During the coronation of King Charles of England, staged within the ceremonial splendor of Westminster Abbey, I couldn’t help but focus on the crown as the Archbishop of Canterbury placed it on the king’s head. I think it’s safe to say, that was no ordinary headgear. I had to know more!

The crown is the St. Edward’s Crown, and is the official coronation crown of England. It dates back to St. Edward the Confessor (don’t you love that name!) who ruled England during the mid-11th century. After his death, Edward’s crown passed down from one monarchy to the next for 600 years. However, that ended during the English Civil War in 1649, when Parliament royally flushed (pardon the pun) the monarchy and melted the famous crown into common coins.

However, twelve years later, Parliament restored the monarchy, and created an exact replica of the crown – pure gold, studded with 444 precious stones . . . let’s call it, St. Edward’s Crown 2.0. This was the crown the archbishop placed on Charles’ head.

Wearing that crown is not an easy assignment – it weighs five pounds and stands twelve inches tall. Its sole purpose is symbolically to authenticate the authority of the new royal. However, immediately after the crowning ceremony, the St. Edward’s Crown was quickly removed and taken back to its well-adorned cabinet in the Tower of London, where it will await its next monarch.

Lloyd’s of London says, “The St. Edward’s Crown is the most important crown in the world. Its significance is priceless, and therefore its worth cannot be assessed or insured.” However, by the time King Charles arrived at Buckingham Palace to greet his subjects, he was wearing a different crown – the Imperial State Crown. It’s smaller at 3 pounds and 10 inches tall, but is equally impressive with nearly 3,000 diamonds, 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds, 269 pearls and 4 rubies. Its assessed value is . . . a whopping $5 billion. It’s doubtful they use it for supermarket openings.

In Shakespeare’s play, King Henry IV, the title character bemoans, “Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.” However, King Henry wasn’t lamenting the bulky weight of a crown, but rather the weighty challenges of leadership. Leadership, as you know, can be a wearisome role. As Snoopy once said, “It’s tough being Lead Beagle.”

It’s tough being a pastor too, and scripture never sugar-coats the difficulties. For example, as Paul and Silas were planting the church in Philippi – Europe’s first church – little did they realize the problems ahead:

The church began with few attendees. (Acts 16.13)
A slave girl with a “spirit of divination” (literally, a python spirit) continually harassed Paul. (16.16)
This daily badgering “greatly annoyed Paul. Therefore, he commanded the demon, ‘In the name of Jesus, come out of her!’ And instantly it came out.” (16.18)
However, those who had profited by the girl’s demonic behavior were angry, and had Paul and Silas arrested for disrupting their rights and cutting off their revenue. (16.19–20)
Public opinion was loud and hostile against Paul and Silas. (16.22)
The court’s verdict was simple – “Tear their robes off and beat them with rods.” (16.22)
“After they had been struck with many blows, they were thrown into prison.” (16.23)

At this point, it would be easy to say, “Obviously I’ve misread God’s signals. Pastoring in Philippi was a bad decision!” So, why did Paul stick it out? Because God had called him there. (Acts 16.9–11) It’s that simple. God’s calling doesn’t come with an escape clause, just the knowledge that we’re following His lead. And, by obeying Him, we get to shepherd the world’s most significant and precious people – the bride of Christ.

Toward the end of his life, in retrospect, Paul wrote to the Philippian church, calling them, “My joy and crown.” (Phil 4.1) Forgive me, Lloyd’s of London, but it appears the church is “the most important crown in the world.”