"Finding hope in adversity is one of the themes of Christmas. Jesus was born into a world full of fear. The angels came to frightened shepherds with hope in their voices: 'Fear not', they urged, 'we bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
'For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour who is Christ the Lord.'
Although we are capable of great acts of kindness, history teaches us that we sometimes need saving from ourselves - from our recklessness or our greed.
God sent into the world a unique person - neither a philosopher nor a general, important though they are, but a Saviour, with the power to forgive.
Forgiveness lies at the heart of the Christian faith. It can heal broken families, it can restore friendships and it can reconcile divided communities. It is in forgiveness that we feel the power of God's love.
In the last verse of this beautiful carol, O Little Town Of Bethlehem, there's a prayer:
O Holy Child of Bethlehem,
Descend to us we pray.
Cast out our sin
And enter in.
Be born in us today.
It is my prayer that on this Christmas day we might all find room in our lives for the message of the angels and for the love of God through Christ our Lord.
I wish you all a very happy Christmas."
It was the most Christian and evangelistic Queen's speech I've heard or of which I have heard.
ReplyDeleteThere's been virtually no acknowledgement of it in the media - the BBC and the Telegraph reported it in a way that was factual but that took the emphasis completely off the final, distinctly Christian, proclamation, if not obscured it almost entirely. But there's been no discussion on Radio 4, and it's the kind of thing you'd think that they would otherwise get their teeth into.
I think the regard the Queen is held in at the moment means that it couldn't be aggressively deconstructed (as Cameron's "the UK is a Christian country" statement earlier this year was), but any other interaction with it would require some acknowledgement of this section - and that would be a bridge too far for both the BBC and the 'chattering classes' that are its core customer base.
I wonder how much this might have been prompted by the court cases of the couple of years that have at least potentially seriously limited the scope of religious (specifically Christian) freedom in the UK.
Whatever the reason, it was something to thank God for - a model of clear, winsome, explanation of the gospel and why it mattered to life in this world without shrinking it totally into that horizon.
I'd missed it. Thanks for posting :)
ReplyDeleteYay for the Queen!
ReplyDeleteIt was great. And I enjoyed her recognition of the Queensland flood disaster as well. Well done, Your Majesty!
ReplyDeleteI saw it on YouTube. Go Queen!
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ReplyDeleteMan. That is one far-reaching gospel presentation.
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