Coming together to serve one another in tribute to the King
Havant and Langstone were alive with community events to mark the Coronation last weekend. St Faith’s Church in Havant screened the Coronation service live, to a gathering of around 50 people from the congregation and community – all joining in with the hymn singing and prayers.
Our bell ringers also rang enthusiastically before the service from their tower which was bedecked with the Union Flag.
And on Sunday morning, our Coronation Communion service was attended by the Mayor of Havant, Cllr Diana Patrick, and our local MP Alan Mak.
At my request, the Mayor read a passage from the Bible (1 Samuel 8) which describes a rather controversial attitude by God towards kings and thrones, which I hope I was able to unpack in my sermon later!
Our MP read from the gospels and reminded us of Jesus’ teaching: that service is at the heart of all true leadership.
For me, that’s the big thing to take away from both Jesus and from the attitude of our royal family – that genuine leadership begins with serving others.
After the service, our bell ringers rang a quarter peal, which is quite an achievement in the world of bell ringing, and the Mayor and MP joined me in planting a hawthorn tree to mark the Coronation itself.
On Sunday afternoon, I joined the community of Langstone at their Coronation Street Party in the High Street outside St Nicholas Church.
I took my trusty keyboard with me, and we sang a few classic songs from the last 50 years, and one or two patriotic favourites.
And on Monday, our parish offered an opportunity to volunteers who wanted to take part in the Big Help Out.
Around 30 people from the community came together at St Faith’s Pallant Centre, to tidy and restore a community garden which has been somewhat neglected during the past few Covid-affected years.
All in all, whether one is a monarchist or not, the whole weekend was a fantastic tribute to the power of community.
We were inspired by these national events to come together in service to one another.