On Monday afternoon a seismic event occurred in Shropshire that was 3.8 in magnitude. The town and cathedral were briefly shaken yet left undisturbed. Saint Luke describes an event this morning of a different order and magnitude that would shake the whole world on the day of Pentecost. In the Acts of the Apostles, he recounts “… they were all together in one place. And suddenly a sound came from Heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled the house where they were sitting” (Acts 2: 1 &2). A handful of once anxious men and women were stirred with a new sense of vocation, of Divine calling. The words of Jesus Himself echoed in their hearts “As the Father sent me, so am I sending you” (Jn. 20:21). The impact of this seismic event continues generation after generation re-shaping our world and felt in every one of our lives. Pentecost is the mission given to us, for in the words of Saint Paul “… there are all sorts of service to be done, but always to the same Lord, working in all sorts of different ways in different people” (I Cor. 12: 4).
This same sense of mission gave confidence to a 25-year-old woman suddenly called to a life-long service. A service she has faithfully continued for more than 70 years. Queen Elizabeth II embraced this calling with an unequivocal sense of Christian vocation. In her anointing as Queen, she recognised that it is the power of the Holy Spirit which makes a life of wholehearted service possible for a Christian Monarch as for every Christian. This historic Jubilee holiday has been marked by many reflections on the role of the Crown in our constitution and national life, as a focus of unity and a bond between peoples. Yet, the Feast of Pentecost chosen for these celebrations leads us to reflect on the sense of Christian vocation which has sustained the life and commitment of our longest-serving monarch.
The Queen makes no secret that it is her Christian faith which has enabled her to respond to the myriad demands of her life across seven decades. A life marked by a daily rhythm of prayer and Sunday worship that has been the continuous thread through all the changes and upheavals of her reign. Indeed, in the modern era it is impossible to imagine how such life-long service could be lived without such a sense of Christian calling. Today, we acknowledge that we have been blessed to live during the reign of the second Queen Elizabeth and to have always known such an example of Christian service at the heart of our national life.
As many rejoice today in the Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the vocation she has faithfully lived, we are prompted to ask how we have responded with courage and constancy to our own call to serve and the mission which had been uniquely entrusted to us? As England’s newest Saint once reflected in memorable words, “God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me, that He has given to no other … I have a place in His plan …” The pandemic reminded us that the whole of human society is ultimately sustained by such selfless service. For each of us is called in Saint John Henry Newman’s words to become “a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons …” and to “… do His work … if (we) but keep his commandments and serve Him in (our) calling.” And so, on this day of Pentecost we declare our faith that it is all-powerful Love that decisively moves our world and the Holy Spirit who alone can renew the face of the earth. We recognise that we share with our Sovereign Lady Elizabeth the same Christian calling with which as a young woman she set out to serve the peoples of this nation and the Commonwealth. And with so many this morning we say in the words of the National Anthem which takes the form of a prayer: “God save our gracious Queen, long live our noble Queen … God save the Queen.”
(Photo: © Mazur/cbcew.org.uk)