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Presbyterian Moderator Rt Rev Dr Alastair Dunlop gave the following address at the service held to mark the Queen's Golden Jubilee on Wednesday 15 May, 2002 in St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast.
Today we give thanks for the Golden Jubilee of the accession to the throne of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. We are indeed privileged that Your Majesty and Your Royal Highness should join us, as we in Northern Ireland mark this unique occasion.
Jubilee is a concept well known and honoured in society at large. It is also a biblical concept, firmly rooted in the Old Testament where it has a number of significant features. One is that of stewardship faithfully exercised - the land is held in trust under God. Another is that of grace - the children of God possess nothing by inherent right for they were slaves in Egypt until God set them free, and so in the Jubilee Year slaves are freed, debts cancelled, and property returned. Perhaps most significant of all, the Jubilee Year is a call to renewal of faith and trust in God, who leads, rules and provides for his people through succeeding years.
Stewardship. Grace. Trust. Here are key words, as, along with the rest of the nation and commonwealth, we in Northern Ireland celebrate this Jubilee Year.
We celebrate today a stewardship faithfully exercised by Her Majesty throughout these 50 years. It is worth reminding ourselves that society today is enormously different to that of 50 years ago. Traditional industries have given way to service industries, microchip technology and multinational companies. Our society is now part of a global village, with international travel, interdependent economies and instant, often visual, communication.
At a different level, there have been times of conflict - for example, the Suez Crisis, the Falklands War, the Gulf War - and, of course, here in Northern Ireland.
In all of this, we give thanks that Her Majesty has displayed an unwavering, consistent devotion to duty, unstinting service to the nation and the commonwealth, and utter faithfulness to vows made at her coronation. We honour her commitment to the concept of community in national life, where there is respect for all and equality of opportunity - a modern multicultural society marked by mutual trust, care and compassion. We express appreciation for her support of numerous charitable causes which support the vulnerable and needy. We are particularly grateful today, in this context of worship, for her example of steady, Christian faith. For all of this, and much more, we unite in heartfelt thanks to God.
Jubilee is about stewardship faithfully exercised.
Jubilee is also about Grace - the grace of God. Today we acknowledge the goodness of God who has blessed us throughout these 50 years. Despite the growth in society of secularism, moral confusion and ethical dilemma, the grace of God is undiminished.
It is fascinating to see how, in Luke chapter 4, words applying to the Jubilee in the Old Testament are taken up by Jesus and applied to himself. They are words about freedom, vision, and release. God deals with us, not as we deserve, but in grace. He has sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to do for us what we could not and cannot do for ourselves.
As John puts it in his first letter: "This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1Jn 4:9-10).
Grace is best understood against a backdrop of inability or failure. Through Jesus Christ, God restores the relationship with himself, which had been shattered by our sin, calling us into a new, living relationship with himself. This is how much people matter to God. He patiently extends his love. He freely offers his forgiveness and acceptance.
Jubilee is about stewardship faithfully exercised. Jubilee is about the grace of God in Jesus Christ.
Jubilee is about Trust. Fundamentally, we are called to a renewal of trust in God and in his rule. We are challenged to dedicate ourselves to Him. Such a renewal of trust involves humility, repentance and faith. Today we are called to nothing less.
But we are also called, just as fundamentally, to build trust in our community. Faith without works is dead. Private, internalised trust in God which has no public, external outworking is a travesty of the Gospel. A forgiven person will become a forgiving person. A life touched by the love of God in Jesus Christ will become a loving life. Peace with God in Christ will lead to genuine efforts to make peace with those with whom relationships are strained or broken. We are called to build community in this Province, out of all our grievances, hurts and divisions. This too requires humility, repentance and faith. It is enormously challenging for all of us. It is difficult for many of us. But it is the only way.
Is it not enormously significant that John, after writing about the love of God in sending Jesus as an atoning sacrifice for our sins, writes in the very next verse: "Since God so loved us, we ought also to love one another" (1Jn4:11)? The two belong together. They are like two sides of the same coin - inseparable.
God, who deals with us in grace, calls us to deal with others in the same way, with generosity of spirit. The grace of God makes us gracious and graceful. That does not mean that we become naïve. We recognise the fallenness of human nature in others, just as we recognise it in ourselves. But we remember that Christ died for us while we were still his enemies. So, because all people matter to God, all people matter to us.
Stewardship faithfully exercised. The grace of God in Jesus Christ. Renewal of trust.
Essentially, we are called to lives of worship and service, a dedication of ourselves to the task of building the Kingdom of God in this nation, in Northern Ireland, and indeed throughout these islands. May God grant us grace so to do.
Issued by Stephen Lynas, Presbyterian Information Services. Info@PresbyterianIreland.org
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