R.I.P. Margaret Thatcher (1926 - 2013)

Margaret Thatcher has died today at the age of 87. The former Prime Minister of Great Britain earned the nickname of the "Iron Lady" when refusing to back down in negotiations with the Soviet Union. She also earned the respect and affection of her countrymen as well as the people in the dominions and allies of the UK.

I remember those years well with fondness.

I was a young adult with a new family during the Reagan/Thatcher years. I paid close attention to all that the two of them accomplished on the world stage and was a great fan of hers.

I could see her strength, her resolve, her wit, her warmth, her humor, her friendship, her faithfulness, her devotion and the love she had in her heart. I could see all those things and I admired her greatly from afar.

But there was something else about her that I admired much more than any of those attributes, or her political accomplishments: it was her faith in God.

She was just as secure and grounded in her Christian faith as she was in her political opinions. In fact, it was because of her faith in God that gave her the foundation for her political confidence.

In 1988 she gave a speech at the Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland, The Mound, Edinburgh. It was called the "Sermon on the Mound". In it she expounded on her Christian faith.

Perhaps it would be best, Moderator, if I began by speaking personally as a Christian, as well as a politician, about the way I see things. Reading recently, I came across the starkly simple phrase:

"Christianity is about spiritual redemption, not social reform".

What then are the distinctive marks of Christianity?

They stem not from the social but from the spiritual side of our lives, and personally, I would identify three beliefs in particular:

First, that from the beginning man has been endowed by God with the fundamental right to choose between good and evil.

And second, that we were made in God's own image and, therefore, we are expected to use all our own power of thought and judgment in exercising that choice; and further, that if we open our hearts to God, He has promised to work within us.

And third, that Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, when faced with His terrible choice and lonely vigil chose to lay down His life that our sins may be forgiven. I remember very well a sermon on an Armistice Sunday when our Preacher said, "No one took away the life of Jesus , He chose to lay it down".

I think back to many discussions in my early life when we all agreed that if you try to take the fruits of Christianity without its roots, the fruits will wither. And they will not come again unless you nurture the roots.

But we must not profess the Christian faith and go to Church simply because we want social reforms and benefits or a better standard of behavior; but because we accept the sanctity of life, the responsibility that comes with freedom and the supreme sacrifice of Christ expressed so well in the hymn:

"When I survey the wondrous Cross, On which the Prince of glory died, My richest gain I count but loss, And pour contempt on all my pride."

Margaret Thatcher Church of Scotland, The Mound, Edinburgh, United Kingdom - May 21, 1988

I wish all world leaders were equally unashamed to talk about the Biblical Christianity like she did, without using it as a political ploy for ratings, but instead spoke directly from the heart of her love of God.

Lady Baroness Thatcher, you were one of a kind on the world stage and you will greatly be missed. You have earned your rest in God, and in peace.