Articles - From the Vicar

Samuel said, 'If you fear the Lord and serve and obey him and do not rebel against his commands, and if both you and the King who reigns over you follow the Lord your God - good!

The publication of this edition of our magazine coincides with the extended Bank Holiday weekend marking Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee. The Queen's ancestor, Victoria, celebrated her own Golden Jubilee in 1887, an event that enabled the British monarchy finally to re-establish itself in the affections of the people following two decades in which republican sentiments had become increasingly widespread across many sections of society. In the twentieth century the House of Windsor, having weathered the Abdication Crisis of 1936, was never in danger from the type of republican feelings seen in the mid-Victorian period and has entered the present century reasonably secure in public esteem.

Jubilee celebrations past and current have caused me to reflect on the debate about monarchy that can be found in the first book of Samuel (I Samuel 8-12). The people of Israel, realising that Samuel's sons are not fit to succeed their father as judges, ask Samuel to appoint a king "such as all the other nations have". Samuel's reaction is one of displeasure, not that the people have rejected his sons but that in asking for a king they have rejected God as their only King. These chapters in I Samuel clearly reflect the differences of view about the institution of monarchy that existed in ancient Israel. In finally agreeing to anoint Saul as King, Samuel warns the Israelites (see the quotation with which I began) that monarchy will only be effective as long as both the monarch and the people continue to acknowledge the ultimate sovereignty of God - advice that some of Saul's successors as kings of Israel and Judah chose not to follow.

Our own Queen has a strong and publicly owned Christian commitment that informs both her private life and her understanding of her role as monarch. In being thankful for that, however, and in acknowledging the exemplary manner in which the Queen has served the nation for fifty years, we should always remember that our primary allegiance as Christians is not to a kingdom or to a monarch of this world. One of Samuel's concerns for God's people was that monarchy might lead to idolatry. Amidst all the pageantry and pomp of the Golden Jubilee celebrations we would do well to bear that concern in mind.

© St Edmund's Church, Roundhay