Opinion column
How can we best serve King Charles III?
As the nation starts to return to normal following the state funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Philip Young suggests how we should now look to move forward under our new monarch.
We have said our fond farewells to his mother, our dear Queen Elizabeth II, and we now turn our attention to the future. How can we best honour the wonderful memories of her long reign?
The best way to honour Queen Elizabeth is to follow her way of service to the people of this country and the world. Above all she took her model of service from the example of Jesus. Jesus came not to lord it over us but to show us the way of service.
In our modern way of life, we seem to have become very self-obsessed with looking after ourselves and not caring much about what happens to others. Can we now adopt the Queen’s spirit of service to others and look to their interests?
The Queen took her inspiration from Christianity and from Jesus. She would have been very familiar with Paul's letter to the Philippians where Paul writes, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Look not to your own interests but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:3-5)
Christianity provides the key to life in all its fullness. To be selfish is to be unhappy. To serve others makes you happy and full of joy and life. You only must remember the life of Queen Elizabeth to know that this is true.
The best way to serve King Charles III is to follow his mother’s example and to build a world where we love and care for each other, and where we love and care for the planet. Just like his mother and father, we know that King Charles is passionate about the environment. The best way we can serve him is to become passionate too in our service to the environment and in our care and love for each other.
Long live the King!
May the Servant King Jesus inspire us to serve and to love one another.
Image by talpeanu from Pixabay.com
Philip is an Anglican, Quaker, and a member of the Third Order of Franciscans, and now lives in Felixstowe. Until July 2014 he was the Diocesan Environmental Officer for the Norwich Diocese. In June 2017 he stood as an Independent Candidate for the General Election in the Suffolk Coastal Constituency. He is now Associate Priest at St. John and St. Edmund in Felixstowe and a freelance writer on spiritual and political matters. He is available to run Quiet Days, give talks, presentations or to preach and can be contacted at philipyoung@btinternet.com. Philip is developing a new website www.revolutionoflovenow.com.
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