If you're in the SoCal area, I hope to see you at the Art Walk. Come add your feather to the wings, rising together.
|
|
As this weekend marks both Pentecost and the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, I'm sharing an update to an essay I wrote five years ago, when a similar convergence occurred.
|
|
St. Edward's Crown weighs 4.9 pounds. It is the centerpiece of coronations for the British monarchy. It was last in full use on June 2, 1953 for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II (who ascended to the throne on February 6, 1952).
The award-winning series The Crown depicts many years and events from Queen Elizabeth II's reign, including her coronation. In watching the series, one realizes that bearing the crown has far more weight than simply wearing the object itself. There is a weighty mix of power, responsibility, and privilege, connected with a lack of many freedoms most of us take for granted.
|
|
As part of the British coronation ceremony, a monarch is anointed with holy oil, a tradition rooted in shared Jewish and Christian scriptures. Among other things, anointing represents the favor and blessing of God and was used for prophets, priests, and kings. This connection of coronation and anointing was powerfully set to music by Handel in 1727 to biblically inspired words that have been in use for British coronations now for over 1,000 years, since 973!
So as this weekend marks the celebration of 70 years of the Queen's reign, this Sunday also happens to be Pentecost, which in Christian tradition is a centuries-old celebration of the Holy Spirit descending on the disciples of Jesus, anointing them not with oil, but with power. It is also a celebration of the start of the Church. With this anointing too, there is a weighty mix.
|
|
The people who comprise the Church live on the other side of things: on the other side of Eden and on the other side of Christ's ministry, death, and resurrection. So although the authority and royalty that God intended for men and women in Eden was forfeited, through Christ and the Holy Spirit, we have been called and empowered to reclaim these.
The Church is called to work out Jesus' reign of love and reconciliation. We are to walk as humble royalty. He bears the full crown as the head of the Church, yet as the body, we still bear aspects of its weight. If you wear a heavy crown on your head, your feet still feel it as you walk.
So there are some things to consider with this. While we remember the truth that his yoke is easy and his burden is light, we must also not neglect the weight of the crowns we are called to bear as his Church. Although we do not walk around under the weight of a 4.9 pound crown, we are called to the weight of ministry that sees royalty being fully realized in service, and where true power is not about politics but of a subversive love.
|
|
Image credits for this essay: Images 1 and 2, stills from The Crown opening sequence, © Netflix (see link for production credits); Image 3, "Saint Edward's Crown" from Firebrace, CC BY-SA 4.
|
|
|
|
|