Sermon No 90
The Sovereignty of Faith (A Queens Jubilee)
4th Sunday before Lent
A sermon preached by Roger Laing (LLM) on Sunday 6th February 2022 at the 8am and 10am Eucharist Service at St. Paulinus Church, Crayford based on Luke 5:1-11
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you O LORD (Psalm 19:14)
On this day in 1952 Her Majesty Elizabeth 11 ascended to the throne of England following the death of her father King George V1 whilst she was on tour in Kenya andin doing so she became the first Sovereign in over 200 years to accede to the throne while abroad.
And notably, as much as we might recognise today as the date of accession, because of the connection with the death of her own father, and the fact that today is a Sunday, the Queen herself will not celebrate in full until today has passed.
That is why tomorrow and not today will properly commence the full platinum jubilee celebrations of 70 years of service to her country, her subjects and to the commonwealth.
So fear not good people, for those of us that enjoy the sounds of gunfire, we will hear gun salutes for Her Majesty tomorrow to recognise that accession to the throne.
However, what we can do today is to talk about sovereignty and faith. For the Christian faith has been the bedrock of the Queen’s service throughout her 70 year reign, and God willing, will be for many years to come. Indeed, she herself has spoken about the importance of her faith many times and how it has steered her decisions and helped her through the most difficult of times. In-fact, in her very first Christmas message broadcast in 1952 she said ‘Pray for me … that God may give me wisdom and strength to carry out the solemn promises I shall be making, and that I may faithfully serve Him and you, all the days of my life.’ And in her millennium message she reflected on her life following Jesus and said, ‘For me the teachings of Christ and my own personal accountability before God provide a framework in which I try to lead my life.’
You will all no doubt recall the image that has so often been used over recent weeks to push political, where Her Majesty sat alone in the chapel at Windsor in her own grief at the funeral of her beloved husband the Duke of Edinburgh. A queen setting an example for all to follow in the midst of her own suffering.
As someone who has served and is still serving Her Majesty for now over thirty five years, it is indeed an honour and a privilege to make mention of our Queen today on this the day of her accession. And whether you are a royalist or not, as a Christian we have to recognise the impact and important concept of sovereignty within our own faith.
Now there are some that have suggested a direct lineage of our own royals going right back to biblical times through to King David and beyond, but while the evidence for that might be a little sketchy, at the very least we can be fairly certain of the bloodline going back a thousand years to William the Conqueror.
And this is important because our faith is based on history and those that have gone before us. The Old Testament is in essence a written history of the Jewish race, going back into the Hebrew tribal ancestry and ultimately back to the origins of man and Adam and Eve.
And it is by recognising the sovereignty of God and His earthly Kings and Queens that He bestows power upon, that we can become better Christians through our own faith. For by recognising and understanding that sovereignty, we can begin to understand His desire for us to do His will, to follow and to serve.
Some of you might recall seeing that grainy BBC footage of the Queen’s Coronation in 1953, where as well as wearing the Imperial State Crown and robes, Queen Elizabeth was also handed the symbols of royal power? These material earthly articles that symbolise something which is more powerful than anyone of us could ever imagine. The Sovereign’s Orb, a cross above a globe representing Christ’s dominion over the world as the Monarch herself is God’s representative on Earth. The Sovereign’s sceptre, a golden rod, representing the temporal power of the Queen and is associated with good governance. These symbols of sovereignty that our own Queen has taken so seriously for 70 years.
Our readings today gave us also stories of faithfulness, and sovereignty. In our gospel taken from Luke, we heard that after a nights fishing that saw no catches Jesus got into a boat belonging to Simon and asks him to put out his nets into the deep water.
And although Simon would naturally have been despondent after an empty catch the previous night, he eventually put his thoughts and feelings to one side and obeyed Jesus’ request and put out the nets once gain.
And as we all heard the nets were then filled with fish, so much so they were almost at breaking point with the quantity caught. But more than this when they signalled to the others to go and fish, they also came back with an abundant catch too.
This story, although telling us of a miracle that took place, is itself a distraction to what is really going on here, for although it is obviously at the heart of the text, it is actually about the moment when Simon Peter realises who Jesus actually is. For it was Simon that had firstly doubted that anything would be any different by setting out the nets for a second time, but yet when he saw the abundant catch, he realised his mistake in doubting, and fell to his knees in recognition of the sovereignty of Jesus and was filled with shame of his own sinfulness.
And sometimes it is only when God intervenes directly in our lives that we begin to recognise our own sin. Think back to that story of Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus and how God intervened in his life striking him down blind. It was then that Saul truly recognised the sovereignty of God.
Saul as we know went onto become St Paul, one of the most prolific evangelists in history and writing much of the New Testament that we have today. And so it was with Simon Peter, who doubted the sovereignty of his Master yet became that great ‘fisher of men’ and on him the Latin Roman Church was built.
The stories of the bible are a record of the Christian faith stretching back many centuries and we all continue to be part of that story by living out our faith and telling others about Jesus. Which is a good and righteous thing to do. In-fact Jesus commands us to do it. At the end of Matthew’s gospel we hear the ‘Great Commission’ from Jesus, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit’ (Matthew 28:16-19)
It is Jesus that holds the key to our faith and that of our own Queen Elizabeth, and just as Jesus is God Himself, so is Queen Elizabeth the ‘Defender of the Faith’.
In the House of Lords at Parliament where I currently work there is a room called the Robing Room, within which there is a throne which tradition dictates the sovereign will sit upon prior to entering into the main chamber of the House of Peers and whilst sat she will have the Imperial State Crown placed upon her head, and it is from here where she sits that our Queen would no doubt gaze upon the paintings around her which depict the chivalric values of hospitality, generosity, mercy, religion and courtesy as represented through scenes from the legend of King Arthur.
But most importantly at the opposite end of the room above the fireplace there is a painting (by William Dyce) that would be impossible to ignore and I guess Her Majesty has herself lifted her eyes and meditated upon as she waits quietly to continue her journey through to the main chamber. For the painting depicts Jesus on His heavenly throne, reminding even the nation’s sovereign that there is always one above that even she must obey and be held accountable for her actions.
And so just as our Sovereign Queen Elizabeth bows down before her God, in our gospel reading also we see too that our simple fisherman Simon Peter also learned an invaluable lesson that day in faith and obedience through his recognition that Jesus was Lord.
The final section of this gospel reading today is particularly personal to me, for back in the days when I felt God calling me to some kind of ministry I really didn’t have a clue what to do. All I knew really about the word vocation was that if you offered yourself to ministry then you became a vicar. Now of course I know now that it not the case, but then I just didn’t know what I was being called to be?
However, what I found during that time of searching was that same text always seemed to be present, or read in my presence as I went about my daily life. You know the sort of thing that is sometimes described as when ‘God speaks’ to people. You might hear a phrase on TV, or read something in a book or listen to a programme on the radio that seems to be speaking directly to you. And that is what it was like for me as I wandered aimlessly in my own early Christian steps, it was those words of Jesus, saying directly, ‘Come follow Me and I will make you fishers of men’ (Matthew 4:19) These words seemed to resonate with me and set me on a course of discernment to ministry, eventually leading me be commissioned an evangelist.
Today is a time to remember, to remember the service of our Queen and all that she has done in service to her subjects over the last seventy years, but also it is a time to remember and learn from her own strength of faith in God and seek for ourselves that recognition that God is simply God and Sovereign of all and holds the world and all creation in His hands and maybe consider offering yourself in further service to Him? Because I can be fairly certain that God has a specific role for each and everyone of you, and He is just waiting for you simply to ask Him what it might be!
God Save the Queen
Amen
evangelistcryinginthewilderness 