The Hidden Moment at Westminster Abbey

When Elizabeth II was crowned on June 2, 1953, the ceremony was the first ever televised. Over twenty-seven million people watched across the world. But at the most sacred moment of the three-hour service, the cameras turned away.

As the Archbishop of Canterbury prepared to anoint the young queen with holy oil, four Knights of the Garter stepped forward and raised a golden canopy over her. The screen went dark for viewers at home. The BBC had agreed: this moment was too holy to broadcast.

Under that canopy, Elizabeth removed her crimson robe and jewels. Stripped of every symbol of earthly power, she sat in a plain white linen dress — looking, as one observer noted, like a young girl at her confirmation. The Archbishop touched oil to her hands, her chest, and her forehead, consecrating her to a reign accountable not to Parliament alone, but to the Almighty.

Psalm 99 declares that the Lord reigns — and "He is holy." Three times the psalm repeats that word, as if once could never be enough. The nations tremble. The earth shakes. Yet this same Holy One invited Moses, Aaron, and Samuel into conversation, answered their prayers, and forgave their failures — even while holding them accountable.

The God who makes the earth quake is the same God who stoops to hear your voice. He is holy, and He is near.