Memorable weekend

A slightly warmer day today with clouds giving way to sunshine as the day went on. It was good to hear positive feedback about the marvellous range of traditional and new music composed for the Coronation on this morning's 'Sunday' religious affairs programme. I also learned that for the first time since the reformation a Papal Legate attended the service as well as the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster who played a small part in the ceremonial along with other faith leaders. It was a gesture of mutual goodwill after centuries of antipathy persecution and antipathy. 

It seems that church and other faith leaders all stayed at St James' Palace the night before, so it wasn't just the Chief Rabbi who was able to walk together to the Abbey beforehand. Ecumenical and inter-faith encounter and engagement has been part of my life in ministry from the start, and it's wonderful to have witnessed such a marvellous and gracious transformation of relationships between religious believers of every kind over the years.

I went early to St German's as I'd been asked to hear someone's confession before the service, and had to sit in the car saying Morning Prayer from my phone before the doors were unlocked. There were twenty nine of us in church. Afterwards there was a Coronation cake to share with glasses of Prosecco to wash it down with. The cake was decorated with a large coloured medallion of the King made of icing sugar. It's amazing what can be produced that's safe to eat these days.

I drove straight to Conway Road to meet with Owain and Clare who were waiting for me in the pub of the same name for lunch. It wasn't a great meal from my point of view. Yorkshire pudding that was tough and leathery and roast spuds that were drying out, but the huge piece of chicken fortunately was perfectly cooked. Afterwards I drove Owain to the station for his train back to Bristol, then slept for the nearly two hours before going for a walk in the park. 

Swimming in the pool below Blackweir bridge was a Mallard mother duck with four chicks with only the remnants of the yellow down feathers, they had on hatching, so they're probably a week old already, if not more.  There were two herons as well, a younger one perched at the bottom of the overflow channel of the weir and an older one on the bank two hundred yards downstream.

After supper we watched the Coronation Concert from the grounds of Windsor Castle. It was an action packed variety of entertainment, reflecting the King's love of creative arts and culture. His son William, now Prince of Wales gave a lovely tribute, honouring his father's achievements over the past sixty years. The twenty thousand strong crowd was enthusiastic about every every performance. It was a brilliantly executed production from start to finish, with an amazing light show throughout, projected on Windsor and enhanced by a fleet of LED drones programmed to paint the night sky with the shapes of animals and flowers. There were similar light shows in cities around the country, all different but demonstrating how effective the use of programmable drones can be. There must have been thousands of them in use at the same time around the country, showing how far such technology has evolved in the past decade of Cloud computing. And a good time was had by all.

Crowning glory

It was completely overcast and raining when I woke up at half past seven, in good time to hear 'Thought for the Day' with the Archbishop of Canterbury on this most auspicious occasion for the United Kingdom. Rain destined to sweep across the whole of southern Britain and make this a damp if not wet Coronation Day, just as it was on 6th June 1953, when Queen Elizabeth was crowned. 

We didn't have telly. but were able to listen to the service on the radio, with the sonorous voice of ex war correspondent Richard Dimbleby narrating the event from Westminster Abbey. Amazing to think that his broadcaster son David, now 84 years old, is a friend of King Charles. It's such a blessing to be alive to watch the day's events unfold from the comfort of my own home seventy years on. 

We had to wait several weeks to watch a black and white film of the Coronation at Ystrad Mynach cinema back in 1953. I was just eight years old. In school in the weeks beforehand, we were taught about the regalia used in the ceremony. I don't recall learning much about the ceremony or how to understand it when the school went out to see the film, but it did make an impression on me, of great seriousness and sacredness surrounding this state church ritual. Come to think of it, that was my introduction to the special terms used by church sacristans to describe sacred objects. I wasn't introduced to serving at the altar and extending my sacristy vocabulary for another ten years, when I was a student in Bristol. 

Clare cooked waffles for breakfast. Then we switched on the telly and saw the arrival of heads of state and some celebrity guests at Westminster Abbey, though by ten o'clock the majority of the 2000 guests were already in place. The radio commentary had mentioned the arrival of Archbishop Rowan to take his place in the congregation at around half past eight - such a long wait! Around a quarter to eleven the King and Queen left Buckingham Palace for the Abbey accompanied by the Foot Guards of the Royal Household Division and the service started on time at eleven and finished at one. 

It was rich with beautiful liturgical music. Bryn Terfel sang a Kyrie Eleison in Welsh with the choir. Later a Greek Orthodox choir sang a Psalm in Greek. There was a Latin Gloria in Excelsis, an Alleluia sung by an African choir, and a plainsong Veni Creator Spiritus with verses in English, Welsh, Scots Gaelic and Irish. The Coronation ritual was largely unchanged, except for some inclusive texts which made clear the King's intention to be the defender of all faith communities, and the servant of all the nation's people. The anointing rite was shielded from view for privacy behind beautifully decorated cloth screens one of which bore an image of the Tree of Life. A lovely creative touch. 

Archbishop Justin's homily was concise and remarkable as it was clearly addressed to the whole nation and not just that congregation of church people. For him a rare if not unique occasion to speak of the meaning of the King's ministry to the country. Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu and Buddhist faith leaders took part in presenting him with symbols of office during the Coronation rite, and at the end of the service they greeted him on his way out with their own declaration of loyalty. A significant and worthwhile innovation. The whole occasion was deeply thought through and superbly executed, as was the 5000 strong military parade that followed. The whole event made a statement about what British identity means in the twenty first century. It sets the tone for life together in this new Carolingian era. There are many aspects of life under today's government which make me feel ashamed, but today's celebration makes me proud to be British in equal measure. Just about.

Although there had been rain early on, it slackened to a drizzle then stopped. By the time we had a snack lunch it dry enough to go for a walk in the park while waiting for Owain to come over and spend the night with us. We ate supper together and whiled away the evening chatting and watching telly.