What a remarkable weekend we’re about to enjoy!

It will be a weekend of celebration for the whole nation because tomorrow, on May 6, Charles III will be crowned as King. That service will take place amidst the splendid beauty of Westminster Abbey.

There will be stunning music, wonderful ceremonial, it’ll be a real time of joy, a fabulous spectacle for all to delight in.

But it is also going to be a weekend of celebration for us as a Diocese and it has been tremendous to see what parishes around Blackburn Diocese are doing to enable local people to celebrate the Coronation in their own context.

There will be special services, participating in the national ‘Big Lunch’ and much else going on; for example the Evensong that will take place on the Sunday of Coronation weekend here where I’m recording this video, at Blackburn Cathedral.

So, a weekend of spectacle and celebration. But what lies behind it all? Is this all just flimflam or is there something more going on than that?

For me that’s a question that will be answered at the most intimate moment of the Coronation.

Out of sight of us viewers, beneath a canopy, King Charles III will be anointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, with oil of chrism.

The oil will be placed on his head, on his hands and on his breast. Anointing is an ancient sign of being set apart for service, and through that anointing, Charles, as a Christian King, will take us right to the very heart of the Christian calling.

Jesus taught his disciples to be servants. He did that as he washed their feet at the table of the last supper. He did it above all on the cross when he gave his life away, he made of his life a gift to others. And that’s the call of a Christian, to make of our lives a gift to the world.

King Charles III will be doing that as he’s crowned, making of his life a gift as servant of nation and commonwealth. Churches around Lancashire seek to do that in their common life as they serve their neighbourhoods and their communities especially the poorest and the most vulnerable.

At this Coronation weekend there will be a chance for everybody to serve with the Big Help Out on Bank Holiday Monday.

So I hope that you and everyone across the nation, and across the globe, really enjoys this Coronation weekend and delight in the spectacle.

But also I hope people have a chance to think a bit deeper, to think what’s really going on, Charles giving away his life as servant, and inviting us to do the same, to make of our lives a gift to the world.

Rt Rev Philip North, Bishop of Blackburn

Ronnie Semley, May 2023