Holy Trinity Church, Frome

I am really enjoying David Dimbleby’s current Sunday evening series of programmes working through the history of Britain as seen through the lens of surviving objects and buildings.  Last Sunday, he took us to a vault in Munich where he showed us a crown that had once belonged to Richard II’s queen at the end of the fourteenth century. I have found a picture of it on the website of the Schatzkammer in Munich, and I am sure you will agree that it is truly exquisite.

In simple words, it is made of twelve beautifully shaped and hinged sections of gold, extremely fine, beautifully shaped and adorned with a glorious array of rubies, pearls, diamonds and sapphires;  workmanship of the highest standard, it is priceless, and locked in the Treasury of the Munich Residenz in Germany along with many other such treasures.

Treasure is an evocative word.  It makes me think of galleons, coral islands, pieces of eight, Johnny Depp, parrots, palm trees and crosses on maps to mark the spot.  Treasure?  What has that to do with my world, it’s just fantasy isn’t it? 

And yet, I have treasures that are worth more to me than all the contents of the Munich Treasury and the Tower of London knocked into one;  the love of friends and family for a start.  When it comes to a crown, the only one that I covet is as likely, perhaps even more likely, to be worn by the poorest of the poor as by any monarch.  This is the Crown of Life promised to all who endure through the trials and tests of life, and love the Lord to the end.  Yes,  that is what I call real treasure, eternal life, the Kingdom of God, something to be desired above all else.

Jesus once said, ‘where your heart is there is your treasure’, so let me encourage you to spend a few moments now to tell the Lord that above all he is your treasure.