Opening Prayer
Almighty God,
Our Queen is dead, her long life is over, but You live forever!
Our Queen is dead, her long reign is over but You reign forever!
Our Queen is dead, her loving service is over but Your love lives forever!
We give You thanks that in Your life, she shaped her life; under Your sovereignty, she fashioned her reign; in Your loving heart, she found wisdom and peace.
Forgive us when we didn’t follow her example, nor recognized the power of humble, Christlike service. Strengthen our resolve to find our home in Your heart and to live with wisdom, humility and grace.
Amen
Lord, Your kingship surprises, for it is found in a manger and on a cross and in this light all earthly monarchs may find the wisdom to rule as Your servant, Elizabeth, did so memorably. Enable us to value her ministry in the way we serve one another that she who reigned over us may live gloriously with You for ever, through Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord
Amen
Isaiah 6: 1-5
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said:
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.
The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said: ‘Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’”
Reflection
This year will be known by many as, ‘the year that Queen Elizabeth died’. Whatever we think about the institution of the monarchy, the death of our Queen has a huge impact upon us.
Her face, her presence, her being there have been part of all our lives for so many years. For most of us, she has been the only monarch we can remember. She has been part of our lives, our imaginations, our sense of who we are.
The writer of this Bible passage from the book of Isaiah shared this experience of the death of a monarch, after a reign of many years. It is probably no co-incidence that it was in this year, the year that King Uzziah died, that he had an experience of the ground shaking beneath him, when the Temple shook and he felt lost.
Many of us now will also feel dislocated and shaken up, in ways we can’t quite describe and perhaps hadn’t expected.
But the monarch whose reign has just ended in our own land would be the first to say that the God whom she worshipped, and to whom she committed her life in service, the God in whose name she was anointed in a holy place, this holy God, is with us, and the whole earth is filled with God’s glory.
There are those who would say that what she provided above all was a kind of stability and reassurance. When times were painful and difficult for us as a nation, she was there. She always sought to comfort the suffering and to steady the anxious.
Above all, her own faith in God was sure and strong. She spoke with increasing depth, in her many Christmas broadcasts, about her own reliance on God. In the face of her death, we can depend on the God who is always with us, filling not only the temples of this world, but also our families and communities, with love and hope.
In the year that Queen Elizabeth died, we give thanks for a life of dedicated service to our nations and commonwealth. We give thanks for God’s faithful servant, Elizabeth. We pray for her family and closest friends, for those who will mourn and miss her most.
We grieve for what we have all lost. And we also take heart and hope from the faith that we shared with her and that she shared with us, remembering that death is defeated and that God reigns above all.
Amen
Prayers
For Queen Elizabeth and her exceptional reign, her deep affection for her people, her lifelong desire to serve the common good, her humility and grace, hard work and dedication, we thank You, Living Lord.
Be with the King and members of the Royal Family as they mourn the loss of a mother and grandmother as well as a friend and monarch – in the royal palaces, crown them with Your loving-kindness.
Be with our national leaders at this time of uncertainty and change – in the corridors of power, crown them with Your heavenly wisdom.
Be with her people in nation and Commonwealth as they mourn a monarch and peace-maker and rejoice in the cultural diversity celebrated under her reign – in the four corners of her realm, crown us with peace and goodwill.
Be with the hidden folk throughout the world who are struggling to make peace, longing for healing, grieving the loss of someone they love – in pain and grief, crown the nations of the earth with the light of Your love.
In silence, we remember with thanksgiving the life of Elizabeth, Your servant and our Queen, that she may rest from her labours and rejoice in the One whom she worshipped as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Almighty God, whose Son, Jesus Christ, was crowned not with gold but with thorns and whose blood was shed to give life to the world – crown us with Your love that we may serve one another with humility and joy and Your Kingdom come with peace on earth, through the same Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, ever One God, now and for evermore.
Amen
Suggested Listening
All people that on earth do dwell – www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-1dQ8t03mE
Praise, My Soul, The King Of Heaven – www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx1eMwlDFb8
Now thank we all our God Hymn – www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c7VaTjyuLA
For all the Saints – www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_UvXe-of-s
