THE SERMON FROM TODAY'S SERVICE OF THANKSGIVING
We will all remember the moment we heard she was ill and her family were rushing to Balmoral, and then soon after, the Queen had died. The Queen who had reigned so long.
The only monarch most of us had ever known had gone to be with the Lord she loved. Our new king, Charles the Third, was now on the throne.
Of course, we knew that day would come but when it came at that moment it was sudden and it came as a shock. And it took a while to sink in.
For many of us it brought back memories of loss and bereavement in our own families. And now we wait for that final farewell as the whole world will watch the events in London, our city, tomorrow.
As I have pondered these things, I have thought this: how blessed we have been.
How blessed we have been to have had such a Sovereign for so long: a lady of dignity, grace, faithfulness, reliability, humility and faith who has led our nation and represented it to the world, a constitutional monarch, above politics, the servant of her people.
On her 21st birthday she made this pledge to the people of the nation and commonwealth
'I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong. But I shall not have strength to carry out this resolution alone unless you join it with me, as I now invite you to do: I know that your support will be unfailingly given. God help me to make good my vow, and God bless all of you who are willing to share it
She has kept her promise.
As a Christian, and as the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, the Queen has often spoken of her faith:
'I know just how much I rely on my faith to guide me through the good times and the bad. Each day is a new beginning. I know that the only way to live my life is to try to do what is right, to take the long view, to give of my best in all that the day brings, and to put my trust in God!'
And the Queen has been clear that the what the world most needs is a Saviour and that this Saviour has been given to us in the Lord Jesus Christ:
'Although we are capable of great acts of kindness, history teaches us that we sometimes need saving from ourselves – from our recklessness or our greed. God sent into the world a unique person –neither a philosopher nor a general (important though they are) – but a Saviour, with the power to forgive.'
We need saving says the Queen. God has sent not a general to fight wars, or a philosopher to share wise words, but a saviour who can bring forgiveness to us.
In our second reading today, Jesus says: “I am the bread of life. Those who come to me will never be hungry; those who believe in me will never be thirsty.
He is the one who has come to give us life, eternal life, life with himself for ever. He is the bread of life, the one who can sustain us and strengthen us as we go through this life, as he sustained and strengthened our late Sovereign Lady, Queen Elizabeth the Second.
There are many wonderful blessings in this life: family, friends, the beauty of God’s creation, but we need something more.
We need a relationship with the God who made us and this is what Jesus gives. He alone can satisfy our deepest hunger. He alone is one who can quench our deepest thirst.
He is the one that God has given to bring us back to himself and give us the relationship with himself that we were made for and we all need.
And he is the one who can give us hope in the face of death and the assurance of eternal life. In the last verse of our second reading Jesus says this:
For what my Father wants is that all who see the Son and believe in him should have eternal life. And I will raise them to life on the last day.”
This is what the Father wants. For us to believe in the Son and through his Son, Jesus Christ, receive the gift of eternal life.
We can know for certain that death is not the end. We have Jesus’s promise that he will raise us to the life on the last day.
At the present time our beloved late Sovereign rests in the peace of Christ but at the last day she, with the whole company of God’s people, will be raised to life.
This is our hope. This is God’s promise.
As we mourn our Queen, let us follow her example by walking in the way of Christ and trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Bread of Life, the Saviour of the world, and the resurrection and the life.
For we have his word for it: For what my Father wants is that all who see the Son and believe in him should have eternal life. And I will raise them to life on the last day.”
