FAITH FILES

ON this solemn day our thoughts and our prayers are with the Queen and all the royal family. I am sure many of us will be with Her Majesty in spirit as we watch the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh on TV later today.

I cannot imagine the Duke would have willingly chosen the life of consort and there is perhaps a lesson for us all in realising we are all members of something greater. I don’t even think that is particularly about God, I think it is about being part of society. It is a profoundly counter cultural view to understand I am more who I am by renouncing who I want to be and looking to what I am called to be. I would not suggest for a moment it is easy and a second lesson, for me at least, is that we should never forget who we are, who God made us to be. I rather warm to the times where the person, where the man couldn’t help but burst through.

If you have ever been to Windsor and perhaps walked or driven through the Great Park you may have noticed that the speed limits are all in kilometres. I was told this is because the duke saw the metric system as the future.

His legacy is as a moderniser.

I would suggest he was someone who saw the dangers in an overly romanticised view of what has gone before and I believe he himself said that he saw God manifested most clearly in human ingenuity and advancement for the good of all humankind.

And lastly, what of faith? St George’s House at Windsor was established by the duke to foster religious dialogue and there for me is the most important lesson I hope to learn from the life of this prince among men, which is never to cease learning, never to think I need to stop asking questions, to hold my views robustly, but never to be defensive when my views are challenged and never to be afraid of asking those questions of others, however important they feel themselves to be.

Ironically, perhaps, the most important lesson this great man has taught us all is that God is always bigger than our imagination and society is always broader than our experience.

May he rest in peace and rise in glory. make sure you follow the local coronavirus guidance.

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regional fundraiser for East Midlands at Parkinson’s UK