First up was a service in Westminster Abbey in the presence of the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, and all the members of the new synod.
Quoting the prophet Haggai the preacher said 'Take courage your Majesty, Sovereign of this nation, the Lord is with you. Take courage Archbishops Justin, and Sentamu, the Lord is with you. Take courage, members of General Synod, the Lord is with you.'
At the end of the service it was moving to sing 'God save the Queen' knowing that on this occasion the subject of that prayerful anthem was with us in person. It was a kind of mass prayer ministry to the Queen by her church, said the person next to me in the Abbey. That was a nice way of putting it.
Later the Queen made a speech which you can read here and the Archbishop of York replied concluding with a loud 'Long live the Queen' echoed by the whole Synod who then gave the Queen a prolonged standing ovation, expressing our gratitude for her long years' of loving service to church and nation.
The Queen herself, as is her custom, ended her speech with a prayer for the Synod, saying: 'At the beginning of this new Synod, as you put your hand into the hand of God, my prayer is that, as we sang in that joyous hymn this morning, “His glorious light may shine ever on our sight, and clothe us round, the while our path illuming.'
It was a great start to what looks likely to be a very productive and encouraging five years of the new Synod.
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| Southwark members getting ready to process into the Abbey |
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