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As I write, the film "The King's Speech" has just been released. We're off to the flicks this afternoon.
It is common for people to regard those with a peculiarity of speech with suspicion or even contempt.
Certain regional and national accents may seem to some less acceptable and prejudiced assumptions are sometimes made about class, education, moral character and even intelligence based only on the way a person speaks.
George VI was not actually expected to be King of England.
His elder brother Edward VIII was first in line to the crown.
Prince Edward was good looking, articulate and a fashionable man about town, enjoying celebrity status and popular acclaim.
Conversely, 'Bertie' his brother was shy, retiring and suffered a pronounced stammer.
Appearances are deceiving however and with the rise of Hitler and the threat of Nazi Germany it soon became clear that Edward's overt Nazi sympathies made him a dangerous national liability.
When Edward abdicated, (to the great relief of many), George became king but his shyness and stammer at first appeared to be a disability.
However, the nation soon appreciated his sincerity of spirit and determination, by his example, to lead his people against the threat of Nazi oppression.
After many months of speech therapy, in a very moving live Christmas BBC broadcast in 1939 he ably recited this poem by a hitherto unknown Sunday School Teacher called Minnie Louise Harkins 1875-1957.
I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year
'Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.'
And he replied,
'Go into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way!'
So I went forth and finding the Hand of God
Trod gladly into the night
He led me towards the hills
And the breaking of day in the lone east.
So heart be still!
What need our human life to know
If God hath comprehension?
In all the dizzy strife of things
Both high and low,
God hideth his intention.
On Sunday the 6th February one of our Communion readings contains these words from St. Paul.
"I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom but with a demonstration of The Spirit and with power".
After seeing the film, (I can thoroughly recommend it), I think I know what St. Paul was getting at.