On Wednesday 5th May our Rector, Revd Nicola Bown, shared a Pause for Thought on Kofi Smiles’s Breakfast show.
Whether you’re a coronation fan or a coronation-phobe, it’s something we’ll all be aware of, like it or not. It’s a landmark event.
It’s definitely a landmark for Charles. I wonder, though, when he walks up the aisle in Westminster Abbey, he will remember following his mother’s coffin up the same aisle only a few months ago. I wonder if his joy will be mixed with sadness?
As a vicar, I’ve often noticed that the landmark events in our lives bring sadness and joy together. One of the saddest things I’ve ever done was the funeral of a tiny baby. Her parents’ agony as they said goodbye to their longed-for child was incredibly sad.
Two years later, I had the great joy of baptising their new son. But in the midst of the joy of his Christening, we remembered the sorrow, by lighting a candle for his sister.
The Bible says ‘weeping endures for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.’ If you have known a night of weeping, my prayer is that your morning of joy will soon dawn.