” “The Queen’s Golden Jubilee” “

Not only rock concerts, carriage processions and gospel choirs in the celebrations marking the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II as queen of Great Britain: although British society is often described as secularized and remote from the teachings of the Gospel, the spiritual dimension was an important component of these four days of “jubilee”. The sovereign herself wished that the concluding religious service of thanksgiving in St. Paul’s cathedral in London on Tuesday 4th June – attended by the country’s most important religious leaders, Christian and non-Christian – should be the focal point of the festivities. Throughout the United Kingdom prayers of thanksgiving for the long reign of Elizabeth II were recited in Catholic, Methodist and Baptist churches, and special religious services held in Anglican churches. A vocation to service. The faith of the queen, who is also governor, or supreme head, of the Church of England, was recalled by the archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, Anglican primate who is the religious leader of that Church. Carey praised the queen for her fifty years of devoted service to her subjects. “To the ears of contemporaries – he said – the word ‘service’ has sometimes seemed cold and remote, something that is better avoided”. But the Gospel asks the Christian to swim against the tide when it says that “whoever would be great among you must be your servant. For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many”. Hence the special tribute to the queen: “Yours – said the archbishop – has been a vocation that you did not seek, a task to which you were called. You came to it at an age when few people are capable of assuming tasks of responsibility, even of the simplest kind”. A labour of love. Carey recalled how much the Christian faith has helped the queen in this task: “For the Christian the call to a vocation is not only the willingness to make sacrifices for others. It is also joy, a joy that comes from a deep commitment and a recognition of the wonderful richness of the human experience. It is, at its centre, a labour of love”. “This love – Carey added – enables us to look to the future with all the myriad changes it involves, not with fear and insecurity but with readiness and hope. We find this vision woven inside your reign like a golden thread”. The world gathers round the queen. The religious service in St. Paul’s was attended by over 2,400 guests, including ambassadors, former prime ministers and representatives of all the religious faiths, representatives of the Commonwealth and personalities from charitable organizations and exponents of various professions from all over the United Kingdom. The Catholic primate of England and Wales, Archbishop Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, pronounced a litany of thanksgiving together with the Rev. Christina Le Moignan, president of the Methodist Conference. The moderator of the general assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Rev. Finlay Macdonald, read the Gospel. The chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the principal of the Moslem College, Zaki Badawi, and the director of the Sikh Network, Indarjit Singh, also participated in the service. Another ecumenical religious service was held in the chapel of Windsor Castle, where the Queen Mother and the queen’s sister Margaret are buried.