The Servant Queen and the King she serves Paperback – 2016

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Her Majesty also alluded to the current problems in the Middle East saying that the world is now experiencing “terrible suffering on an unprecedented scale”. It is an idea that belongs to neither the left nor the right. It is rooted in the Queen’s understanding of God’s concern for all human beings, of the example of ‘the child who was born at Christmas with a love that came to embrace the whole world’ (1995). And it is underpinned by the Queen’s biblical understanding of the equality of all human beings under God, and of the calling of all Christians to seek to love all people. I am always moved by those words in St John’s Gospel which we hear on Christmas Day – “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not…” We have only to listen to the news to know the truth of that. But the Gospel goes on – “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God”.

Furthermore, there is a richness of imagination in her writing. Here’s the poetic picture she paints of Bethlehem in 1954: ‘Life in such a place might have been uneventful. But the Light, kindled in Bethlehem and then streaming from the cottage window in Nazareth, has illumined the world for two thousand years. It is in the glow of that bright beam that I wish you all a blessed Christmas and a happy New Year!’ The beam is ‘bright’ and the faith she commends is ‘joyful’ (2013). In the year that the Archbishop of Canterbury has called the Church to the “ duty, privilege and joy” of a great work of evangelism, thousands of churches across the country will be giving away copies of The Servant Queen, and we owe HOPE, Bible Society and the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity a great debt of gratitude for the evangelistic vision. There was, however, never any pretence that neighbourliness is easy. She is aware of the pressures and distractions that can lead us away from meeting our responsibilities and is grateful particularly for those who persevere despite the acuteness of their own challenges. She is aware too that ‘love one another as I have loved you’ is not a guru’s suggestion, but a divine command. As she put it, ‘It sounds so simple, yet it proves so hard to obey’ (1995). And obedience to God is important to her because she is conscious of ‘my own accountability before God’ (2000). Her strong Christian faith was known long before she became 'the defender of the faith.' On the occasion of her 21st birthday in 1947 she made a radio broadcast in which she said: 'I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.To the extent that Elizabeth was kind, servant-hearted, and consistent, she showed us the blessing it is to live under a good ruler. This is the time of year when we remember that God sent his only son “to serve, not to be served”. He restored love and service to the centre of our lives in the person of Jesus Christ.’ (2012) Her eyes,” he wrote, “sparkled and she bubbled over with enthusiasm. . . . ‘I wish you had!’ she exclaimed. ‘That is my favourite story.’” Again, it’s hard to imagine two more different people—a cripple for 38 years with no one to help him and a queen for decades with scores of servants. But he needed to hear Jesus’s words of healing and salvation, and so did she. In the last 90 years the extent and pace of change has been truly remarkable. We have witnessed triumphs and tragedies. Our world has enjoyed great advances in science and technology, but it has also endured war, conflict and terrible suffering on an unprecedented scale. There is no magic formula that will transform sorrow into happiness, intolerance into compassion or war into peace, but inspiration can change human behaviour. Those like Leonard Cheshire who devote their lives to others have that inspiration, and they know and we know where to look for help in finding it. That help can be readily given if we only have the faith to ask.’

Her Majesty met millions of people, but in all the footage we’ll watch on loop over the coming days, notice she always gave her attention to the person in front of her. She never seemed in a hurry to move past him or her. It didn’t seem to matter to her whether the person to whom she was speaking was a president or a pauper. She could have enjoyed the wealth and status her position gave her. Instead, she showed us a life of dutiful service in the interest of others, one that treats each person with dignity regardless of status. In that, she gave us a glimpse of the One who left the riches of heaven and made himself nothing, being born in the form of a servant and giving all he had to serve his people. urn:lcp:servantqueenking0000gree:epub:8249d2de-cb1c-4aad-8f45-39dcb78cbac6 Foldoutcount 0 Identifier servantqueenking0000gree Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t70w7hb8w Invoice 1652 Isbn 9780957559820In her 2014 Christmas broadcast, The Queen described Jesus Christ as ‘an anchor in my life’ and a ‘role-model’. It is the most recent of many public references the Queen has made to her Christian faith. It is because of Christ’s example that we are given courage to live in line with the principles he teaches: Others would say that her communication strategy is well suited to TV and to the times we’re in. Personal story is powerful and attractive. As one young evangelist put it, ‘She has maintained a long-term, winsome, clear and unapologetic witness to Jesus, without alienating people of other faiths or none.’ In a strong statement of faith, the Queen has said that she is ‘very grateful’ to the nation for its prayers for her and that she has felt God’s ‘faithfulness’ during 64 years on the throne.