My wife and I have been watching the historical drama about Queen Elizabeth II called The Crown.
A thought that keeps occurring to me is how one person carried so much responsibility for so many years.
Yet the reality is: we all have a share in that responsibility.
The great Christian writer C.S. Lewis wrote about the Queen’s coronation in a way that sheds light on what I mean.
In a letter to a friend, Lewis described the position of all mankind when he wrote:
The pressing of that huge, heavy crown on that small, young head becomes a sort of symbol of the situation of humanity itself: humanity called by God to be his vice-regent and high priest on earth, yet feeling so inadequate. As if he said, “In my inexorable love I shall lay upon the dust that you are glories and dangers and responsibilities beyond your understanding.”
Lewis went on to say that we miss the point unless we ‘feel we have all been crowned.’
And that our coronation is what he called a ‘tragic splendor.’
One of the marvels of our fallen world is that we all continue to serve as vice-regents under the King of kings and Lord of lords.
And our strength to serve faithfully comes freely by His grace.
