It was billed by some as the biggest evangelistic opportunity of a generation and, if it isn’t already the most-viewed sermon of all time, it’s likely to become so. But what lessons can we learn from Justin Welby’s preach?

You can watch Archbishop Justin’s sermon below or read it here.

“Christian hope means certain expectation of something not yet seen. Christ rose from the dead & offers life to all, abundant life now & life with God in eternity… We will all face the merciful judgment of God. We can all share the Queen’s hope…”
🔥 ❤️🙌pic.twitter.com/2WGNyb3Y2P

— Robin Ham (@rhamage) September 19, 2022

To read the 9 lessons I found helpful to reflect on, please read my article at Premier Christianity here.

This stunning image, by PA Media photographer Jane Barlow, is set to become amongst the most recognised photos in recent history. That’s because we now know Barlow’s images to be the last public pictures of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

But did you spot the *second* face?

The 96-year old Queen stands, seemingly alone and aided by her stick, in her drawing room at Balmoral. She’s waiting to meet the new UK Prime Minister, Liz Truss, staggeringly the fifteenth PM of her Elizabethan reign.

But for me what really stands out is the frail Queen’s smile. Gracious. Warm. Infectious.

It’s a smile that we’ve come to love over these monumental seventy years. And yet it’s a smile that we’ll see no more. Two days later the world was being told what we knew was one day inevitable, yet perhaps seemed unbelievable. Her Majesty was dead.

It’s been said that a smile is the beauty of a soul. But we know that the most beautiful and genuine smiles are those drawn out from the presence of another. A second human face, the very presence of which can bring out the best of humanity. A smile bestows dignity and offers connection. It can build bridges and lower guards. We smile back.

So have you seen the second face yet? Take a look at the bottom of the mirror and to the left of the clock. Maybe the photographer herself. Maybe a courtier. But there, present in the room. Face to face. Drawing out the smile of Her Majesty.

And it reminds me that though we see Her Majesty’s smile no longer, yet her smile lives on. Not just in treasured photographs, film and memories. It lives on because *still* her smile is being prompted by the gaze of Another.

For Her Majesty is in the eternal presence of a second face.

As a Christian, Queen Elizabeth II knew that Jesus Christ was her Saviour. She wasn’t relying on her own morality. She didn’t believe this was just wishful thinking. She spoke in her Christmas broadcasts of how God came into our world in Jesus Christ to bring us forgiveness. And though she did not yet see him, she loved him. And she knew that one day she would ‘see him as he is’. She knew in this life we see in part, but one day ‘we shall see face to face’.

And so now she does. Now that second face, His face, shines upon her, radiant and beaming in all of His beauty, glory, and grace. The One whose own smile we were made to know.

And I’m sure that Her Majesty is smiling back.

Do you know *that* second face?

“If you do not know where you come from, then you don’t know where you are, and if you don’t know where you are, then you don’t know where you’re going. And if you don’t know where you’re going, you’re probably going wrong.”

Terry Pratchett

These words are found on the lips of one Terry Pratchett’s characters in his Discworld books. They’re a perceptive nudge to get us to keep checking our bearings. Where am I? Where have I been, and where am I headed? Know thyself. And it’s this sentiment that captures the thinking behind the ‘2022 Life Audit’.

The initial idea for a ‘stock-take’ came from an online article by Melissa Kruger, ‘New Year, New Beginnings: The Importance of Considering Our Ways’, which I read way back in January 2018. Melissa’s questions were really helpful and prompted me to create a personal ‘audit’ worksheet of my own, which we used as a church. When I shared a sample of it on Twitter, a few people asked for a copy for their own use, so a few years back I figured it may be worth investing a bit of time to ‘upgrade’ it and create the ‘2019 Life Audit’. Since then it’s had some tweaks and calibrating and this year a few people encouraged me to put something out for 2022.

I think the whole ‘New Year Resolutions’ tradition can often become an exhausting exercise that ends up burdening people with guilt, but there’s undoubtedly great value in using the natural marker of a new year to ‘take stock’. As I’ve written about before, I think it can be very easy to ‘reason your season’ – to excuse the ‘state of affairs’ in which we find ourselves. Instead, it’s helpful to consider where we find ourselves and the trajectory we’re on.

Of course, in all this we need to be very mindful that we’re in the midst of a pandemic that has been the context of our lives for the last couple of years. We will be weary, disorientated, and reeling from a collective trauma, the likes of which hasn’t been experienced by most in their lifetimes. Perhaps more so than normal, we need to give space to reflecting on the impact of this season of turbulence. And in our hoping and dreaming about the future, let us be kind to ourselves – as well as to our spouses, families, friends and colleagues.

So why not make some space in your diary over the new year period? Print out the downloadable booklet (19 pages – you can see a couple of them on this post). Find somewhere you’ll be undisturbed. Put your favourite music on and grab a pen. Just use what’s helpful in the time you have.

And let’s pray that as we reflect on our lives, we’d be more conscious of his grace, more dependent upon his Spirit, more committed to his people, and more willing to ‘abound in the work of the Lord’, knowing our labour in the Lord is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58).

Download the 2022 Life Audit pdf here: