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Viewpoint from Hazel Thackray 19/05/2023
 Hazel Thackray
Authorised Worship Assistant, St Mary Magdalene Church, Gorleston
As I write this, many of you, like myself, are eagerly awaiting the forthcoming Coronation of our new monarch - King Charles 111. Many of us, myself included, will be too young to remember our late Queen’s coronation in 1953, although I expect we have watched it many times over the years on the television. One part of the ceremony took place away from the cameras — this to Her Majesty was the most important part of the Coronation — the anointing with Holy Oil. Her Christian faith was central to everything she did and she wanted this sacred part of the service to be private
 The Bible tells us that God places people in authority over us, and that they are accountable, responsible to Him, for how they carry out their duties, and we are also told to pray for those in authority over us. Both in the original Book of Common Prayer, and the newer Common Worship, we are instructed to pray for the Sovereign and those in authority — it is something we do at nearly every service we attend and take part in
The Coronation is a Christian act of worship — an extremely special and important one, in which the Monarch is anointed and crowned to serve the whole nation. This is something that has been done throughout the ages --- we only have to listen to Handel’s wonderful anthem “Zadok the Priest”, to know this. “Zadok the Priest, anointed Solomon king”. Zadok was the high priest in Israel who anointed Solomon king, -- just as the words of the anthem state
 While we are concentrating on the King’s coronation, we must not forget that as Christians we all need to remember that in the person of Jesus Christ, we have the ultimate, most precious, Servant King, sent by God, to save and redeem us, to bring us back to God
Jesus the Son of God, came to earth as a human baby, but was also divine. He never allowed His divinity to put Himself above others, but lived a simple, humble, wandering life, homeless, relying on the kindness of strangers He met on His way, for food and shelter for Himself and His disciples. He truly was the “Servant King” as we sing often in our worship
Let us during this Coronation period of joy and celebration, not forget Jesus, our Servant King, and pray that we can keep His name in the people’s minds, both as individuals and in our communities
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