The Queen speaks – does Britain hear?

Portrait of The Queen, taken in 2002

© John Swannell/Camera Press

It is significant that the Queen has used her Christmas broadcast again to call the nation to faith in Christ

For the second year running, Her Majesty the Queen has delivered a Christmas broadcast to the nation which is startling in the clarity of its call to faith in Jesus Christ.

Not that you might have realised this if you missed the speech and were relying only on much of the secular media. The Guardian reported that she “drew on the ‘humbling’ experience of her Diamond Jubilee celebrations and the inspiration of the Olympics and Paralympics to highlight a momentous year for Britain” – adding somewhat cryptically that she “made no mention of the Duchess of Cambridge's pregnancy”. The Daily Telegraph said that the Queen “used her Christmas broadcast to thank people around the world for the outpouring of affection and enthusiasm shown during her Diamond Jubilee celebrations”. The BBC News website reported that she “praised the ‘army of volunteers’ at the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympic and Paralympic Games”.

All well and good – and accurate, up to a point. But of course what most secular news outlets failed to report was the Queen’s explicit call for people to respond directly to Christ: “This is the time of year when we remember that God sent his only son ‘to serve, not to be served’. He restored love and service to the centre of our lives in the person of Jesus Christ ... The carol, ‘In The Bleak Midwinter’, ends by asking a question of all of us who know the Christmas story, of how God gave himself to us in humble service: ‘What can I give him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb; if I were a wise man, I would do my part’.” She continued: “The carol gives the answer ‘Yet what I can I give him - give my heart’.” Read more

View the video:
The Queen’s Christmas Broadcast 2012

Read the text:
The Queen’s Christmas Broadcast 2012