By Nicki Frodsham, Jubilee Church Wirral

As you know, 2022 is Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee year – marking 70 years of service to the people of the United Kingdom.

I have always admired the Queen and how she openly expresses her faith in God. In her most recent Christmas Speech (2021), she said this: “It is this simplicity of the Christmas story that makes it so universally appealing: simple happenings that formed the starting point of the life of Jesus — a man whose teachings have been handed down from generation to generation, and have been the bedrock of my faith.”

As a young Girl Guide, I once met the Queen in Windsor Great Park, outside the Chapel that she regularly attends when residing at Windsor Castle.  It had a great impact on me – she seemed very approachable and interested in speaking to us. She shook our hands, asking us about our weekend of camping nearby. 

With so much mention of the Jubilee I have been thinking reflecting on how we came to be called Jubilee Church and what it means.  We were planted out from Jubilee Church Liverpool. On their website it says: ‘The meaning of the word ‘Jubilee’ is to celebrate, and we enjoy celebrating God’s goodness when we gather together!’ 

In the Bible, the reference to Jubilee is about the celebration which occurred every 50 years.  After 49 years, if debts were still owed, then they were cleared.

The Bible tells us that the Jews were told not to charge interest on loans they made to poor Jews (Exodus 22:25)  and, at the end of every seven years, to grant a release (Deuteronomy 15:1-2). The reason God gives is that there should be no poor.   

Then in Leviticus 25:10-12, God gave further instructions to the Israelites for when they have celebrated this Sabbatical year seven times:

“And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan. That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of itself nor gather the grapes from the undressed vines. For it is a jubilee. It shall be holy to you. You may eat the produce of the field.”

Our name comes from this and sets out values that we have.  As a grace-filled church we want to remember the poor and also we want to give people a second opportunity; we are not looking for perfection but we look to do our best and there is always an opportunity for reconciliation.

We want to serve everyone in the best way we can and see people set free from things that hold them captive – whether spiritual, mental, physical or financial.

As we gather together on Sundays and throughout the week, remember that Jubilee Church is about celebrating our Lord, who He is but also in setting us free from a debt that we could never pay –  and so we celebrate God’s goodness to us with joy.

As a Church we would like to join the celebrations of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Year too.  (Look out for more details about us hosting a Garden Party on 2nd June).

God bless

Nicki

Nicki Frodsham with her husband Dave