Mother's Day, Service and the Coronation

As we celebrate Mother's Day and soon,  Father's Day, I think of my parents, but that is not unusual. Their expressions, their lessons, their care, is with me always.  If they were still with us, I would have watched the Coronation with them last weekend. Dad would have found it long and Charles' wardrobe changes ridiculous. Mom would have enjoyed the ceremony, especially the hymns. She would have been angry with Meghan and Harry.  However, I think they both would have appreciated the sermon, with its emphasis on service. 

When I awoke last Saturday morning,  I turned on the radio, expecting  CBC's usual Saturday morning show. Instead, I found myself listening to the sermon being delivered at the Coronation, by the Archbishop of Canterbury. 

"Service is love in action. We see active love in our care for the most vulnerable, the way we nurture and encourage the young, in the conservation of the natural world. We have seen those priorities in the life of duty lived by our King."

I was struck by his emphasis on the idea of service to others - that the King's role was to serve and that we, as well, were asked to serve. 

"Each of us is called by God to serve. Whatever that looks like in our own lives, each of us can choose God’s way today."

Later that morning, as we watched the Coronation, I took out this very special mug. 

My mother was in hospital on the Queen's Coronation Day, having recently given birth to me. On Coronation Day she received this mug, so it always makes me think of her and the start of her role as mother. There are no words to describe how well she served the six of us, as our devoted mother. As well, she served her church and community in many ways. She was always serving someone. 

Dad, as well, was a wonderful parent. Reminders of him are throughout our home, as he worked on it a lot.  Last weekend we got busy washing windows and putting in screens. One of our screens has seen better days. The metal framing is now wobbly and I was perturbed to see that the plastic lining that holds the mesh in place, had come out. 

I really didn't feel like dealing with it, but memories of Dad flooded back. I went downstairs and fetched a screwdriver. Dad was, among many other titles, our repair guy. He could fix just about anything and we relied on him a lot. At one point he taught me how to use a screwdriver to repair a screen. And so I did.

There is a sense of satisfaction that comes with fixing something - a feeling that Dad must have experienced a lot. I felt pleased with myself and my little job. Teaching screen repair is only one of so many lessons Dad taught us. Maybe the bigger lesson here is not to throw things out, but to fix them. Again, as with Mom, I could never list all the ways that Dad used his many talents, to take care of his family and others. 

My grandmother used to say, "Give every devil their due." And so, regardless of what a person might think about the validity of the monarchy today, I think many might appreciate that the idea of service was a theme of Coronation weekend. Last Monday was a Bank Holiday in the U.K. It was called "The Big Help Out"  -  a day of national volunteering. Chris Brown, on CBC's The National , said that The Royals encouraged people to spend part of their holiday helping out in their communities. There were over 50 000 volunteering events planned across the U.K. The idea was to inspire more people to serve their communities, in whatever ways possible. Click here to see his report. 

And so, as I think of my parents, I think of their example, of their service to others. As the  Archbishop of Canterbury declared last weekend,  service is love in action.