outside" input from many sources, both good and bad. Although I know it's well-loved, it seems fairly preposterous to me that a form of Christianity which is so specifically English should be regarded as normative in countries which are so different. What I'd like to see, more and more, are truly authentic local expressions of the Faith, whose worship accords with cultural norms but whose theology is still properly Apostolic and Biblical.
Deletehttps://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/6870/19312
ReplyDeleteFor an excellent perspective.
LG
Coronation Cancel Culture.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-65527678
Continues.
Long may it continue.
Idiots reveal themselves as idiots.
Very refreshing.
Bewildered
Oh how petty and nit-picking of you all (above). Colonialism etc. I'm old enough to recall celebration of HM Elizabeth II Coronation when we and the Archbishop of Canterbury celebrated under Imperial power of the Victorian British "Empire", the Colonies came later in our language and now its the Commonwealth. Let's chuck out our lunatic definitions of minute interpretations of words and celebrate the fact that the whole Anglican church - the Christian church - along with representatives of umpteen other world faiths witnessed our King take his oath to serve his God, our God, their God (however you define God) in our service. The words didn't matter. The act did.
ReplyDeleteLet's all grow up and humble ourselves as Charles has.
Old Bill.
you speak some sense
DeleteLG
That would make a first!
DeleteRejoice that there is life in the Royal Family. Louis!!
ReplyDelete