The key to a good fairy tale, is “They all lived happily ever after.” We tell children this because we don’t want them to worry – however bad it gets, it will be alright in the end.
Then we grow up and realise “happily ever after” isn’t real. However good things get, we’re only ever a health-scare, economic shock, or violent event away from crisis.
And yet we still crave that stability we once believed and can now only dream of.
There was something secure and stable about the late Queen, a mantle now taken on by her son, King Charles. The National Anthem calls for God to: save, bring victory and happiness and honour and long life; and the second verse continues, asking God to bless and charging the King to provide a stable, safe space for his subjects. The King shall serve, not be served. Does that remind you of anyone?
In The Coronation, the Archbishop prays “that … after a long … temporal kingdom … you may … be made partaker of an eternal kingdom”.
“Happily ever after” may seem impossible, but the truth, for King and Commoner alike, is that there is a way – and it’s not a matter of luck or judgement, but of following Christ.
Jesus said “I am the way” John 14:6.
Raymond.