A lot has been written about the way in which our Queen exemplified faith in Jesus Christ. I need hardly add my tuppence-worth to the many, many column inches on that subject. She was the very embodiment of how faith can change a life and make arduous service into a privilege through willing service to the right Master.

What we have not had time to appreciate, however, is the extent to which her death has been an opportunity for extraordinary witness. How often did we hear faith mentioned, and God – there in the national press, on television channels across the world, on Radio 4 and Radio nan Gàidheal? The names of our Lord casually on the lips of people from every walk of life in a way that just would not be possible at any other time. Because he was dear to her, we were free to talk about him.

I saw a cartoon, amongst the myriad produced, where Christ was welcoming the Queen into heaven, and she was casting her crown at his feet. It came back to me at that most moving moment when the regalia of monarchy were removed from atop her coffin for the final time. The earthly crown, along with the orb and sceptre, was placed on the altar of St George’s Chapel in Windsor: human kingship subordinate to the kingship of Christ. And because she died as a woman of faith, the watching world must surely have seen this significance too, whatever their own relationship with the Divine.

Of all the things that the death of a most beloved lady has forced us to confront, one must surely be our own failure to witness.

This is the topic that makes professing Christians shuffle their feet nervously and look for ways to change the subject. The imperative to witness scares us – we protest that we’re no good with words, or w don’t want to lose the respect of family, friends and colleagues by being in their face Bible-bashers. We feel the pressure to ‘say something’, but almost never do, leading to more feelings of inadequacy in our Christian walk.

But I believe we are looking at it all wrong. God gave us his inspired word in the Bible. He has supplied us with ministers, priests, missionaries, evangelists – men and women called to preach. There are countless Christian writers, bloggers, columnists, broadcasters.

Maybe his cause doesn’t need more words.

This, I’m aware, is pretty rich, coming from me. I can be the very definition of ‘do as I say, not as I do’. But I still think the most powerful witness is a life lived in closeness to and dependence upon Christ. Although I write and have sometimes spoken about my faith, I nonetheless believe that the most powerful testimony I show forth  is that he has been more than adequate in the darkest time of my life. If you know me, you don’t need my words: you can see how merciful he has been to me.

I am not an example of kindness or charity or humility or good conduct; but I am a recipient of his grace. Strip away all the words with which I sometimes bombard you, and think on that.

We are talking publicly now about the Queen’s faith because, in the final analysis, even unbelievers know what they saw. She was an ordinary human being, elevated to wisdom and grace by the King she served. 

As we continue to mourn her loss, we don’t recall the detail of her spoken testimony, but rather the life that spoke of her proximity to Christ.

None of us has the profile or reach that Queen Elizabeth II had, but living in faith, and keeping our hand in his, we might do as much for our King.