Accession Surprise

By the grace of God, I am an American. I have lived my entire life in the American South. I am South Carolina born, South Carolina bred, and when I die, I’ll be South Carolina dead. My heart is with Uncle Sam. My soul is with the Queen.

The Sovereign of the United Kingdom is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, a title held since the first Queen Elizabeth. The Church of England is the spiritual heart of the Anglican Communion. To be Anglican is to be in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Primate of All England. The Queen appoints the Archbishop. She’s not irrelevant to Anglicans outside the Commonwealth.

Therefore on the 68th anniversary of her accession to the chair of St Edward, I did not find it one bit treasonous to include the Forms of Prayer with Thanksgiving to Almighty God in Evening Prayer (the Accession Day service).

Following the order prescribed in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, the psalms for Evening Prayer were 20, 101, and 121. The lessons were Joshua 1.1-9 and Romans 13.1-10. After the Collect of the Day, the first prayer for the Queen. I did say “that under her England may be wisely governed” instead of “this nation may be wisely governed,” and I made the necessary adaptations for all the prayers. One can be an Anglophile and a patriot.

The prayer that moved me the most, however, was the Prayer for Unity. Added in 1715 for the Accession of King George I, it stands out among the rest. In my brief search, I could not find the reasons for its insertion or the context, but the purpose of the prayer is not beyond the reach of common sense.

O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Saviour, the Prince of Peace: Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions. Take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatsoever else may hinder us from godly union and concord: that, as there is but one Body, and one Spirit, and one hope of our calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all; so we may henceforth be all of one heart, and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity, and may with one mind and one mouth glorify thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

In a prayer of just 122 words, the word ‘one’ is used 12 times. I don’t know if this was directed to the political division and uncertainty that existed during the reign of Queen Anne, George I’s predecessor (emergence of two-party system, Jacobite claims to the throne, etc.), the fact that George was the first Hanoverian to reign over the United Kingdom (formed under Anne), or something altogether different. What I do know is that there is nothing new under the sun and the words earnestly prayed 305 years ago have lost none of their relevance nor necessity.

To the Church at large, to the Church in the parish, to the Nation and our politics, to families not speaking at home, may God grant us grace to seriously lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions. May we pay serious attention to the remedy of our divisions: Jesus Christ. In him we discover one Body, one Spirit, one hope, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father, one heart, one soul, one holy bond of truth and peace, one mind, and one mouth to glorify him.  

If the Queen of England, and the anniversary of her accession, causes us to make this prayer our own, long may she reign.