I hope everyone has by now recovered from the Coronation of King Charles 111 and its many and varied celebrations, and from Eurovision as well! It was an incredible time in the life of the country, Commonwealth and wider world, and one which I’m sure we will all remember with happiness and pride – even if we did flag a bit at times! A week or so after the event we held a “mock” coronation during the fortnightly Play and Praise Service, with 19 of the Reception and Nursery schoolchildren, and they thoroughly enjoyed it, and all painted beautiful crowns to take home.

Amidst all the coverage of the coronation – the pageantry, pomp and ceremony, the music and the many, many words and images – I found the newly written King’s Prayer to be one of the most profound aspects of it all, with its reference to Scripture and words from a greatly loved hymn (I vow to thee, my country), and with great relevance to each and every one of us in our own lives and journeys of faith. You may remember it, but if not, this is what His Majesty prayed towards the end of the  ceremony:

“God of compassion and mercy whose Son was sent not to be served but to serve, give grace that I may find in thy service perfect freedom and in that freedom knowledge of thy truth. Grant that I may be a blessing to all thy children, of every faith and conviction, that together we may discover the ways of gentleness and be led into the paths of peace, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

It’s a beautiful prayer isn’t it, and so appropriate for all of us – King Charles has of course often spoken of his desire to be a “defender of all faiths”, and though he didn’t in the end use those words in the ceremony, the prayer above captures his wish exactly – all children, of every faith and conviction.

Towards the end of May we celebrated one of the most important festivals of the Church – Pentecost – with the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples gathered in Jerusalem, empowering them in their faith, their witness and their mission and service in the early Church. Twenty one centuries later that same Spirit empowers each and every one of us, and in this month of June we remember all sorts of people in the Church’s calendar who have been empowered to love and to serve God through the centuries, sometimes at great cost to themselves. Saints Peter and Paul are remembered in June, as well as Barnabas, and the memorial of Alban, the first martyr of Britain in about the year 250 A.D., and regarded by many as the true patron saint of England, falls on 22nd June. Hymn writers, deacons, bishops, abbots, social reformers and martyrs are remembered in June, including the Martyrs of Uganda (19th and 20th Centuries) and Bernard Mizeki, who became a catechist in central Africa (in what is now Zimbabwe) and was martyred for his new found faith in 1896, and whose shrine in the granite hills of central Zimbabwe I have had the privilege of visiting.

Distant figures they may all be to us living in Britain in 2023 (though some of course – Peter and Paul especially – are much better known than the others) but they would all have understood implicitly the meaning and significance of the King’s Prayer – even if for some of them the paths down which they were led were far from peaceful. I take great comfort, inspiration and encouragement from their lives, and count myself truly blessed to be following in their footsteps, and of course in the footsteps of Christ himself – our true inspiration and guide, “through all the changing scenes of life.”

May God bless each one of us in this coming month, in all our work and witness in His service.