Queen Elizabeth II - end of an era

 

The Queen was a remarkable figure who for over seventy years served our nation tirelessly. She met with every Prime Minister from Winston Churchill to Liz Truss just days before she died, she hobnobbed with everyone from heads of state to filmstars, opened parliaments, and had her image on every stamp or banknote in this country. There are 25 awards, 56 places, 85 buildings, 28 hospitals let alone the bridges, roads, Schools and trains that are named after her. Many things have been and will continue to be spoken by great politicians and journalists as her story goes down in the history books.

But it’s actually the testimony of the everyday people that I find most moving. A BBC reporter was out on the streets of Hull and here are some of the comments that everyday people made.

·        "England won't be the same country without her,"

·        "She's always been there. She's been positive, she's always picked us up when we're down".

·        And one comment in particular stuck with me… “She’s the only constant apart from my sisters in my life, I’m absolutely gutted”.

I think many can relate to that comment, the Queen has kind of always been there, a reassuring presence on the front page of a newspaper, on speaking annually to us through her Christmas broadcast.  And now she’s gone. It’s literally the end of an era.

But she would want to point us to the one who can comfort us in this and any loss- the Lord Jesus Christ- the King of Kings and King of Queens whom she served and who motivated her to run the race to the end.

It is Jesus Christ who is the true constant presence and who never leaves us and who can comfort us in our grief with the knowledge that there is life beyond the grave and hope in the darkest of times.

Another 90plus year old Billy Graham, was an American preacher whom the Queen met a couple of occasions. He said these words which could equally have been spoken by the Queen…

“Someday you will read or hear that [I am] dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God."

Charlie Newcombe, 14/09/2022