Royal Air Force chaplain to lead national online service for Pentecost

01/06/2022

A Royal Air Force chaplain is to lead the Church of England’s national online Pentecost service this week with special prayers to mark the Platinum Jubilee of the Queen.
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Revd (Squadron Leader) Chrissie Lacey will speak of the importance of the Holy Spirit in helping us to fulfil our vocations in a service pre-recorded from a British Armed Forces base in a desert in the Middle East.

In a sermon, Padre Lacey will highlight the Queen’s lifetime of service to others and how she has described her faith as the ‘anchor in her life’.

The service will hear intercession prayers from Armed Forces personnel, giving thanks for the ‘loving and faithful’ service of the Queen and praying for people in areas of famine, war and need, particularly for those in Ukraine.

On the same day as National Thank You Day, there will be prayer thanking God for the service of the Queen and all those in leadership roles in the Church, both lay and ordained.

Speaking of the Queen’s accession to the throne in 1952, Padre Lacey will say: “In a relatively short period of time, and in her grief, she stepped up to prepare herself for the call which was on her life.

“She would've been preparing herself ever since her father became king, but his untimely death, with that happening, it would have been a more condensed amount of time to prepare.”

The service will conclude with the singing of the National Anthem by the HeartEdge Manchester Choral Scholars and the ringing of the Westminster Abbey bells to mark the Jubilee.

The service will be broadcast at 9am on Sunday June 4.