Dear friends,
Today is the first day of the reign of our new King. Which means that it is also the last day of the life of our Queen, the longest serving monarch in our history. Queen Elizabeth’s passing is something that many will feel deeply. We may feel sadness not only at the death of someone who gave their life to serving their country, but the death of someone who represented continuity for us in a world of change, who connected us with our own pasts, whether we had ever met her or not. For me, as for so many others, Queen Elizabeth has been there through my whole life, and today marks the loss of that part of my life’s journey.
But it also is a day to grieve for a person who gave such commitment to her role as Queen, such dedication to her faith in God, and such love to her family. As we grieve, we give thanks for a person who brought the humanity she lived as mother, grandmother and great-grandmother to her duty as Queen and the people she met.
We pray for Queen Elizabeth as she journeys deeper into life in the loving hands of God, and we pray for her family and those who love her. We pray for our country, which has lost a dedicated friend, and gained an example of steadfast faith to live by. And we pray for our new King, who enters into his new responsibilities at the same moment in which he grieves the loss of his beloved mother.
May Queen Elizabeth rest in peace, and rise in glory.
Gracious God,
we give thanks for the life of your servant
Queen Elizabeth,
for her faith and her dedication to duty.
Bless our nation as we mourn her death
and may her example continue to inspire us;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace,
according to thy word.
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation
which thou hast prepared before the face of all people.
To be a light to lighten the Gentiles
and to be the glory of thy people Israel.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.
