The Queen

Yesterday, (8 September 2022) we woke to the news that Queen Elizabeth II was ill and that the family were gathering at her bedside. Those of us who have gathered at similar bedsides know something of that moment. Then later in the day, the news came that she had passed away.

I am not a monarchist. I struggle with entitlement, titles by birth, the decadent wealth of palaces and all the pomp and ceremony. I struggle with conquering Empires. I am not sure of the value of the monarchy for Commonwealth countries.

But I liked Queen Elizabeth II. She’s been Queen longer than I have lived. During the recent Platinum Jubilee, I marvelled at someone who has so committed their life to their vocation for 70 years. Most are looking forward to retirement after 45 years in the workplace. Here was a woman still working, and serving others, at age 96.

In her Christmas messages, the Queen always went back to Jesus. She would always quote from the Bible and share some Christian wisdom. In our world, this was courageous and a sign of her own faith.

One of the most common words used to describe Queen Elizabeth II is “gracious.” She has experienced much loss in her own life, she has seen so much world change, and yet there has always been a graciousness about her.

• We can argue about the role of the monarchy;
• about how empire has negatively impacted the world;
• about how the media is so focused on the Queen's death when there is climate destruction in Pakistan, and war in Ukraine, and other huge events affecting many people; and,
• about how Canada still mistreats First Nations peoples.

And these are all very important things that need to be talked about. But there has also been, in the midst of all that the Queen has had to face, there has been graciousness. 

An Irish friend of mine talked about the Queen's 2011 visit to Ireland. She walked onto the football pitch at Croke Park, home of the Gaelic Athletic Association and Ireland's premier concert and events venue. It was the place where the first Bloody Sunday took place in 1920; where the British army murdered 13 fans and a player in brutal reprisal for their own agents and servicemen killed that morning. 

The Queen opened her speech in Irish, and then can as close to an apology as any monarch can: “things we wish had been done differently or not at all”, and “we can bow to the past but we don’t need to be bound by it.” 

At that moment there was the ushering in of a new Ireland, still divided by a border but more united in its feelings and atmosphere than maybe anywhere else in its history. The Queen wasn’t on some safe throne away from the subjective pain of the Troubles but she too has suffered, alluding to the death of her cousin Lord Louis Mountbatten at the hands of the IRA.

Queen Elizabeth II and President Mary McAleese in a simple act of remembering, bowing their heads as they laid wreaths, sowed a seed.

The Irish folk singer Luka Bloom wrote about this in his beautiful A Seed Was Sown: 

A seed was sown

With a simple bow

Where we remembered our heroes

She said the time has come now

She laid her wreath

With dignity and grace

An eloquent silence

And softness in her face

She lowered her head down

And held the pose

My tears flowed freely

God only knows

She remembered our losses

She remembered her own

And in that moment

A seed was sown….

Death is a sacred time. 

• Part of it is the remembering of a life, 
• the stories that we share. 
• Some are funny, 
• some painful, 
• some warm-hearted 
• and some real lessons for life. 

As we watch and read obituaries this week, I pray that in our reflections we will be moved by the brave, gracious, and at times, prophetic actions of Queen Elizabeth II. 

Today, I pray for the Royal Family in their grieving. We all know that heartache. I pray for the nations that cherished Queen Elizabeth II. May God be with all who grieve. I pray also that we all might follow our now late Queen into the forgiveness, redemption and reconciliation that she has modelled for us all.