Tag: God

The faith of a Queen

The FAITH OF A QUEEN

Since Queen Elizabeth’s death, many words have been spoken, photos displayed, opinions expressed and conjectures shared. One thing frequently mentioned has been Her Majesty’s faith in God. The often quoted words in her first Christmas broadcast in 1952 asked for people to pray for her. Her request was that God might “give her wisdom and strength to carry out the solemn promises” that she would be making and that she might faithfully serve God and her people, all the days of her life.

In this she set down two elements under one – that she would serve God all the days of her life and that because of this she would serve others. It’s a statement of intent which would be symbolized in her Coronation service the following year. As part of the service she was anointed with holy oil to show that her life was being consecrated to God and dedicated to his service. The Anointing was a form of ordination that would seal this and Elizabeth knew that once she had undertaken this there was no way she could turn her back on God. This was literally something she must do ‘for life’.

Behind her determination to do this was the steadfastness of her faith, rooted as it was in a deep personal prayer life and sustained and fed by the Church. This faith was fed too by her knowledge of Jesus Christ and to learn more about this we need only go to her annual Christmas Broadcasts where she spoke of Jesus’ teachings, handed down from generation to generation, as having been the bedrock of her faith – she found in Jesus an inspiration for her own life, saying, in 2014:

“For me, the life of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, (whose birth we celebrate today), is an inspiration and an anchor in my life. A role-model of reconciliation and forgiveness, he stretched out his hands in love, acceptance and healing. Christ’s example has taught me to seek to respect and value all people of whatever faith or none.”

The maturity of her faith, while often tested, carried her through real dark moments. She believed very strongly in the power of forgiveness to foster and encourage healing. In her 2011 broadcast she said that ‘Forgiveness lies at the heart of the Christian Faith. It can heal broken families, restore friendships and reconcile divided communities.

That is the application of forgiveness but Queen Elizabeth went much further: “It is in forgiveness that we feel the power of God’s love.” For her personally this was given perhaps its hardest test when she shook hands with Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness in a gesture seen as a vital step in securing reconciliation between nationalists and unionists in a troubled Northern Ireland, for this was the same Martin McGuinness who had been deeply involved in the murder of Prince Philip’s uncle, Earl Mountbatten, years earlier.

Recognizing the heavy demands on life in the modern world led her to offer great support and comfort in the Covid Lockdowns. Speaking encouragingly, she told us that this darkness would pass, we would gather as families and we would meet again.

In hard times she turned to her faith:

“I know just how much I rely on my own faith to guide me through the good times and the bad. Each day is a new beginning, I know that the only way to live my life is to try to do what is right, to take the long view, to give of my best in all that the day brings, and to put my trust in God. Like others of you who draw inspiration from your own faith, I draw strength from the message of hope in the Christian gospel.”

She noted “that Christ not only revealed to us the truth of his teachings. He lived by what he believed and gave us the strength to try to do the same – and, finally, on the cross, he showed the supreme example of physical and moral courage.”

And in 1980, she spoke of the need to look beyond ourselves:

“In difficult times we may be tempted to find excuses for self-indulgence and to wash our hands of responsibility. Christmas stands for the opposite… we need to go out and look for opportunities to help those less fortunate than ourselves, even if that service demands sacrifice.”

Her life was rooted in prayer and in a desire to learn more of God’s love.

“For Christians, as for all people of faith, reflection, meditation and prayer help us to renew ourselves in God’s love, as we strive daily to become better people. The Christmas message shows us that this love is for everyone. There is no one beyond its reach.”

“Good spreads outwards and every little (good) does help. Mighty things from small beginnings grow as indeed they grew from the small child of Bethlehem.”

She believed firmly “that God sent his only Son to serve, not to be served”

And she went on to say: “It is my prayer that his example and teaching will continue to bring people together to give the best of themselves in the service of others.”

This was at the heart of her own life of duty and faithfulness. Someone has described her as our ‘servant-hearted Queen’ – how true that is.

[Mr G]

The Mothering heart of God

MARY MAGDALENE’S DAWN

The mothering heart of God
beats in the silent dawn,
a pregnant pause
amongst the shadows of expectancy.

She comes,
hesitant, afraid,
yet full of love.
She, who embalmed his body with her hair,
fragrancing him with the perfume of her dreams,
now awaits the final touch,
the grief-insistent moment
– final parting.

Not to be.
Tomb empty.
Solitary gardener
watering the sun-streaked sky.

For her
Confusion,
Perplexity,
Heartbeat of pain
pounding,
drowning out the heart of God.
Almost.

‘Mary!’
Heart stopping but she hears.
‘Rabbouni’

The beating heart of God,
Reaching, embracing,
Enfolding her own heart.
Mothering
Bringing new life to birth.

Mr. G

Deep Dark

In response to Mr G’s earlier piece, Dispelling darkness with light came this. When asked how I imagine God, the sensation that always forms within me is of deep, rich, velvety darkness – an enfolding – and a profound sense of safety. There’s something a bit imperceptible about it: neither warm nor cool, but at blood heat, meaning that at times you have to pay attention to notice God’s presence. A bit like a second skin…. It’s strange in a way that this image or feeling should have formed for me because as a child I was scared of the dark – but maybe that’s telling too – something about trust, perhaps.

And at times, when things seem bleak and dark and starved of light, it feels as though God might be absent too. That primal fear of the dark night and what it might contain surfaces in us and leaves us feeling alone and anxious.

So much of our language revolves around the notion of light countering the darkness. Yet it was God who said ‘Let there be light’ – God, who existed before the light came into being. So seek and know God in the darkness too…

Piers

The Compassion of God

Wilberforce and abolition of slavery

Yesterday we commemorated William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson and Olauthah Equalano, all of whom were involved in anti-slavery campaigns and social reform.

William Wilberforce’s battle to abolish slavery is well chronicled in the biography of him by William Hague. It is rather too bulky for bedtime reading. There is, however a very good film, available on DVD, called Amazing Grace.– starring Ioan Gruffodd.
It tells of Wilberforce’s battle against strong vested interests, not least within Parliament itself. Year after Year, Wilberforce presented his Bill only to be rebuffed until very near to his death when he finally succeeded. By then, the toll on his health was a reminder that struggle for justice can often be costly.

What comes across most strongly is that he was driven by his faith in God. This led him to have a deep compassion for his fellow-man, and particularly for those who have no one to speak for them; no one to champion their cause. This was especially true of the many, many thousands who were transported from Africa to the West Indies to become slaves living under the most appalling conditions and treated as sub-human.
Wilberforce saw that slavery was a denial of humanity – not just of human rights – but of fundamental humanity. He believed that we are all equal in God’s sight.

Knowing nothing personally about these slaves, apart from one he met who had become free, he acted with a passion that consumed him all his life – a passion that he showed in other social areas of British life too.
He was not just consumed with passion – he was filled with com-passion. But it was a compassion that had a double edge.

In freeing the slaves, he also freed the slave-traders who were deeply sinful in what they were doing. Even Christian people, at the time, thought that slavery was acceptable. By abolishing slavery, Wilberforce hoped to abolish ownership of slaves and so freeing those owners of a misguided and sinful way of treating others.
Despite their failure to see this, he acted, year after year, for abolition until all were free – slaves and slave-traders.

It was an iconic victory and it remains a beacon for all who in this world of ours today are striving for the same freedom for the millions who still live in slavery of many kinds. These include those who are forced to be refugees. Enslaved by despotic rulers and those who support them, they are often deprived of their freedom, livelihood, homes. They are oppressed by stress, anxiety and rejection.
Also from oppressive conditions imposed by owners of sweatshops in Far East (and recently, as we discovered in Leicester), who, in making clothes cheaply for the British market, treat their workers as slaves and with no regard for their working conditions or their safety, and paying them little.

Wilberforce’s victory is a beacon too for those who are engaged in the great struggle for equality of all people today, especially for black people but for so many others who in our world who are treated as slaves.

Slavery comes in many forms but even those who seek to enslave others are, as Wilberforce recognized, themselves enslaved. We need to pray for them too – those who are enslaved by their homophobia, misogyny, prejudice, bullying of others, racial intolerance, behave unjustly towards others, to name but a few!

All perpetrators of hate against others need our prayers. They need to face up to the darkness within which creates their enslavement and be led to repentance so that love and healing can grow within them.All things can be cured by God’s compassionate Grace.

Wilberforce achieved a great thing and it converted lives.

People like John Newton, a former slave ship captain who, sick in his soul, turned away from his vile trade and embraced God and became a minister in God’s Church, recognized the power of this grace in the wonderful hymn – Amazing Grace.
A contemporary of William Wilberforce he wrote from his own personal experience of God’s compassion, grace and mercy which he found in Jesus.

But we are all too aware that what Wilberforce began, we must continue until all are free and all are equal.

Against all this, Jesus stands as our compassionate God who knows and loves each of us which is why He confronts everything that enslaves us; all the things that prevent the love of God working in our lives and which stops Grace from transforming us. He especially does this on the Cross where he confronts evil finally and destroys it with Love.

The Cross is the ultimate statement of God that His compassion for us is eternal.
He would love it if we too showed compassion and thirst for justice for others, as Wilberforce did.

[Mr. G]