Archbishop’s Pause for Thought message on the Diamond Jubilee
Thursday 31st May 2012
In his contribution to BBC Radio 2's Pause For Thought programme, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, expressed his hope that The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee will give people the 'chance to get in touch with the background of their lives, the big context, the things that make this the sort of world it is and give us the sort of values we have'.“I hope the Jubilee prompts us to see what we can do to get back in touch with the big background picture. Like the monarchy – it’s still there, and it still means something, and dropping into a church or a cathedral is a good way of connecting with it, and perhaps saying thanks – for the Queen and the Jubilee and for lots more besides.”
Listen to an audio recording [2Mb, 3 mins], or read a transcript below:
When you talk to people who remember the Coronation, one of the things they often recall is their first sight of a television set – a little object in the corner, taking ages to warm up, and so small and grey you could hardly see a thing. No wall-sized plasma screens in the fifties!
If you wanted to watch in those days, you had to work pretty hard. And I think one of the really big differences that’s happened in these sixty years is how television has become a background to everything, so that you don’t notice a lot of the time what’s actually on. Almost as though the screens were getting too big to see. But the Jubilee is an opportunity for once to stop and focus on that background we take for granted and don’t really notice. The Queen’s part of that background – part of what makes us a stable society, a society that takes pride in its history without being crippled by it, that values fairness and trustworthiness.
So maybe it’s helpful to ask whether we should try a bit more regularly to give ourselves time to think about the background of our lives, the things that are too big for us to notice most of the time. It’s surprising how many people will still want to find somewhere to be quiet – all those millions of folk who visit cathedrals every year, for a start. Just as with the Jubilee – they want a chance to get in touch with the background of their lives, the big context, the things that make this the sort of world it is and give us the sort of values we have. To get in touch and maybe say a word of thanks.
I hope the Jubilee prompts us to see what we can do to get back in touch with the big background picture. Like the monarchy – it’s still there, and it still means something, and dropping into a church or a cathedral is a good way of connecting with it, and perhaps saying thanks – for the Queen and the Jubilee and for lots more besides.
© Rowan Williams 2012