By Rosie Dawson
During the notices after the nine o’clock service at St Thomas’s Church in Lancaster last Sunday, the congregation was invited to draft an email to the King, to tell him their prayers for him at the start of his reign. “For healing in the relationships within your family” was the first suggestion. “For wisdom” was the second.
The idea of writing emails came from Church of England headquarters in Dean’s Yard, Westminster. The CofE has also produced a book of reflection and prayers to be used in the month leading up to the coronation and is offering resources to be used in schools and online streaming of the event.
Understandably the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and his team have been preoccupied with drawing up the liturgy for the coronation in consultation with Buckingham Palace. But — along with Stephen Cottrell, the Archbishop of York — Justin Welby issued a pastoral letter to clergy, expressing the hope that they would find “creative, joyful and meaningful ways” to commemorate the event.
“You will know best how to do this in your own context and with the resources you have,” the archbishops wrote. The coronation, they said, presents the church with a “unique missional opportunity”.
Many churches, as part of their communities, will get out the tablecloths and decorations that have barely had time to gather dust since Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations a year ago. They enjoyed themselves then — so they will do it again. But in some places, there is little enthusiasm for the coronation or the monarchy. One clergyman told me his congregation was divided on its value and relevance, and that the only reference made to it would be in the prayers on Sunday. Another said he was going away for the weekend to avoid it altogether.
While all Church of England clergy are required to swear an oath when they are ordained to “be faithful and bear true allegiance” to the monarch, they interpret it variously. Some see it as an acknowledgement of Paul’s instruction in Romans 13 to “be subject to the governing authorities”.
“Christians are always subject to the civil authorities, however they are constituted,” says Pete Broadbent, former Bishop of Willesden in northwest London and a republican. “It doesn’t stop them wanting to change how the country is governed.”
Others take the oath more personally. A staunch monarchist, the Rev Daniel Valentine, vicar of St Matthew with St Mary’s Church in Crumpsall, north Manchester, successfully applied for a £5,000 grant from the National Lottery to fund church-led community celebrations. The party began a week ago with the Crumpsall Big Sing.
The audience was treated to a performance by musicians from St Martin-in-the-Fields in central London before joining in coronation classics. “It was a kind of Last Night at the Proms — there were about 70 of us there,” said Barbara Shaw, one of the organisers. “We sang along to all the favourites — Zadok the Priest, Parry’s I Was Glad, Land of Hope and Glory, and Jerusalem. It was fantastic.”
The Crumpsall celebrations continue this weekend with a service of dedication on Sunday morning at which Daniel Valentine will offer “a loyal address to His Majesty” and the congregation will sing the National Anthem. Roads will be closed to traffic for a street party in the afternoon and there will be a coronation fair on Bank Holiday Monday, complete with bouncy castle, splat-the-vicar and a drag queen. The food on offer will reflect the multicultural nature of the parish: along with English cream teas there will be curries from the nearby Sikh temple.
Less than three miles away the Rev Andy Salmon has decided that the best way for his parish to mark the coronation is to hold a silent disco. He is vicar of Sacred Trinity Church, which straddles the border between Manchester and Salford. The population it serves is made of up of significant numbers of young apartment-dwellers, a group that, according to the polls, has little enthusiasm for the monarchy.
Those attending tonight’s event will be able to choose from three music channels on their headsets. “There will be a Goth channel, another for the Manchester classics and one that is royalty-themed,” Mr Salmon said. “It’s all very tongue in cheek; expect Dancing Queen by Abba, tracks from Queen or Prince, or from Elvis, the King himself.”
Does this solve the problem of what the church does to mark the coronation? “It does a bit. My sense is that most people aren’t bothered about it. I’ve picked up very little excitement.”
So, will his congregation be praying for the King on Sunday? “I haven’t really thought about it. We didn’t pray for the late Queen very often; it wasn’t part of common worship liturgy. But we do pray for the people and our leaders so it’ll be up to whoever is on the rota for the intercessions on the day.”
If the person on the Sacred Trinity rota needs inspiration, they could steal a line from one of the congregation at St Thomas’s whose suggestion probably won’t get into the email the church will send to the King.
“He’s the third King Charles we’ve had,” he said. “I hope and pray he’ll be better than the other two.”
