Report on The Royal Maundy at Westminster Abbey, the text of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s BBC broadcast, and a report on Bishops who became shoe shiners.
The Queen has celebrated her 85th birthday by handing out Maundy money in a traditional royal service at Westminster Abbey.
The monarch handed out specially minted coins to deserving recipients in a ceremony dating from the Middle Ages.
Among the 170 people – 85 men and 85 women – who received Maundy money this year were 40 from the Isle of Man.
Buckingham Palace said it was the first time the Queen’s birthday had fallen on Maundy Thursday.
Each year the Queen chooses a different church to distribute the coins, known as Maundy money.
This year the venue was the abbey, which will also host the wedding of the Queen’s grandson, Prince William, to Kate Middleton, on 29 April.
When the Queen, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, arrived at the abbey’s Great West Door, a trumpet fanfare was sounded.
The Queen and the duke were presented with the traditional nosegays of sweet herbs as they walked inside.
The royal couple and a series of colourful processions featuring musicians, senior clergy and delegations from the two dioceses involved then made their way through the nave into the heart of the church.
The groups were joined by members of the Royal Almonry – an office within the Royal Household that enables the monarch to distribute alms.
The service began with the 19th Century hymn “Praise To The Holiest In The Height” and was followed by a series of prayers.
Sodor and Man
The Bishop of Sodor and Man, the Right Reverend Robert Paterson – whose district is one of the ancient Celtic dioceses of the British Isles – gave the first lesson, reading the passage from the book of John which describes Jesus washing the feet of his followers.
Afterwards the Queen handed out red and white purses – from trays held by a Yeoman of the Guard – in the centuries-old tradition.
The red purse contained a £5 coin commemorating the Duke of Edinburgh’s 90th birthday in June, and a 50p coin marking the 2012 London Olympic Games.
The white purse held uniquely minted Maundy money made up of silver one, two, three and four penny pieces, the sum of which added up to the Queen’s age.
One of this year’s recipients was Dorothy Boyde, 75, who had never left the Isle of Man before.
She told the BBC: “I wouldn’t go for anything else. It’s a big adventure
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, gave this Thought for the Day on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Good morning. Today the Queen celebrates her birthday by distributing the Royal Maundy at Westminster Abbey. It’s a curious survival, the Royal Maundy, but a touching one, looking back to the days when the monarch really was expected to be a bit like a priest for the nation – acting out the great symbols of faith on behalf of everyone. And if anyone believes that’s entirely a thing of the past, they ought to think a bit about why interest in the Royal Wedding is so warm and intense. It’s largely about the feeling that Someone, with a capital S, is reminding us of things that – whether we fully believe them or not – we want to believe, things we know matter for the well-being of our community as a nation.
And that’s very much what the Royal Maundy is about. What we see today is only a shadow of what used to be done hundreds of years ago, when the monarch would actually do what Jesus did at the Last Supper and wash the feet of a number of poor people. Back in the Middle Ages, this meant that the King was just doing what priests and bishops often did, not only on Maundy Thursday but on many other occasions.
They didn’t all do it because they were lovely humble people – some were, and some definitely weren’t – but because they accepted one great truth that needed repeating over and over again, the one big thing that Christianity had brought into the world of human imagination.
And that was – and is – the truth that power constantly needs to be reminded of what it’s for. Power exists, in the Church or the state or anywhere else, so that ordinary people may be treasured and looked after, especially those who don’t have the resources to look after themselves. The Bible is crystal clear that this is the standard by which the gospel of Jesus judges the powerful of this world.
Which makes you wonder…What about having a new law that made all cabinet members and leaders of political parties, editors of national papers and the hundred most successful financiers in the UK, spend a couple of hours every year serving dinners in a primary school on a council estate? Or cleaning bathrooms in a residential home? Walking around the streets of a busy town at night as a street pastor, ready to pick up and absorb something of the chaos and human mess you’ll find there especially among young people?
I’ve no doubt some of our public figures do this sort of thing privately, and good for them.
But maybe having to do it, to do it in public and not to be able to make any sort of capital out of it because they had no choice – ? It might do two things, reminding our leaders of what the needs really are at grass roots level, so that those needs can never again be just remote statistics; and reminding the rest of us what politics and government are really for.
Well, perhaps that’s just a nice fantasy to mull over during the holiday weekend. But as we watch the Queen honouring some of her subjects today, it’s worth remembering this startling idea that the goal of the supreme power in the universe is that we should be nurtured, respected and loved. What does that say – to monarchs, politicians, tycoons and, yes, Archbishops too – about how we understand and use the power we have?
Two Church of England bishops have been offering a free shoe shining service in Nottingham city centre.
The Bishop of Sherwood, the Right Reverend Tony Porter, was joined by the Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham, the Right Reverend Paul Butler.
The pair buffed passing shoppers’ footwear outside St Peter’s Church to mark Maundy Thursday.
Bishop Butler said the service was being offered as a modern twist on foot washing.
Maundy Thursday is when the Church remembers the Bible’s description of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples, shortly before his crucifixion.
“Foot washing in Jesus’ day was done by the lowest servant of all,” said Bishop Butler.
“Jesus challenged his disciples then, and all of us today, to treat each other with such love and respect.
“We wanted to explain this and the message of Easter while we offered a practical service to people in the city.”
Details of forthcoming Easter services were also given out.