Well it was of course magnificent – particularly the music. With the Primates from Ireland and Wales and the Archbishop of York, I was given a place of honour near the altar. Which meant that I didn’t see anything at all. Nothing. There’s probably a sermon in there. Something about the Sermon on the Mount I expect.
But it did give me time to reflect on one of those casual comments which somebody made to me recently – a casual comment which was anything but – reflecting on what it feels like for the Church of England to be the Established Church. That often leads to a conversation about how it feels for us to be not/never established and not the national church in Scotland either. To which the answer is usually ‘entirely comfortable, thank-you’
But on this occasion it went in a different direction – like this. ‘Because of the personal faith conviction of the present monarch, every significant event in the state is marked by a piece of classical Anglican worship in a Cathedral. Things will and have to move on. The inter-faith dimension will move to the centre as it must. Things will feel different for the Established Church’