I am in my final year of training for ordination at St. Hild College in Yorkshire. When the college gathers for residential weekends at the Community of the Resurrection in Mirfield, it is traditional that a student offers a “Friday Thought” during the first time of Evening Prayer the college shares together that weekend.

On Friday, 16th September, the college community gathered for it’s first residential weekend of the new academic year and, this time, it was my turn to offer the Friday Thought. The three readings from Scripture that I chose for Evening Prayer were Isaiah 43:1-7, Romans 12:3-8 and Matthew 20:20-28. The text of the thought I shared follows.

“I declare before you all, that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.”

The words of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, spoken to the nation and to the world on her 21^st birthday in 1947. Words that have been shared many times over the course of the Queen’s reign, and of course have been shared many more times in the days since her death at the age of 96. Hers was a long life, as it turned out.

I wonder if the Queen was nervous before giving her speech. Perhaps in the way we might all be feeling some nerves as we join the family of St.Hild for the first time, or embark on our next or final year of study and formation in this place. Even though she was being prepared for public life for much of her life, the Queen’s eventual accession to the throne was unexpectedly swift. I can’t help but feel that even that most steadfast of monarchs must have felt just the odd twinge of anxiousness.

Fortunately for the Queen, and for us as some of the many millions of people she dedicated her life of service to, we know that she had a deep faith in something beyond herself and her own strength. As she publicly professed many times, she had faith in God and saw Jesus Christ as her ultimate guide and inspiration as she sought to live out the life of a servant-leader.

The readings from Scripture that we’ve heard this evening, from Isaiah, Paul’s letter to the Romans, and the Gospel of Matthew, I think all speak to aspects of the Queen’s life and to the life of all of us at St. Hild College as we embark on this new year together.

In Isaiah we hear about how God called the people of Israel by name to their life and vocation as the people of God, and of all that he would do for them as they grew into that vocation. Of course, God didn’t promise that the vocation would be easy, but God did – and still does – promise that even though we walk through fire we shall not be consumed by it.

In Paul’s letter to the Romans, we hear something pertinent about how to live well in community and relationship with one another, recognising and valuing diversity and the different gifts that we all bring and should share in service of one another as we grow together and help form and be formed by one another. Note to self: We also hear how we should leave our egos at the door and not think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think.

In Matthew’s Gospel we hear Jesus challenge the ego of the two sons of Zebedee, James and John, and perhaps their mother, as she asks Jesus to ensure that her sons will sit at his right hand and left in the Kingdom. Jesus draws all three of them back to God with gently worded but profound challenge, before going on to declare that whoever wishes to be great among you, must be your servant, just as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve.

Whether Royalist or Republican, or any nuanced position in between, I think we might all agree that Queen Elizabeth lived out her faith and her own God-given vocation; that as imperfect as we all are as human beings, and as deeply problematic as the reality of Empire was, the Queen took every opportunity she could to encourage living well together in community and relationship; and that in her public declaration in 1947 and her life beyond it, she certainly lived up to her promise to serve us all, because ultimately, first and foremost, she was serving God. In that way, perhaps, she was and can continue to be an inspiration to us all.

So, as we embark upon this weekend together, our anxiousness and imposter syndrome may be real. Have faith. God has called us all by name. We may be challenged by the things we hear, see and feel as part of this college family. Have faith, diversity and learning to live well together as people called to ministry will be challenging, but a good and healthy thing. We may at times seek reward or greater security on our journey with God. Have faith, let’s all check our egos at the door, for we are all here not to be served, but to serve.

In serving God and one another, may we all have a blessed and fruitful year. Amen.