I do not usually read the various Christmas messages from Church leaders or watch the Queen’s Christmas Address. However this year was an exception, not out any deliberate plan, but either because I saw them by accident, or was curious. In the case of the Queen’s address, we were together, with not a lot to do, so the Television was switched on to watch the speech.
The main leaders traditionally
make addresses of some kind at Christmas. The Archbishop of Canterbury is one,
but in his Christmas Address, he made no reference to God or Jesus.
The Archbishop of
York, another important spiritual leader within the Anglican Church, made a short
Christmas address. He concluded with “So this Christmas, may you be blessed in
giving of yourself to God, to those in need, and to those you love, and may you
also be blessed by knowing the love of God, given for you.”
Just before Christmas
(but not directly connected to Christmas), the Prime Minister, David Cameron
used the occasion of the 400th Anniversary of the King James Bible
to argue that the United Kingdom is a Christian country and that the bible had
an important role in shaping our values and beliefs. He admitted to having
stepped “into the lions’ den”. The public / press response was brief and died
down as quickly as it arose.
It was the Queen’s
comments that most clearly struck the note, that for all the social
responsibilities that a Christian faith may bring, the central message of
Christmas and Christianity is that a personal response is required from us
towards God.
It was very well done,
even more interesting than I had expected, with some of the key events an
occasions of the Royal Family during 2011. In case you were wondering, it is 7
minutes 24 seconds long and can be seen on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olEp_3Spc1g
Just slightly less
than 5 minutes into the speech, The Queen reminded us of the Christmas story,
and a traditional Nativity play, probably from a school, was shown. Following
this, the Queen stressed to us that the Christmas message is about a Saviour
who came to earth with power to save. She called our attention to the fact that
in forgiveness, we feel the power of God’s love.
Her prayer for us was
that, on this Christmas Day, we would find room in our lives for the message of
the Angels and for the love of God, through Christ our Lord
It was noticeable that
the press did not report the Queens speech (that I could find) and for the
others, the press reported none of the parts that referred to God or our
response to God. I am not surprised by this.
How will most people,
who have no contact with the church ever hear God’s message to them?
