The coronation of King Charles III offered many layers of discussion before and after. While many decry its splendor because it offers ceremonialisms mixed with apathy and a buffet of English religious nominalism, I found it to be a compelling piece of beauty, an objective art form of an ancient era.
Moreover, it added symbolic elements to a modernized un-symbolic world that everyday English citizens may have forgotten or act as if it belongs in grandmother’s wardrobe. But even if the attendees do not understand the meaning of using olives harvested from the Mount of Olives or St. Edward’s Staff, it is irrelevant to me. What is relevant is that throughout the ceremony, from the processional to the recessional, the world saw, and those present experienced, something entirely other.
There was more than mere pomp and pride in the coronation; there was an enchanted world presented to a disenchanted people. The entire ceremony, decorated with Scriptural references and substantive vows, provided a marvelous array of heavenly touches that puts most in the United States at odds with its grandeur.
We are stimulated towards sameness in our evangelical culture. We want the worship of the resurrected Messiah to share identical features to our daily experiences. We want expressive individualism reigning at the yacht club and worship. We wish to be moved by the same incense in our kitchen and bedroom areas. But worship is holy other. We may live in different zones, but the culture of worship is like a powerful coronation re-enactment descending from heaven by the power of the Spirit. The fragrance of the altar (Exodus 20) should challenge our weekly experiences by preferring heaven above earthly rhythms.
To come to worship and expect the same realities will dictate our distaste for something so extraordinary as the coronation of a King. We may not appreciate the carefully practiced liturgy of the Book of Common Prayer. Still, we should find the other-worldly nature of that coronation a glimpse into the festival day when we shall see our true King crowned Lord of all; when death is finally finished. Then, the processional that inaugurates eternity will be far greater and far more numerous, and infinitely glorious.
