SUN through stained glass in the chapel of St James’s Palace lent its lustre to the service of choral evensong in honour of St David and to inaugurate the new Royal Chaplaincy for Wales, on Wednesday of last week.
The first lesson, Thessalonians 2.2-12, was read in Welsh by the chair of the Representative Body of the Church in Wales, Professor Medwin Hughes. The second lesson, Matthew 16.24-27, was read by the chief executive, Simon Lloyd.
Organ music before and after the service was drawn from Vaughan Williams’s “Three Preludes, founded on Welsh Hymns”: Rhosymedre and Bryn Calfaria. The choir, the Gentlemen-in-Ordinary, sang “I will lift up mine eyes” by Ernest Walker and evening canticles by Weelkes. Hymns included “Jesu, Lover of my soul” and “Guide me, O thou great Redeemer” to their famous Welsh tunes.
The Bishop of St Davids and newly appointed Dean of the Royal Chaplaincy for Wales, the Rt Revd Dorrien Davies, preached on St David and the Christian heritage of Wales.
“Wales has very much enjoyed in the past its Christian character, its Christian commitment, its Christian hope. But it is something which unfortunately is being lost to us in a very secular age. . . If we as a nation — and this is not only to do with Wales, but throughout Britain as a whole — want to see prosperity, new life and peace, then we must return to the virtues which were so important to David in his relationship with Jesus,” he said.
Tomos Salmon/ Church in WalesThe new honorary chaplains and the choir
“To be a Christian is to take up your cross. It’s not easy being a Christian today, but then our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, never said it would be easy.”
Bishop Davies had to pause in his sermon to prevent his cassock slipping, which had the chapel ringing with laughter. “Let’s pause: there’s an opportunity for us to be happy; for, as we laugh, the angels laugh; when we weep, the angels weep. So, in joy and in faithfulness, there is a need to understand and realise that in little things done with great faith and with deep joy, we can make a difference,” he said.
“To know ourselves in the acknowledgement of the love that we have for Jesus. That’s what St David would have wanted for us today. That is what his prayer is for us today.”
Bishop Davies was appointed by the King to head the new Royal Chaplaincy for Wales. Traditionally, the King’s Honorary Chaplains have been appointed for the Church of England and the Church of Scotland, but this has now been extended to include Wales.
In addition to the Bishop as Dean, the chaplaincy is made up of six clerics, one from each diocese. Each chaplain will preach at a royal residence and attend a royal garden party.
The new honorary chaplains wore the customary bright scarlet cassocks of the Royal Household with a badge of the royal cypher. While some worshippers had medals on their lapels, others sported a daffodil in their buttonhole.