On the death of Her Majesty the Queen, Elizabeth II

A hymn upon the death of Queen Elizabeth II

© The Revd Dominic Grant, 9 September 2022. Tune: Thaxted (“I vow to thee, my country”)

We stand to mourn a sovereign,
a nation’s guide and friend,
who through long years of tumult
was faithful to the end.

We offer our thanksgiving
for all that she instilled:
her constancy of service,
her lifetime’s vow fulfilled.

Now from our world departed –
though never from our hearts –
receive her in the peace, Lord,
your love alone imparts.

And as we mark a passing
of sceptre, orb, and throne,
we’ll find in her compassion
a pattern for our own:

that all who stand in mourning,
or languish now in fear,
may know again your promise
to wipe away each tear.

With her we’ll join in witness,
Christ’s mercies our refrain:
great Sovereign of the nations,
eternal is your reign!

Prayer

O God, our rock and our redeemer,
we come to worship you
and to give thanks for your servant Elizabeth.

We thank you for her long life
and her dedicated service to commonwealth and nations.

We thank you for what she has meant
to each one of us…

We treasure memories
of meeting her ….
of celebrating and marking moments in her life,
of the opening of parliament,
of her presence at significant times in our history,
and of her speaking to us on radio and television.

We rejoice that she lived and shared
the faith we hold
and that she followed her vocation,
hearing a call to serve.

We pray for those who will miss her most deeply,
that they may find comfort and hope.

We celebrate and affirm our faith
that death is defeated,
that new life awaits your children,
and that creation is renewed in Christ.

We pray for our nations at a time of change
and for our new King.
May he follow his mother in faithful service
and may your blessing rest on him.

We pray too for our elected representatives in parliament,
for our public servants
and for all citizens, of all faiths and none.

And, in this day and time, we pray,
as we are always glad to pray,
may your Kingdom come. Amen.

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.

Reading – 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!’”

Other suggested readings

Esther 4: 12-17 (the story of a good Queen who protected a people in danger)

1 Peter 2: 9-10 (about a people becoming a royal priesthood, a holy nation)

Revelation 21: 1-4 (the new Jerusalem, death will be no more)

John 11: 20-27 (a woman witnesses to faith in the resurrection)