I had the privilege of being in the UK for the celebration of Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee. Seventy years on the thrown. Seventy years of . . . service.
Most often when we think of kings and queens, princes and princesses, we think of wealth and privilege, but the one word that has resonated throughout this celebration was the unending service of this self-sacrificing monarch. A monarch who was never meant to be a monarch; a monarch who had no aspirations for the thrown, but one whom, through a series of unexpected events (abdication of one and death of another), God placed on the throne at a very young age. A monarch who was designed to be a monarch. And one who embraced the role years before she actually ascended to the thrown.
In her speech to the Commonwealth on her 21st birthday, she told her listeners, “I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.” It has turned out to be a long life, so it is a promise she has kept for seventy-five plus years with single-minded focus and at all cost to personal desire. It is one kept with a deep faith and a strong reliance on God. And one patterned after Jesus, himself, who said in Luke 22:27, that “I am among you as one who serves.”
Granted, over the past few years, she has had to delegate some of her duties to her son and grandson, but she continues to serve in whatever manner she can.
Throughout the country, pictures, bunting, and flags adorned houses and buildings in tribute to the Queen. But it was the partial verse on the simple sandwich board pictured above (that I saw in a small cafe) that offered the most esteemed honor. A tribute to both her and her faith.
We as Christians have likewise been called to a life of service as we are “ambassadors for Christ,” his representatives, which means if Christ saw himself as a servant then we are to do no less. May we embrace our role with the same single-focused, self-sacrificing willingness as the Queen has shown, setting aside all personal desire and devoting ourselves to a life of Christian service in whatever capacity we can.
Most often when we think of kings and queens, princes and princesses, we think of wealth and privilege, but the one word that has resonated throughout this celebration was the unending service of this self-sacrificing monarch. A monarch who was never meant to be a monarch; a monarch who had no aspirations for the thrown, but one whom, through a series of unexpected events (abdication of one and death of another), God placed on the throne at a very young age. A monarch who was designed to be a monarch. And one who embraced the role years before she actually ascended to the thrown.
In her speech to the Commonwealth on her 21st birthday, she told her listeners, “I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.” It has turned out to be a long life, so it is a promise she has kept for seventy-five plus years with single-minded focus and at all cost to personal desire. It is one kept with a deep faith and a strong reliance on God. And one patterned after Jesus, himself, who said in Luke 22:27, that “I am among you as one who serves.”
Granted, over the past few years, she has had to delegate some of her duties to her son and grandson, but she continues to serve in whatever manner she can.
Throughout the country, pictures, bunting, and flags adorned houses and buildings in tribute to the Queen. But it was the partial verse on the simple sandwich board pictured above (that I saw in a small cafe) that offered the most esteemed honor. A tribute to both her and her faith.
We as Christians have likewise been called to a life of service as we are “ambassadors for Christ,” his representatives, which means if Christ saw himself as a servant then we are to do no less. May we embrace our role with the same single-focused, self-sacrificing willingness as the Queen has shown, setting aside all personal desire and devoting ourselves to a life of Christian service in whatever capacity we can.
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