The King, The Goat, and the Book of Common Prayer

Last updated on: September 12, 2022 at 9:27 pm by Jennifer Woodruff Tait

The King, The Goat, and the Book of Common Prayer 2022-09-12T21:27:55-05:00 Jennifer Woodruff Tait

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I was looking at Facebook when I caught the picture out of the corner of my eye of. . .a goat. Turns out that the proclamation of King Charles III throughout the United Kingdom took a particular local turn in Wales, where the Royal Welsh regiment that led the march prior to the proclamation marched alongside their mascot, a goat.

You can read more about the goat here (he gets a rank and a salary and a radio and one of his colleagues formerly got to eat two cigarettes a day.)

There’s been a lot of criticism surrounding the death of HM The Queen and the accession of HM The King. (OK, he isn’t my liege lord, but he is the liege lord of my husband and kids.) Some of it has to do with the ritual and ceremony of the various occasions. Ritual and ceremony are odd, and we are told they seem odder to us now than they used to in former times. People wear things they don’t normally wear and say things they don’t normally say and use titles they don’t usually use and recall many things that happened a long time ago. For the first time – because this was all last done 70 years ago – some of these things are being televised, giving even more people an opportunity to say how odd it all is.

As an Episcopalian, I have a front seat to a lot of fights over liturgy. I used to have a front seat to different fights in United Methodism. Episcopalians are less likely than United Methodists to say that liturgy is stupid or odd or ungodly, but they are just as likely to tinker with it in the interests of educating modern people, and getting more so all the time.

When I was a young and eager post-Vatican-II-influenced liturgy geek with an idealistic mania for displacing my elders, I used to think you could use liturgy for education. Now I know I was wrong. First of all, there are no modern people. There are just people. Secondly, liturgy can and will teach you, but that’s not why you do it. You do it so that it gets into your bones, so that it holds you up in times of tragedy, so that it gives you words that are not your own to say to God when you can’t come up with any words of your own.

You also do it because it’s profoundly silly. The best liturgy is the one you take seriously, but not too seriously. Whenever you think you might be earnestly in charge – of your life or the worship service or the passage of time or the government of nations – you need to take a step back and think how goofy everything really is. The Prayer Book is gloriously goofy. So are vestments. So are proclamations. So are marches, with or without goats. The best ritual is just silly enough to get us out of the way. The goat is just here to help us see that.

Image: Unsplash.

Religious Events

Previous Post

September 5, 2022

From His Own Fullness All He Takes Away

Next Post

September 23, 2022 Top Ten Ways The Rings of Power Feels Like Tolkien to Me So Far

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Art Audio posts Bible and Work Book Review Books Budgeting Calling Common Good Community Development Conferences Discipleship Economics Entrepreneurship Ethics Faith and Family Faith and the Marketplace Faith and the Workplace faith and work History of Work and Vocation Leadership Local Church Meaning New Blogger News Prayer Relationships Seminaries Theology of Work Uncategorized Video posts Vocation Worship Resources

Select a Month April 2026 October 2025 September 2025 July 2025 April 2025 January 2025 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 May 2024 March 2024 February 2024 December 2023 November 2023 August 2023 July 2023 April 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 May 2022 April 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 June 2021 May 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 January 2020 December 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 April 2018 March 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "Ecclesiastes" mean?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Prophet Gatherer Judge Teacher or Preacher