CoI primate pays tribute to our Queen

Church of Ireland primate Archbishop John McDowell has warmly praised the Queen, citing Her Majesty’s “discipleship and desire for toleration and inclusiveness”.
Queen Elizabeth IIQueen Elizabeth II
Queen Elizabeth II

The archbishop, speaking at a civic service in Larne Presybyterian Church to mark the celebration of the Queen’s platinum jubilee, said the monarch’s long life of duty and devotion to the British state and Commonwealth had been possible in large part to her personal discipleship of Jesus Christ.

“Because that discipleship was formed and has been lived in a very particular religious environment, it is characterised by a certain reserve and desire for toleration and inclusiveness. It is not a very showy expression of faith, but it obviously runs very deep.

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Her Majesty the Queen has understood what many people, including many religious people, have failed to grasp; that all life is God’s, and that it is the manner in which we do the ordinary things of life which is a true discipleship. It is not everything that has to be said about the Christian faith, and it presupposes a trust in Him, but it is a great deal.”

Archbishop McDowell added: “It is probably difficult for people living outside the Commonwealth to understand fully the genuine affection which is felt for Queen Elizabeth by many millions of people around the world. It may even be difficult for young people today within the UK to quite realise the depth of that affection. That is partly because the depth of that affection is in some sense related to the sheer length of the Queen’s reign.

“Anyone under the age of about 75 cannot remember any other head of state in the UK, and those who have watched the relentless and cheerful years of service have only had their admiration deepened.

“Those who have the deepest and most heartfelt affection for the Queen are those who lived through the war against Fascism, when a Royal family stood for ordinary decency and values which the Christian West had developed and nurtured over centuries. Over the many years of her reign, it was clear that the Queen did not do as the ‘Gentile Kings’ did – she did not lord it over her people and only pretend to be their benefactor. She loves and respects them.

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“Certainly, the Queen’s life is very different from the life that most of us lead. She lives in magnificent palaces, and has great wealth and privilege. And yet, somehow, by some strange alchemy, those privileges do not separate her from us; they are not a barrier between the Queen and her people. And they are not a barrier because, over the long years since her accession, she has exercised the privilege in the form of service. And perhaps of equal importance is that her wealth and privilege have not insulated her from the tragedies which all flesh is heir to, and she has not pretended that they have.”

Archbishop McDowell said it was particularly important that the Queen’s accession is celebrated at a religious service. “Not just because the Queen herself has never made any secret of the depth of his Christian belief, just as she has never made a show of it, but because, in terms of the British Constitution, the monarchy is first and foremost a religious office.

“The monarchy flourishes because it is obvious to everyone that with the Queen, public duty comes before personal choice and even before personal expression. The Queen is not a celebrity figure who follows fashion and courts attention. She is our most senior public person with a definite classic style of her own, reassuring because it is not subject to passing fads.”

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