Ramble for Kirwan Uniting Church Keeping in Touch pew sheet 11 September 2022

 “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people — for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:1-4

As a 5 year old (of course, as any child does when asked their age, I would have expressed it 5¾) I watched the Coronation on a flickering black and white television screen, no bigger than today’s mobile phones, contained within a wooden cabinet the size of a grandmother clock. So Queen Elizabeth has been a part of my background consciousness for pretty well all of my life. I never met her, nor even, like Sir Robert Menzies, saw “her passing by”. But my grammar school was founded by her illustrious forebear and namesake, she was Patron of my universities, she was “graciously pleased” to grant my Army and Royal Naval Reserve Commissions, and she was temporal head of the Church into which I was confirmed.

 

Monarchists and republicans (like me) alike will pray for King Charles III as St Paul urges us. However, I don’t only mourn Queen Elizabeth’s death as I honour her long life of duty, I mourn that a voice of such global reach and influence has been lost to the Christian faith. Here, from one of her Christmas broadcasts:
“History teaches us that we need saving from ourselves, from our recklessness or our greed. God sent into the world neither a philosopher or a general, but a Saviour with the power to forgive.”

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