The Queen's Faith by Mark Greene

The Queen – an extraordinary public servant, an exemplary disciple – says Mark Greene
What a gift the Queen is to anyone wanting to have a conversation – or indeed preach – about beliefs, values, faith, public service, integrity, leadership, servanthood, neighbour love, citizenship, whole-life discipleship... After all, with the media focused on the Queen this June and over ten million people planning to join Jubilee parties, one of the most natural questions a Christian could ask anyone is ‘What do you think of the Queen?’

The reality is that the Queen is a woman with a deep faith centred on the sacrifice of Christ, the example of Christ, the teaching of Christ and the empowering of Christ. Whilst national media has often done little more than acknowledge her faith and moved swiftly on, she herself sees it as central to her life. We’ve seen this again and again in her Christmas addresses, which, unlike most of her other speeches, she writes herself.

There, she describes Christ as ‘the bedrock of my faith’, ‘my inner light’, ‘Saviour’, ‘the supreme example of physical and moral courage’, ‘compelling example’, ‘anchor’. For her, it is ‘in the person of Jesus Christ’ that God ‘restored love and service to the centre of our lives.’

Indeed, quite remarkably, these short ‘epistles to the nations’ reveal how her concern for peace, her summons to neighbour love and self-sacrifice for others, her yearning for peace and reconciliation are all tied to the biblical revelation in Christ. For more on this and more quotes from the Queen’s messages, take a look at my new essay The Queen’s Way – A Celebration of Biblical Discipleship in Public Life, available free online and in paperback.

Beyond that, even a cursory look at what the Bible says about godly monarchs shines a positive light on the Queen’s character. In Deuteronomy 17:18-20, for example, we read the call ‘to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees’ – something the Queen has sought to do.

Similarly, she has clearly not considered herself better than her fellow ‘Israelites’ (vs 20). There is not a smidgen of entitlement in the Queen’s behaviour. Indeed, when it came to Prince Philip’s funeral, it would never have occurred to her to set aside the lockdown rules, even though the Government invited her to. The comparison with a bevy of international leaders is telling. Similarly, Hezekiah’s qualities (2 Kings 18:5-6) – the king like no other king of Judah before or since – gleam in Elizabeth II.

Praise God indeed that one of the most famous women in the world is such a glorious example of a whole-life disciple of Christ in public life.

 
Mark Greene
Mark Greene is Mission Champion at LICC, author of The Queen’s Way (2022), and, with Catherine Butcher, The Servant Queen and The King she Serves (2016). Find out more about LICC and get the essays at licc.org.uk