UK in transition: Displaying grace in troubled times

Over the last fortnight, we have said goodbye to our longest reigning monarch, only days after she had said goodbye to her 14th Prime Minister.

With a new king and a new head of government, it’s not surprising that so many of us are feeling a mixture of sorrow and trepidation.

By the time of her death, the Queen was widely popular and respected, even by those who oppose the institution of monarchy. Whilst her reign was of course not perfect, her time on the throne was marked by a wisdom and humility that most leaders would struggle to match. The Queen made no secret of the strength that she drew from her faith, describing the teachings of the gospel as her ‘guiding light’.

One of these teachings is the doctrine of grace. Indeed, the monarch is styled, or officially addressed, as king or queen ‘by the grace of God’.

In the context of today’s culture, this may seem to be somewhat opaque, meaningless language from a bygone age, along with state trumpeters in royal livery and royal proclamations outside every town hall – a nice bit of ceremony but irrelevant to our daily lives.

Yet grace is a deeply radical idea. In theological terms, it is the unmerited favour of God towards human beings. As Christians we are called to accept God’s grace – offered to us in the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins – and to show this grace in our dealings with those around us.

Grace is hugely disruptive and incomprehensible to the current dominant worldview. Society tells us that it’s fine to be nice to people we approve of, but that we should shame and shun those with whom we disagree. Here is an example.

Ahead of the appointment of Prime Minister Liz Truss, I tweeted that we should ‘leave out the personal insults and treat our opponents with grace’. The responses I received spoke volumes: ‘They don’t deserve grace’; ‘It works both ways’; ‘The time is past for being nice’.

But the whole point of grace is that nobody deserves it. It is poured out without expectation of reciprocity, and it is has nothing to do with ‘being nice’.

Grace is at the heart of the gospel. Jesus’ death paid for all, because He loves us. And this has huge implications for the way we should treat one another.

The Bible tells us to submit to those in authority and to pray for them. Our leaders hold their positions ‘by the grace of God’ – because God has placed them there. This goes for queens and kings, prime ministers and governments. Including, of course, the ones we don’t like! The Bible tells us that all fall short of God’s perfect standards, and yet if we turn to Him, he wipes our slate clean.

So we have a responsibility in turn to extend grace to our leaders, and to our opponents, including those with whom we disagree profoundly, and those whose policies we find abhorrent.

Now that the official period of mourning the Queen’s death is over, and debates about how to handle the problems and crises facing our nation and our planet return to the fore, how will we respond? Will we seek out disagreement and division, settling scores against those who wrong us? Or will we seek to reflect God’s amazing grace in our attitudes and interactions with those who do not yet know Him?

We must speak up for what we believe, and be free to disagree with those who hold other views. We should not withdraw from the practical business of loving our neighbour. God calls us to seek justice and mercy as we walk through life with Him. All the same, we can display grace to those ‘on the other side’.

And if we start to become overwhelmed, let’s remember how transient our times truly are. The Queen was a constant presence throughout our lives, yet two of the planets in our solar system have not even completed a full orbit of the Sun during those 70 years. One of them – Neptune – hasn’t even completed half its ‘year’ during her reign!

Psalm 103:1-6 reminds us that ‘The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone…’. Here today, gone tomorrow.

So when we are tempted to panic or worry about change and upheaval, let’s remember the next verse from that Psalm, that ‘from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him’. God is eternal. He is not daunted by the change that we are witnessing.

And let us pray for wisdom and grace for our new leaders. When we sing God Save The King, let’s be praying that He will do just that – and let’s extend those prayers to our Prime Minister and government as they seek to lead us through these troubled times.