Bishop of Guildford's jubilee sermon

 

The county of Surrey's Queen’s Jubilee service sermon, 10 June 2012

"Some of you – like me – will have seen their first television when your family bought the ‘instrument’ (as it was called) for the Coronation 59 years ago. A small walnut cabinet with doors and an even smaller grey screen for the black and white images. A darkened room – curtains closed – sandwiches, a glass of wine or beer for the adults and the long service in Westminster Abbey and the prior street processions and those which followed, concluded by glimpses of the Royal family on the balcony at Buckingham Palace.

"If you had a television before that – which you might in Surrey – just in reach of transmission from Alexandra palace – you might have seen just 60 years ago pictures of the young Princess Elizabeth, already on an official foreign tour with Prince Philip; including Kenya, where at the Tree Tops Hotel, on safari, she heard news of her Father’s death.

"My point here is not just nostalgic – the Queen, even before she became Queen was doing her dedicated ‘duty’, representing her country, an ambassadress of a then still great colonial Empire. Sovereigns, traditionally, move their Court. My ancient office of Clerk of the Closet was in part to ensure the management of the spiritual support of the Mediaeval Monarchs, whether in Winchester, London or elsewhere. The Court still moves between Westminster, Balmoral, Windsor and Sandringham. But our Queen has travelled much more extensively, globally, throughout the Commonwealth and beyond, than any other monarch, of any country, in history. Of course the shrinking world, by reason of air transport has made this possible. The Queen has thus served not only the United Kingdom but also all the Commonwealth countries and more.

"When a new Diocesan Bishop pays their personal Homage to the Sovereign, the Clerk of the Closet has the privilege and duty of supporting the new bishop. After which there is a conversation for about 20 minutes. Bishops do a bit of travelling too, and sometimes the conversation has touched on countries far away. The Bishop of Birmingham once taught at a high school in Papua New Guinea – which the Queen had opened some years before. They talked about it as if it were yesterday. The Queen knows the geography and politics of the world. She has met most of its rulers, good and bad, as well as twelve of our own Prime Ministers – so far! – (as she herself put it in Westminster Hall with more than a hint of humour ) The Queen is therefore not only – as we all are – a global citizen, but she has also been a Global Sovereign, an ambassador for peace and international understanding for over 60 years.

"The Queen has also changed and developed and transformed the British Constitutional Monarchy. We do not have our Queen riding a bicycle as they do in Holland, but London is hardly safe for cycling yet and Balmoral is far too hilly. The Queen is not quite in the mould of the democratic sovereigns of Scandinavia, nor would we want her to be. But consider how great a change our constitutional monarchy has quietly wrought over her sixty years as Queen. The walkabout she and Prince Philip conducted around this Cathedral last year, meeting all sorts and conditions of men and women – and children, Local Government, the Voluntary Sector, the University and the Faith Communities was not how Royal Visits were planned and executed 60 years ago. The Queen has become infinitely more accessible than before – despite vastly increased security since 9/11. She has pursued what her father George VI and her uncle Edward VIII began and which her mother Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother also developed. Without loss of dignity or that precious gift of ‘representativeness’, the Queen has opened the hearts of all to her in a time of unprecedented change. And when the theory of monarchy is at an intellectual discount – as all representative authority is: politicians, judges, the police, the academic, the Services – all forms of representative authority are despised – including bishops: only I can represent me is the culture we are in and so representatives of the State, or Church, or Law, or Academy have no purchase. Yet the Queen has managed it. If you want an icon of this change, I commend a photograph which has been reproduced recently (in a Red Cross Jubilee publication) of the bringing of the body of George VI to Westminster Hall in February 1952,. In includes an unmoving hieratic Queen Mary, a grieving Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and the young Queen Elizabeth – old monarch and new side by side in mourning.

"In a newspaper a week or two ago there was a grudgingly positive article about the Queen from a journalist who lives in – where else – North London, Islington. She wittily described herself as a typical middle class republican, a buyer of two Prosecco for the price of one on offer at Waitrose. Her little daughter’s school had just had a lightning visit from the Queen. Daughter converted instantly, mother grudgingly admitted she would also get out some bunting in the Jubilee week and join the street party she had decided ideologically to avoid. We think of the Queen as a stable icon amidst much change. True as that is, the Queen has adroitly and wisely changed, and developed the monarchy for good so it can continue to serve our ever changing society.

"My last point is to do with faith. On the medal struck for the Jubilee can be found FID.DEF – more commonly seen as the even shorter abbreviation F.D on coins of the realm – Fide Defensor. The title Defender of the Faith, was originally bestowed on King Henry VIII by Pope Leo X in 1521 for defending the doctrine of the Seven Sacraments against Martin Luther. Titles endure but their meaning evolves as their historical context changes. Even by the time of Elizabeth I, the title of Defender of the Faith indicated support for the reformed Church of England rather than the Papacy. A survey has shown that almost 75% of those polled wish for the retention of this title today.

"In recent years the Queen has been ever more explicit – for example in her Christmas Day broadcasts – about her belief in God and her commitment to the Christian faith. And also to Christian values, such as the wellbeing of the family. Yet she has done this inclusively as far as faith is concerned and sensitively as far as marriage is concerned (her own family knowing frailty here) and without condemnation of other life styles. The Church of England, she admitted at a recent Lambeth Palace gathering of faiths, is ‘occasionally misunderstood’ and ‘commonly under-appreciated’. (Hear, hear!) Our role as the Established Church, she continued, ‘is not to defend Anglicanism to the exclusion of other religions’, rather ‘the Church has a duty to protect the free practice of faiths in this country’. So the Church of England is seen to create an environment for other faith communities to live freely and to build a better society. That speech, building on so many years of explicit support for the Church and for societal values, seems to me to epitomize the contemporary meaning of that ancient title Defender of the Faith. I am glad it is on our coins and on the Queen’s jubilee Medal.

"Today we thank God for the Queen – and also and not incidentally for Prince Philip, on this his 91st birthday, not only for his continued support for the Queen but also as he recovers from his illness, now happily returned from hospital. Having seen both the Queen and her Consort together both at formal occasions and less formal – including Sandringham – I am not the only person to note their devotedness to each other. So we thank God for the Queen and Prince Philip. For the Sovereign’s dedicated duty and service to the Commonwealth and all nations. For her dedicated duty and service as the personal symbol, the human face of our own democratic and open society, which has no single political ideology or monochrome culture or racial identity to bind it together. And for her defence of the faith, in an open inclusive way, as is recognised by all others of faith, rather more than shrill secularists who call for religious equality by the abolition of all faiths.

"At the Coronation the Queen (as with all her predecessors) was vested in the Deacon’s vestment – the Dalmatic. The deaconate is the order of service. For the Queen’s royal service for Commonwealth, Nation and the Church we give thanks today. And let this County service this afternoon be an occasion for us to rededicate ourselves to our duty to serve the common good in the Act of Dedication which will follow the great Te Deum of thanks at the end of this service."

The Bishop of Guildford, the Rt Revd Christopher Hill