CIVIC SERVICE IN CHRISTCHURCH

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27056, 3 June 1953, Page 11

CIVIC SERVICE IN CHRISTCHURCH

Nearly 3000 Attend

SERMON BY BISHOP WARREN A great congregation in Christchurch yesterday morning joined in prayers for the Queen on the occasion of her Coronation. Nearly 3000 persons in King Edward Barracks were linked with people throughout -the Commonwealth, because they followed an order of service issued by the British Council of Churches with the approval. of the ArchbishCfps of Canterbury and York, the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and the presiding officers of the assemblies of the Free Churches. Their common purpose was defined in the bidding: “Brethren, we are met together on this day to give thanks to Almighty God who has set upon the throne of this Realm our most gracious Sovereign Lady Queen Elizabeth; and to pray and beseech Him that He would grant her those gifts which she needs to fulfil her high calling. We shall pray also for His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, and for all the members of the Royal Family; and we shall commend ourselves, and all the peoples who acknowledge the Queen as Head of the Commonwealth, to the guidance and protection of the Lord our God, that we may serve Him faithfully through the years to come.” This was read by the chairman of the Christchurch branch of the National Council of Churches (the Rev. A. W. Grundy, of the Churrfh of Christ). Interspersed with well-loved hymns, there followed thanksgiving and confession led by the chairman of the North Canterbury district of the Methodist Church (the Rev. W. T. Blight), the Lesson from St. Matthew 22, verses 34 to 40 (“On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets”) read by the Mayor of Christchurch (Mr R. M. Macfarlane, M.P.) and intercession conducted by the Moderator of the Christchurch Presbytery (the Rev. I. R. Polson). Significance of Coronation The sermon was preached by the Bishop of Christchurch (the Rt. Rev. A. K. Warren). He said he wished to direct the thoughts of the congregation to the solemn implications of the Coronation. He spoke of a young woman “lovelier in her fuller maturity,” who last Christmas promised that on Coronation Day she would dedicate herself to the service of God and her peoples. Bishop Warren then described the Coronation—“this most superb pageant in the world,” enshrined in which was the most solemn act in which Elizabeth II came before Almighty God to be consecrated for her task. From the earliest recorded Christian Coronation —that of Egfrith in 785—Bishop Warren traced the origin of the 835 Treaty under the terms of which all subsequent British monarchs have been consecrated by the Archbishops. He explained the spiritual significance of this consecration, the crowning, and the Communion. “Each of these three is but one aspect of the great act of dedication,” Bishop Warren said. “What do we mean by that word dedication?” Bishop Warren asked. “To dedicate is to give something to someone. For our Queen, it must mean the offering of her life for others. It cannot always be her wish to move from one function to another; to have her private choice of recreation so restricted and reduced. For her, no limit to the hours on duty in the public eye, no respite from the perusal of the documents of State. She may not count on every Saturday off to spend in the simple pleasures of a garden or for the round of golf she might enjoy. She may not, without interruption, devote her time to her children and her home, though we shall all wish that privacy to be preserved as much as possible. “But her life in its dedication has significance just because it has purpose,” Bishop Warren said. “For how many of us is that true? So many people have little purpose in their lives; work is often done without any sense of the worth of the work itself, of the good job well completed. “Whether it be in a factory or on a farm, in a business or in a home, all work has a quality of drudgery in some form, as no doubt the Queen’s has for her,” he said. “But by dedication this work is transformed and lifted up to a higher purpose, for it is lifted up to God. Appeal for Prayers “Tonight as we listen to that great service with all its solemn symbolism, may we lift up in prayer that solitary figure whom we already love so well; we will remember her humanity and her youth,” said Bishop Warren. "For all of us there is a destiny, be it humble or be it great. Had she been born of other parents, by her age she might have been any young married woman joining in our service this morning. She might have been a girl in an office, a nurse in a hospital, a worker in a factory. But she is none

of these, for God has called her to be where she is.

“Descended from Saxon kings, we acclaim her as our rightful Queen. May we with her, remembering that it' is righteousness which exalteth a nation, grasp this great moment to dedicate our lives to God’s service and the welfare of our fellow men in this our new Elizabethan age,” Bishop Warren concluded. “God help her in her task. God help us aIL God save the Queen.”