This weekend we celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty
Queen Elizabeth. I am sure that you will
be familiar with the fact that jubilee is a Jewish concept. We read in Leviticus 25 that every 50 years
there was to be a sort of Sabbath year.
Fields would be left fallow, debts and leases cancelled, slaves set
free, and there was to be rejoicing and thanksgiving in the provision of our
God.
George III was the first king of Great Britain to celebrate
50 years on the throne as a royal jubilee.
There have been only two Diamond Jubilees, Queen Victoria and now our
own Queen. Queen Victoria died when she
was ‘only’ 81 years old, and we rejoice that Queen Elizabeth has reached the
age of 86 and we pray for her continued good health. She is not Queen of England (there has not
been one since Queen Anne in 1707), but rather of the United Kingdom.
When I visited the school on Friday the children were all
being encouraged to wear crowns, as well as to dress up in red, white and
blue. Similarly the library had a
crown-making workshop yesterday. I
notice also that you can buy face masks of the royal family. So I wonder which royal would you like to be?
Of course that is just a bit of fun. We cannot make ourselves members of the royal
family just by wishing it (although Prince Harry is still a bachelor, so if you
are a single young lady ....) Even if a
member of the royal family were to decide that they really should be someone
else within the family, perhaps even monarch, they do not have that power.
Now the mystery of Trinity Sunday is that we are all invited
to be members of the family, the family of God.
Jesus said that we should call God our Father, and I do not think that
he was merely using a figure of speech.
When we encounter God and begin to grow in him, his Holy Spirit comes to
live within us, giving new life and hope, and bringing about our fresh start,
our adoption into the family. God is our
Father, Jesus is our brother, and we are to live as those who enjoy all the
benefits of a royal upbringing and lifestyle.
We are not those who aspire to be on the throne, but God in his mercy
gives us the same status as his son.
When we read that God said from heaven to Jesus “Behold my son whom I
love”, we are to understand that he thinks the same about us.
How does this happen?
Well, Jesus says to Nicodemus, you hear the wind blowing but you cannot
tell where it has come from or where it is going. I can describe to you how God gave me new
life, and that might be helpful to you.
There are other accounts that you can hear or read. The best thing though is to be open to him,
and look out for every clue and indication about him – respond positively and
expectantly. Even your questions or
doubts can be indicators helping you on a journey, a pilgrimage of
discovery. God sent his son into the
world so that whosoever believes in him, trusts in him, reaches out after him,
will have new life.
We are joint heirs with Jesus Christ – this sounds so
strange, but we have a lifetime to explore all that can mean.
First, we see that being in the Spirit will have
implications for the way that we live.
Just as being a royal means that there is a code of expected behaviour,
so we discover that being in Christ leads us to re-evaluate our actions and
motivations. Behaviour that we used to
think was acceptable now comes under the spotlight. We are not trying to keep a code of rules or
ethics. The work goes deeper and
further. We are living with someone and
adjusting to the desires and rhythms of someone else takes time and is not
always easy. The point of the bible
reading and prayer that we do is to tune our hearts so that we are increasingly
aware of what pleases him. We want to be
like Jesus who rejoiced to do only what his Father told him to do.
Second, we acknowledge that Jesus walked a path of
confrontation and suffering. In the same
way we seek to live at peace with all people.
We seek never to start quarrels or arguments. We are happy to surrender our rights. And yet Jesus found again and again that he
was the centre of controversy and he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with
grief. We also cannot expect to be
spared the troubles of this world. From
the apparently trivial, like rain falling on our carefully prepared jubilee
events, to the much more serious as people take against us for quietly seeking
to follow Christ in today’s world, and the tragic occurrences of illness and
suffering in those whom we love and care for, we share in the disorder of this
world now, as we pray and work to bring in the kingdom.
We pray each week: We beseech thee also to save and defend all Christian Kings,
Princes, and Governors; and specially thy servant ELIZABETH our Queen; that under her we may be
godly and quietly governed: And grant unto her whole Council, and to all that
are put in authority under her, that they may truly and indifferently minister
justice, to the punishment of wickedness and vice, and to the maintenance of
thy true religion, and virtue.
In other words, we look to the civil authorities, under the
direction of the Queen, to work for the good of us all and for the improvement
of society.
In the same way, we pray (perhaps daily) thy kingdom come, thy will be done. This is our family prayer that we pray
together as sisters and brothers. We are
led by the Spirit of God as children of God, to be and to act in such a way
that we are part of the transformation of this world.
This is most certainly about each of us as individuals having
our own personal encounter and receiving life from above, being born into the
royal heavenly family. It is also about us
living out the reality of God’s authority and rule here on earth now. This is not visible to those who choose to be
blind to it. For those who are open for
all that he has for them, God makes his love known and we can share it as we
work and pray to anticipate the coming fulfilment of the kingdom by making
things better on earth right now.
May you know a jubilee of rejoicing and freedom, both as you
honour Her Majesty and also as you encounter the Triune God and grow in him.
Discussion Starters
1.
The talk concentrates on relationship with
God. What would you have liked to ask
about the doctrine of the Trinity?
2.
How do you respond to the thought that God calls
you his beloved son or daughter?
3.
In what ways have you been aware of being led by
the Spirit of God? If you do not feel
this applies to you, how could you make progress in this important area?
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