Article
- Date:
- Sunday 7th May 2023
- Place:
- Holy Trinity, Cuckfield
- Service:
- Evensong
- Readings:
- 1 Kings 1.32-40
John 13.12-17
Yesterday an unimaginably rich and privileged man swore an impossibly arcane oath to serve us but that should not detract from the underling importance of the occasion. It is one of the facts of life that inconsistency, perversity and absurdity never cease to make a nonsense of human planning, consistency and self-sufficiency. As to the riches, for many complex reasons our monarchy is not the bicycle riding sort of the Netherlands and Scandinavia and as to the promise of service, everybody knows, including the King Himself, that this does not amount to giving his wealth to the poor, or even washing our feet.
But if we think of our readings we will give ourselves some bearings. King Solomon's anointing was not the first and so it marks continuity not innovation. It is right that in spite of humanist protests, the Supreme Governor of our Church should be anointed in a sacred ceremony. A human being who stands for us all, for the whole state, should have the special status of God's anointed, physically signifying the presence of the Holy Spirit. It has been frequently pointed out by humanists that the link between Christianity and political power has done a great deal of harm, which is true, but what they fail to admit is that political power without Christianity has an even worse record. Although our Members of Parliament swear an oath of office our Prime Ministers do not, as I think they should, swear a public oath.
As to our Second Reading, we are apt as a culture to entangle service with the lower class status of being a servant. Service, properly understood, is the purpose of power; there are so many large things which will not happen without the leadership of the people's servant, from raising an army in time of war to ensuring that the poor receive socio economic justice.
Our King, then, symbolises the whole people gathered under the protection of God and also symbolises service as the life giving kernel of power.
Let us, then, look for a moment at the practicalities. King Charles III has a long and distinguished record of support for environmental causes, not always honoured in an entirely consistent way, but promoted nonetheless in the face of sometimes vicious criticism; I rejoice, for instance, that the once derided practise of hugging trees, of which he was accused some forty years ago, is now part of the mainstream. He has also shown some sensitivity to architectural values; some may disagree with him but he is at least a man in the public sphere who cares about the arts; it is, on a not unrelated matter, a very long time since we had a Secretary of State for Culture who showed any symptoms of knowing or of caring anything about it. This is a man who has displayed his flaws and borne his scars in public with no right of reply.
And this constitutionally imposed silence is what we were, even if we did not know it, celebrating yesterday. our King will live in a self-imposed condition of silence, a supremely difficult condition for anybody who cares and wishes by speech to signify assent and dissent. But his sacrifice of silence is what makes our political noise possible. He is to the living what the tomb of the Unknow Soldier is to the dead of war; he not only symbolises but lives out the sacrifice of self-restraint which puts him above the necessary controversies of his Kingdom.
In terms of high symbolism we are lesser people; and yet we are of Christ's anointed, Baptised, confirmed and initiated into the sacred mystery of the Eucharist. And we, too, are fundamentally servants, particularly when, as is often the case, we are put into positions of power over others. Few of us here will not have sat on some committee or other exercising some kind of power over the life chances of others. We all know the temptation of pleasing ourselves and the obligation to please others. We know all about drawing lines, approving or disapproving, including or excluding, pronouncing or refraining, frowning or smiling. Our lives are made up of an endless series of small decisions which affect others.
We are all, in our different ways, mini monarchs and so we should appreciate the situation in which our King finds himself. Often he will not have a choice in how he spends his time and with what he is concerned; he will not often be able to follow his personal preferences; he will, as I have noted, frequently be forced to say nothing when he would wish to say something; he will, like us, often have to choose the lesser of two evils; and if he chooses wrongly he will not have the opportunity to defend himself. We should therefore always be very thoughtful before we criticise others, not least the King. Too often leaders become scapegoats for our wrongs so that condemning them is a way of excusing our own faults.
Having said all that, let us leave ourselves with two images of kingship which summarise its sacred nature and its sacred duty: the coronation of King Solomon by Zadok the Priest and Nathan the Prophet and Jesus rising from washing the feet of his Disciples.
God save the King. Amen.