Address to the Throne

10th July 2006

To the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty

The General Assembly of the United Reformed Church, meeting in Exeter, sends greetings, in the year of Your Majesty’s 80th Birthday.

This year’s General Assembly has received a study document produced jointly by a working group from our Church and the Methodist Church entitled Peacemaking: a Christian Vocation. It notes that Christians believe peace to be God’s fundamental will for the created order, and that they have a responsibility to witness to this truth, to those in power.

Three years ago, the Church expressed grave reservations about the wisdom of the military initiative in Iraq, undertaken by Your Majesty’s government and the American administration. Today, as people with a desire for peace and reconciliation, we are greatly troubled by the continuing conflict and loss of life. It seems to us, that the military intervention has resulted in one form of tyranny being replaced by another in that country, and has also damaged Britain’s good reputation in sensitive areas of the world. We hope and pray that the recently installed Iraqi government will be able to bring about order and unity, and we ask that Your Majesty’s government does everything in its power to support that objective.

Although war divides nations, the issue of climate change should call all governments and peoples to be united in a purposeful approach. Most scientific opinion now seems to agree that climate change is happening, and that the actions of human beings are the primary cause. The United Reformed Church is keen to play a constructive part in encouraging members to be good stewards of God’s creation, both collectively and individually. We hope to use our close relationship with the Kiribati Protestant Church in the Pacific Ocean, to help our members see that actions we take, may have a direct bearing on the lives of Christian brothers and sisters on the other side of the World. The islands of Kiribati are rarely as much as three metres above sea level; they would be among the first land areas to vanish, as a result of rising sea levels.

Your Majesty will be aware of the report Faithful Cities: a call for celebration and justice recently produced by the Commission on Urban Life and Faith, to which the United Reformed Church contributed. We were pleased that the Commission found that regeneration schemes have brought riches and new opportunities to many localities, but saddened by the confirmation that this growth has forced many people to the margins. Perhaps the most shocking finding was that ‘We live in one of the most economically unequal countries in Europe’. Other agencies such as Church Action on Poverty and Citizens Advice have also drawn attention to the fact that many people are sinking further and further into debt. We urge Your Majesty’s government to act upon the call of the Commission for more to be done to tackle inequality. As a Church, we will play our part, to confront selfish lifestyles, both amongst our membership and in the wider population. It is clear, from the New Testament, that reaching out to the marginalised and dispossessed, was absolutely central to Christ’s ministry. In this respect, our church-related community workers exercise a particularly important ministry.

Many of our members and local churches are active in public service; we believe this to be both a Christian calling, and an essential element in sustaining and re-creating a sense of community and common purpose among peoples and nations.

As people of faith, we are heartened by the part that a personal faith clearly plays in Your Majesty’s own life. We pray that this will both strengthen and sustain, enabling Your Majesty to continue to lead by example.

Revd Elizabeth Caswell - Moderator

Revd Dr David Cornick - General Secretary

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