Them That Are Bruised
M.E Boyd
5/9/2023
“The Spirit of the Lord. . . hath anointed me. . . to set at liberty them that are bruised.” Luke 4:18. Part of the Coronation service for Charles III of Great Britain and Queen Camilla.
Miss Constitution thought twice about watching the Coronation of Charles III as his personal performance, while superior to his brother Andrew, has brought to mind the words “beyond infantile.” His affair, while married to the mother of his children, with a person who was also married with children, impacted not only the immediate family but many in the world who retain some small affection for the British monarchy.
In addition, there is also the American version of television “commentary” on British events that grates on the nerves of even the most understanding and patient of viewers. American commentators think they can “wing it”, never bother to study deeply, and make asinine comments like, “Looks like the colonies are all here” or “What a funny glove” or “How much does all this cost?” They invariably talk over beautiful classical music or sacred parts of a religious service or settle on the hats rather than the historic event itself. Miss Constitution nearly wishes the British had won the American Revolution as she encounters on television the classless, tasteless, and insufferable representatives of our culture.
But she did watch. She watched every moment. She was brought to tears more than once as the weight of Western Civilization swept over her like a warm ermine shoulder wrap and brought her to her knees in humility and gratefulness. The symbol of the Coronation itself, delicate flowers surrounding St. Edwards Crown, representing a new beginning, while also honoring the countries that comprise Great Britain – Scotland with the thistle, Wales with the daffodil, Northern Ireland with the shamrock, and England with the rose. Careful authority – an aspiration and requirement for all Western nations.
And then there is the religious service itself. This was an Anglican service. It is made very clear that the real ruler of Great Britain and all nations in the West is Jesus Christ. Charles pledged to defend Christianity, although he also pledged to defend faiths in the plural in his Kingdom, that no harm may come to them for their alternative beliefs. At the close of the service, the world’s major religions were represented and each recited a prayer to bless this significant and symbolic event.
With the weight of history hanging on every image and word, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, with the voice of an angel, led the whole thing with such smooth authority that there was not the tiniest mistake in movement or glance. At one point, sitting on a throne from 1308 AD, wrapped in the regalia of his ancestors, holding the orb of the Christian world and the scepter of power and good governance, Charles welled up in tears. “Am I worthy?” must have rushed through his mind. “Is he worthy?” might have been on the mind of his Mother – Elizabeth the Great, no doubt following the event closely.
And so, what is the significance of all this to America?
America said “no” to hereditary titles in the United States Constitution. America said that all men are created equal, meaning that we acknowledge no Prince or Princess or King or Queen. The less than worthy are reminded of their duty in Great Britain by the rich history of their ancestors and the meticulous care for the symbols of antiquity that are brought out of storage for important events. The coach carrying the King and Queen contained wood from the Mayflower that brought our ancestors to Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620. The holy oil that seals a covenant between ruler and ruled binds the most wayward of British monarchs to service beyond self.
The “oil” that was thought by our Founders to bind Americans to duty and service is the Moral Core foundational to those who settled in the “New World”, as devout Christians intent on creating a religious utopia of simple, not princely, living. Our leaders are bound by honor to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. Our Presidents are bound by honor to restrain their worst selves in service to their country. We have no Stone of Scone; we have no 14th century ampulla holding sacred oil; we have no spoon from 1661 from which the sacred oil is delivered to the body of the monarch; we have no crown jewels or crown – all we have is our five Founding documents, our four bundles of the Rule of Law, and our Judeo-Christian Moral Code.
That Code has been broken by America’s leaders. What we have left are the bruised.
Them that are bruised are girls and young women:
humiliated into begging school boards to let them have the tiniest sense of personal privacy in public school restroom and locker room facilities;
stripped of the sense of achievement in honing their skills against other girls in public-school sports;
marginalized, swept aside, rolled over by some public educators determined to diminish their humanity in favor of other persons who make a claim to their gender.
Them that are bruised are boys and young men:
sexualized early in some public schools for an adult-driven freak show;
taught in some public schools that a big heart and sweet behavior might be a form of sexual dysphoria;
prevented by some public school educators from understanding how precious being a natural protector really is, encouraged to disrespect girls by violating their right to distinction
Them that are bruised are the parents and grandparents of our nation’s children:
encouraged by some physicians to allow physical mutilation of their children’s and grandchildren’s bodies through drugs and/or surgeries;
driven from their children’s and grandchildren’s hearts by some public school educators determined to alienate members of families from each other;
informed that they are not fit parents and grandparents unless they accept public school ideologies inconsistent with America’s Rule of Law and Judeo-Christian Moral Code.
We can only hope that the Spirit of the Lord will bring to America someone to heal us and help restore our morality. We rejected the British model, but one’s raised right hand, swearing to God, has not been shown to be enough.
