Celebrating 60 years!

It's pretty impossible to avoid the Diamond Jubilee events taking place this weekend, and it would be churlish to try to! We should honour any individual who has been in one job for 60 years, and shows no signs of retiring, even at the age of 85!! Can't think of any other occupation where this would happen!

I'm not a huge royalist, but there are a number of things about Queen Elizabeth 2 that I do admire. Her unstinting hard work and sacrifice on behalf of Great Britain, her warmth and friendliness towards everyone she meets -which has opened doors of welcome in virtually every country in the world; her dignified silence towards the media, and refusal to enter into any controversies - even those affecting her family; her love for her family. All these have been remarked on by many others, and I am happy to be counted among them. Well done, ma'am!

As a child of the 1950's, one of my earliest recollections is as a 5-year old, sitting all day in darkness in a pal's house, watching the Coronation on a 10" black and white television. An amazing and awesome experience for a  young boy. So, my whole life has had a backdrop of UK life, not only of the ever-changing political scene, and the rapid changes in society and in technology,  but also with the constancy of Queen Elizabeth, doing what she always does, and doing it well!

That constancy, that sense of continuity in an unpredictable, often violent, sometimes frightening, world, has brought a sense of security with it. And we want this feeling of security to last for ever! But, of course, it won't. One day, this wonderful Queen will die, and that security will have gone for good.

As a Christian, I have another monarch, who is also constant, also provides continuity, also sacrifices himself for his people, always honours family life, and rewards hard work. His name is King Jesus.  No longer the baby in the manger, or even the battered body on a Roman cross, but sat at the right hand of God the Father, with authority over all of creation.

In the Bible we read " Jesus Christ - the same, yesterday, today and forever'.  In a constantly changing world, which can frighten us or worry us, HE is unchangingly constant. HE will never leave us. HE is always there to comfort us. HE carries on each day, each year, doing what HE always has done - meeting with His people, directing them, challenging them, teaching them, loving them, smiling with them, encouraging them.

With King Jesus, we can celebrate not just 60years, or even 2000 years, but for ever and ever!!