Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II (Revd Dr Louis Weil)

Deuteronomy 11: 18-21, 26-28,  Hebrews 11: 8-16,  St Matthew 5: 1-12

In 1976, the United States celebrated the 200th Anniversary of its independence from England.  That year a friend of mine who is now a distinguished American historian told me that he thought we should send a new declaration to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, saying that the whole thing was a terrible mistake and would she please take us back. My friend’s comment was not merely an indication of the great respect which many Americans hold for Queen Elizabeth.  It was also a sign of our awareness that the British system of government has kept a quality of leadership which our own system lacks.  That quality is continuity – a continuity which abides in the life of this nation above the scramble of ‘politics as usual’ which is an inevitable dimension of government in our world.

Deuteronomy 11: 18-21, 26-28
Hebrews 11: 8-16
St Matthew 5: 1-12

In 1976, the United States celebrated the 200th Anniversary of its independence from England.  That year a friend of mine who is now a distinguished American historian told me that he thought we should send a new declaration to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, saying that the whole thing was a terrible mistake and would she please take us back. My friend’s comment was not merely an indication of the great respect which many Americans hold for Queen Elizabeth.  It was also a sign of our awareness that the British system of government has kept a quality of leadership which our own system lacks.  That quality is continuity – a continuity which abides in the life of this nation above the scramble of ‘politics as usual’ which is an inevitable dimension of government in our world.

The trouble with America is that generally ‘politics as usual’ is all we see, and many of us wish there might be a dimension of government which is not concerned merely with the next election.  It was that quality, I think, which my friend saw in the British monarchy.

But although this is the beginning of the Queen’s Jubilee, we are at mass, and this is a sermon – and the purpose of a sermon is to nourish faith.  What can I say in this context about the relation of national leadership to the life of Christian faith?

The readings we have heard from Deuteronomy, Hebrews, and Matthew are not the ordinary lectionary readings for today: they were specially selected for use at liturgical celebrations today in connection with Her Majesty’s Jubilee – so they are not coincidental: they were selected with this 50th anniversary in central focus.

So it is appropriate for us to ask: what is the intention behind the choice of these three readings?  What is the Church asking us to reflect upon concerning the relation of Christian faith to national leadership?

In the reading from Deuteronomy, the People of God are being reminded that the commandments of God are to be signs imprinted upon their bodies: these are not merely a set of rules, some arbitrary guidelines.  They are a matter of life and death, a blessing or a curse: and we are being told to ‘choose life – choose blessing.’

In the second reading, the Letter to the Hebrews, we hear our situation in this world compared to that of Abraham: for people of faith, our life in this world is seen as a passing through – the image used is ‘living in tents,’ because like Abraham we are called to look forward to life in that city whose foundation is God.

How are we to understand this?  Certainly Christianity takes this world very seriously: our faith is based on the One who became incarnate in this world, - the One who shared our human flesh.  The pilgrim life of Abraham is not a rejection of our life in this world – that is the life which Jesus came to share with us.  But the reading does say that, like Abraham, we look forward to life in God – and it is that life which gives this life its meaning and value.

And finally, in the Gospel reading from Matthew, we heard the Beatitudes of Jesus which link us to the blessing we are encouraged to choose in the first reading from Deuteronomy: here in the Beatitudes we learn what this blessed life will require of us in this world: poverty of spirit, meekness, hunger and thirst for righteousness, mercifulness, purity of heart, peace – making.  And if we choose that way of living, the Beatitudes tell us that we are likely to be reviled and persecuted.  In other words the Beatitudes indicate that our life in this world – even this world into which God has entered in the birth and life of Jesus – our life here is not the promised Kingdom of God: it is a place where the choice of life and blessing is not well received – in fact, it is often rejected.

Christian theology has spoken in terms of a fallen world: a world populated by flawed human beings – that means all of us – flawed human beings who see ourselves as the centre of the universe, our needs and desires as more important than those of others.

In terms of the reading from Deuteronomy, we flawed human beings choose death and a curse rather than life and blessing – except where the grace of God breaks into our lives.

A few nights ago, I was watching a news programme on TV – and there was a debate about the Monarchy.  In addition to the moderator, who tried to give some order to the debate, there were two persons on each side: pro-monarchy and anti-monarchy.  What I found most interesting was that neither side offered any comments which had anything to do – anything – with the Christian vision of human life.

The pro-monarchists spoke of the Royal Family as a kind of fantasy world which permitted ordinary people to escape from the stress of the real world.


And the anti-monarchists suggested that if England were a republic, justice, equity and peace would immediately characterise life for all people in Britain.

Our readings offer important correctives to these superficial views from both sides:– whether monarchy or republic, the governments of this world are not the Kingdom of God: our governments are like Abraham’s tent – political structures which attempt to order the ever changing realities of human life.  At their best, whatever form those governments may take, they work as best they can for the good of their people.  But those governments, whatever form they may take, are led by flawed and fallible human beings.  This is where the lesson of the Beatitudes is so important for us:

in the midst of our human situation, grace breaks in – even through fallible instruments like ourselves – and human beings appear among us who truly hunger and thirst for righteousness, who are merciful, who are peacemakers.

These leaders rise above the conflicts of ‘politics as usual’, and remind us that there is a further city to which we are called, the city ‘whose architect and builder is God’.

Such leaders are servants of God: in other words, in them leadership becomes vocation – a calling from God to foster in our world the choice of blessing and life.

© Louis Weil