Revd Annette's Posts

Revd Annette's Posts This is the page where I place the reflections and live services for the friends, newcomers, and con

07/11/2022

All Saints Day sermon for Kintbury 8am abridged and West Woodhay 11.15.
On All Saints Day, the set lectionary reading from the Gospel is Luke’s version of the Beatitudes. Or ‘Be …Attitudes’.
The Beatitudes remind us that those who direct us to Christ, understand that Christian behaviour is not about clutching what you have and holding it tightly in your hands. It is about being generous, showing hospitality, and being open. It is about celebrating the opportunities such as when you see an array of new faces in Church when you are joined by a baptism family or those preparing for their forthcoming wedding.
It is not about holding your palms up, praying, and expecting good things to just fall into them, but recognising that it involves hard work, testing, sacrifice, and patience. It is not about ‘what can we get out of being part of the Church’ or being determined to get our own way, but about exploring different ways that we can reach out to others, to serve and share. Like the coffee mornings and pastoral care that is offered so generously and discreetly, the Christmas Experience, and the support of colleagues who are struggling. It is not about stuffing ourselves with things that provide quick fixes like possessions and winning popularity, the things we might consider necessities, but searching out sustaining food, the food that satisfies…. the bread of life.
Our perceptions of Saints can be skewed on one hand we can see them as ethereal, even scary figures of perfection who have no understanding of the struggles of ordinary people. On the other hand, we can have a rosy picture of a saint, a kind of butter that would not melt in their mouth, who is gentle meek, and mild. Neither is a true picture. John the Baptist was hardly a figure of ethereal perfection, and the disciples were an interesting bunch of misfits.
St Francis was dragged into court by his father for stealing his father’s possessions and giving them to monks to sell to support the poor. He angered local Bishops by saying Mass when he was not ordained (please don’t let that encourage you to do the same!), creating his own liturgies, and including animals in his congregation. a bit like our experiences at Combe!
St Teresa of Avila was considered rather mad with shocking opinions and way too outspoken… for a woman. Doesn’t that sound familiar when we reflect on how the move towards the ordination of women was viewed by some.
Juliana of Norwich lost her entire family to the plague and had such extraordinary visions that nobody knew quite what to make of them.
Mother Teresa expressed strong doubts about God. She became a nun to escape life in her small town in Italy where she was unhappy.
Oska Shindler, who saved many Jews from death in WW2 Germany, was a N**i, womaniser, and drunk. He used his reputation as a scoundrel to his advantage to provide cover.
Mandela was considered a public enemy by the government in South Africa. They put him in jail for 27yrs.
These people flouted public conventions they faced dangerous and often painful situations. They were not remote from experiencing some or all of the following during their lives being poor, hungry, grief-stricken, hated, insulted, excluded, and rejected. They were still able to shine God’s light in the world and they were able to hang on to their humanity without becoming embittered or developing a desire for revenge. They continued to love.
Every one of us as baptised person is a potential Saint in the eyes of God.
Today we have two baptisms in the benefice so what a perfect Sunday to add to our number. Fortunately, we do not have to pass some sanctification test to be a Saint. God sanctifies us when we are baptised as part of his family. He chooses us and sets us apart; the cross of oil marking our heads in the service of baptism reminds us of that. The candle that we are given as part of the ceremony symbolises that we are vessels through whom His light shines.
People of strong faith trust their lives and well-being to God for the long haul. They do not expect instant gratification
There are hundreds and thousands of people who have gone before us trusting in the promises of Christ. I think that they have one very important thing in common. They fell in love. More importantly, they fell in love with God. That love was the light that shone through them. May it shine through us.
Amen.

07/11/2022

Benefice Bereavement service 2022 Kintbury
We are here this evening with a common purpose to remember our loved ones in the presence of God. Being parted from those we love is the ultimate crisis. At death, all a person’s life goals cease, and the finality of that, affects and influences the future of their loved ones. It hurts.
We saw the incredible outpourings of grief in the floral displays (and Paddington bears) left after the death of the Queen. Eventually, temporary shrines need to be removed, and the emotional messages and symbols of raw grief are no longer visible. The same happens in churchyards. After a period of careful tending grave plots are less regularly visited, trinkets not permitted by churchyard regulations, must disappear and simple memorial stones and floral displays left to mark the place of a loved one.
But this pattern does not mean a loved one has been forgotten. It marks that time when wounds of grief have started to heal, and family and friends no longer focus on a person’s death. When the bereaved have learned to carry the positive memories of their loved ones into the future. Most people learn to live with the pain of loss but that does not mean they forget.
I have spoken with several undertakers who struggle with the concept of funerals without God because whilst faith does not take away the pain of death it does challenge its permanence. It brings a message of hope into an otherwise hopeless situation because God has promised us a place beyond death. Thus, to Christians, death is a painful interlude in a relationship, before being reunited with loved ones gone before. A funeral director I knew felt so moved by the absence of hope in some funerals that he would say his own prayers over the services he attended.
But something beyond death is not the only message of hope that God delivers. We are told that we are all loved and accepted by God just as we are. He still loves us when we are angry at our loved one’s death, are broken by our circumstances, and reject him. God has called us by name, and we are his (Isaiah 43:1), He knows us intimately before we are even born. (Psalm 139:13). Whatever trauma we are suffering he is there watching over us. God reaches down to us in Jesus, loving us, holding us, supporting us, and caring for us as his family whenever we need him. Even when we let go of our emotions and cry into the silence and darkness of the night he is there. He can provide a true and lasting peace full of love and joy if we just open the door to him.
God came in his son Jesus to show us the way and he sends the Holy Spirit as a comforter to empower, strengthen and help. When our personal strength is drained if we pray ‘I am here please minister to me.' and listen he will provide that reassurance.
Charles Allen provides a moving story about the importance of reassurance. As World War II ended the Allied forces gathered many hungry orphans. They took them to camps where they were well-fed and looked after but the children slept poorly. Eventually, they found a solution. Each child was given a piece of bread not to eat but to take with them to bed to hold or place under their pillow. The realisation and reassurance that they would be able to eat the next morning enabled these traumatised children to have a restful sleep.
Jesus is our bread of life. He can satisfy our spiritual needs and settle our souls. The food he offers is around us – in the people beside us – those who care about us whether they have little faith or those who know where God is to be found. God is in the truth we hear proclaimed – in the bread we consecrate. In the light that streams through these windows. In those ordinary things, those tiny miracles, that happen around us every day. He can break into our darkness like a shining light through the giggles of a child, the flight of a butterfly….
God is here in Christ as the bread of life …the living bread that came down from heaven and whoever eats that bread will live forever.
He is with us always, even to the end of the age.
We can go to sleep like those frightened children knowing that he will always be there. He is our hope. A constant in our ever-changing lives with their ups and their downs. I pray that you will take that promise with you.
………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Some quotations about hope….
“Hope is called the anchor of the soul (Hebrews 6:19) because it gives stability to the Christian life. But hope is not simply a ‘wish’ (I wish that such-and-such would take place); rather, it is that which latches on to the certainty of the promises of the future that God has made.” -RC Sproul
“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words — And never stops at all.” -Emily Dickinson
“The best we can hope for in this life is a knothole peek at the shining realities ahead. Yet a glimpse is enough. It’s enough to convince our hearts that whatever sufferings and sorrows currently assail us aren’t worthy of comparison to that which waits over the horizon.” -Joni Eareckson

09/10/2022

Harvest sermon 8.30am Inkpen BCP Holy Communion

When I first started worshiping in church I must confess to being rather baffled as to why some congregations felt more comfortable worshiping using what I regarded as strange, antiquated words. My Archdeacon at the time provided some understanding by relaying a story about a member of his congregation who was resistant to changes in church. The man had said that he felt that the common worship liturgy was too pedestrian and that he only felt comfortable addressing God in formal words.
I was attracted, and still am, by the creativity permitted by Common Worship and the new patterns of worship. But I must now confess to being a Prayer Book convert because over the years of having to engage with it I have started to recognise and appreciate it as a really, extraordinary document.
I have bookshelves groaning with books providing different ideas for liturgies to engage congregations based on Common Worship, New patterns of worship, and Fresh Expressions but there are always more being produced. And yet for hundreds of years, this one little book contained all the services of the Church, for every day of the week and year of your life. Morning and Evening, Sundays, baptisms, weddings, and funerals, and some more exclusive ones. Such a thought makes me rather envious of being able to carry around just one book to equip you with every liturgy.
There was a familiar framework that acted as a leveler and provided comfort at times of sadness. I am always moved when I lead worship in nursing homes when someone who is lost in a world of confusion suddenly starts to join in with the words that often bring them a smile of contentment.
The words of this book have become a strong foundation to enter the presence of God. Over the years those familiar words become further enriched as people’s lives entwine with them. They really do become prayers that belong to everyone.
And to quote one theologian. ‘It is also a magnificent political project: it moves the Latin of medieval Catholicism into English, preserving the truth of Catholic Christianity, and weaving in the new Protestant reformation theology to make a compromise that has stood the test of time.’
If I engage with it fully, even when I am presiding, I emerge from worship with an inner stillness and peace, because its words act like a familiar spiritual mantra. However, if my mind wanders during the service, I stumble over words and lose my way. It has a poetic rhythm that maintains your focus and acts almost as a spiritual mantra. It is a work of linguistic genius that draws one ever closer to God.
The other two services in the benefice today are Harvest praise in Kintbury and a Harvest Common Worship in West Woodhay marking out a special time to stop and give thanks for God’s gifts in creation, to share them with others, to return a thank offering to God, and to commit to caring for creation.
But the Prayer Book gives us no special readings for Harvest, and nowhere in the book does it appear. I think this is because every single day is rooted in farming, harvest, and seasons. For the Prayer Book and the villages and towns who have used it for centuries every day is a day of thanksgiving, sharing, offering back to God, and caring for the gifts we have received in creation.
We should not make those things annual events but live every day, saturated in the prayers God has gifted us through this little book. We are invited to take the liturgies and the truths they reveal into ourselves so they start to affect how we live with ourselves, each other, and God. Then thanksgiving, sharing, offering, and caring become natural parts of who we are in the community and the spiritual Harvest will be ready to be reaped.

02/10/2022

Sermon 8am in Kintbury short sermon on Luke 17.5–10
In today’s Gospel reading Jesus is using an example from every day to communicate to his disciples that his way of leading is totally different from the leadership of the world. Worldly leaders can use their influence unjustly and feel entitled to rewards and privileges simply because of their position. But Jesus suggests that serving others is a privilege and that no reward is necessary. Jesus is effectively overturning the values of worldliness.

It is not complicated to follow Jesus we just need ‘to act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly before our God’. Today we are invited to reflect on Jesus’ teaching and to consider our response to it. Does it resonate with us, or do we find it hard to apply in our own lives? When we serve others do we seek rewards?

Sadly, we do not have to look very far to see the corruption that power can bring. We are currently watching Russia’s descent into repression under Vladimir Putin and his barbaric decision to invade Ukraine. Now he is threatening any country trying to intervene with harsh consequences, which some worry may involve nuclear weapons. We recognise it as an abuse of power and the opposite of the style of leadership model that Jesus calls us towards.

Jesus’ way is tough. The sentence, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have only done what we ought to have done!’ is not easy for us to apply this model, as Jesus does, to the relationship between God and ourselves. We may find it hard to think of ourselves as a slave without thinking of the images evoked. A servant has a role, competence, and limits to their work; a slave must consider only the will of another. Jesus does not really want to enslave us but for us to consider where we notice the limits of our service. We can never boast or rest on our laurels in our search for God. There will always be new challenges opening before us. But we must also guard against taking on too much. A saint once said: ‘I will do these things in love and freedom or leave them alone.'

We may want to be generous but admit to needing and expecting appreciation. Today Jesus provides a huge dose of realism, that saves us from conceit, even of the spiritual type. The way to real humility is accepting who we are and not taking ourselves or our mistakes and achievements too seriously. Our obedience to God is a prerequisite by the very nature of who God is. Our respect and submission to God is not something to boast about or seek a reward for. Our obedience is that of a son or daughter to a loving Father. It may be possible to satisfy the claims of law but every lover knows that nothing can ever satisfy the claims of love.

At the Last Supper, Jesus did what no reasonable leader would do: he put on his apron and washed the feet of his disciples. He then told them that he did this so that they could do likewise to one another. I pray for a greater understanding of the love Jesus has for us, and of how central humble service is to our discipleship.

However, we do know that a little gratitude and recognition of work well done can raise the spirits! It is still important to find opportunities to recognise and affirm someone whose life is filled with work. Not because they necessarily expect it, and it is often those who do not expect gratitude who appreciate and deserve it the most, but because it is good to demonstrate thanks.

Today we are reminded that in following Jesus’ teaching as we live our lives, we do so without any strings attached. We do what we can to help others we meet on our way for no reason other than to help, if we can, ease their burden. Let us guard against focusing on our virtues, our good deeds, our generosity in forgiving others, our care for the vulnerable, and so on. And instead, see that God gives us the ability to do all these things so there is absolutely nothing for us to boast about.
Amen

02/10/2022

Luke 17.5–10

25/09/2022

Sermon preached at West Woody (abridged for Kintbury) based on Lazarus and the Rich Man
We all make assumptions about what we are, where we are going and how other people perceive us, and generate thoughts about other people, using educated guesses, prejudices, information that has been passed on to us, or even our ignorance. Jesus’ parables frequently challenge those assumptions aiming to adjust people’s hearts, minds, souls, and world views.

Some of us may consider that we are not that wealthy but comparing ourselves on a world scale would provide a very different answer, because all things are relative. Probably everyone in the congregation today, and in most of the UK would be in the world’s top 11% of rich people. We expect our homes, televisions, washing machines, mobile telephones, and central heating so this parable is for all of us.

We are introduced to two men, a rich man and Lazarus, a beggar. We are not told much about them including their morality, but we are given some indicators.

The rich man is very rich. He wears purple, fine linen clothes and feasts daily. Nothing leads us to think he became wealthy through dishonest means. He could have been a good businessman or simply inherited his wealth.

Lazarus, on the other hand, is a beggar who was placed at the gate of the rich man. We don’t know by whom, but possibly in the hope that the rich man or one of his visitors might show him mercy.

Lazarus longs to satisfy his hunger from what falls from the rich man’s table, but this is not happening. The dogs came to lick his sores. There is evidence from the ancient world that the saliva of dogs was considered medicinal. Usually, it was the dogs that ate the scraps underneath the table. Jesus was inferring by this little aside that the rich man saw Lazarus as lower than his dogs. Jesus reverses the assumptions and judgements of the crowd. It is not Lazarus who is lower than the dogs but the rich man, because the dogs act compassionately towards Lazarus whilst the rich man does not.

Both men die. Lazarus ascends with the angels to be with Abraham, whilst the rich man is tormented in Hell. This would have been a huge shock to Jesus’ listeners who probably believed the rich were blessed by God.

The rich man looks up to Abraham and sees Lazarus by his side. He calls for Abraham to send Lazarus to his aid, expecting Lazarus to serve him and comfort him by giving him water. Abraham is resolute. He mirrors the rich man’s inability to respond to Lazarus' predicament in life.

The rich man begs that someone be sent to his father’s home to tell his five brothers, so they do not end up in the same place. Again, Abraham refuses and says if they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets then they will not be convinced if someone rises from the dead.

Jesus is not saying that rich people (us) will all go to hell but using hyperbole to invite us to explore Christian tension within ourselves regarding our relationship with money.

Turning up on Sunday, singing hymns, reflecting on intercessions, delivering or listening to a sermon (or maybe not), sharing the bread and wine, and so forth, does not mean we are participating in building the kingdom. That requires living out our faith using our gifts, wealth, time, intellect, and practical abilities to comfort others. Do we always see and respond to Lazarus at our gates regardless of whether we think they deserve it or not?

One of the areas that I want to explore is pastoral care looking at ways the church can serve and care. But who are the Lazarus’ at our gates?

They could be anyone experiencing a period of personal, social, physical, material, mental, spiritual, or moral stress to whom we can offer consolation and support from a listening ear, access to information, or entrance to buildings that speak of prayer and stillness.

People discharged from the hospital recover at home but can miss the camaraderie and confidence building of being on a hospital ward. Being visited regularly by a friendly face can help to bridge that gap.
Young mums may find it difficult to adjust to motherhood having left their network of friends at work and who may have no family living close by.
Carers who may become isolated by the responsibilities of looking after their loved ones or who find it easier to stay at home than face the challenge of venturing out.
Those with early signs of dementia can be embarrassed and frustrated by their unpredictable memory loss and stay away from social situations where it may be noticed.
Being with people who understand the situation who do not need to be provided with explanations, and who have patience and empathy can help to diffuse some of the worries.
Those who have faced the death of a partner can struggle with being thrust into the position of having to face life as a single person.
Those who are facing gruelling treatments that can drain them of energy can sometimes feel that they are facing alone.
Care is about helping people to increase their strength and hope to rise to challenges by offering support, information, and friendship. Often it is the accumulation of several small gestures from people that can make a real difference in how a person views the position they find themselves.
If we can encourage each other to ask for and receive help without embarrassment and are willing to respond to calls for help, then we can transform our own and others' lives.
It could be as simple as stopping making eye contact and allowing space for a different response to ‘how are you. There have been times when a gentle touch on my shoulder has meant so much to me. Humour to punctuate what can otherwise feel like endless bleak rhetoric.
And we must never forget to protect the dignity of others.
I was doing a regular stint running a soup kitchen in Colchester chatting with a client who had an alcohol addiction. He had lost his job, his home and finally his family because of his addiction. Unthinkingly asked him what he had been. He straightened himself up looked me in the eyes and said ‘I am a fully qualified chartered accountant.' How right he was and how easy it is to forget that every person has a catalogue of experiences, talents, and skills, that make up who they are. No matter how frail, how confused, how physically, emotionally, or intellectually challenged. I think that is why Jesus gives Lazarus a name to give him back the respect he had lost.
God did not ask us to devote our entire wealth and life to others. God did not rebuke rich man's lavish life. God just hoped that he would at least share what fell from his table. That may have been sufficient to make Lazarus very happy.
Comforting others is not difficult but because of his ignorance, the rich man lost the opportunity to raise Lazarus'.
Do a question for all of us to ponder this week...how could we comfort someone placed at our gates?
Amen

25/09/2022

Sermon preached at Avington 10am Harvest on Ecclesiastes 3.1-8
I am often asked to include the reading from Ecclesiastes for funerals especially when the deceased had an affinity with the countryside or was a farmer. The passage describes the ever-changing seasons and cycles of life some positive, some negative. These are all points of growth with important meaning.
I have lived in rural, village communities for most of my life and have friends who are farmers. Some have field after field to be tended. I am frequently struck by the patience they demonstrate and believe they have much to teach us about faith.
Farming is a job with a lot of diversity, with responsibility for your own hours, and the freedom of working outside in the natural environment, there are also early starts, wet mornings and nights, and unusual shift patterns. A farmer’s life is not easy.
Many farmers have deep spiritual lives. They also know a great deal about the seasons of life. They recognise that there is work to do between ‘the time for planting, and the time for harvesting.
Farmers having sewn seeds do not rest through the spring and summer months hoping crops will just take root. They continue to monitor the soil, coaxing it with aeration, and searching it for weeds, and any signs of pests or worms. They wait patiently, giving time and space for the sun and the rain, hoping the seeds will grow and produce fruit. A farmer works, watches and waits.
In many ways that is what we are called to as Christian disciples. To work throughout our lives waiting patiently for the blessing of our faith to be revealed at the harvest.
But I confess to being impatient. I want to jump from planting to harvesting. I get frustrated by the thought of doing things slowly, spending time cultivating, weeding, and watering. But I do acknowledge that prayerful preparation is an important part of ministry. I have often wondered what it is like for the farmer following the harvest, when they have reaped the fruits of their hard labour, and look over their bare fields, knowing that they must start the planting cycle over again.
As Christians, we may become tired and wonder how much longer we must wait before reaching the harvest. How many more seeds and how much labour. But a good farmer has a commitment to the Harvest.
Farmers will tell you that farming is a way of life, a lifelong obligation, and not a typical job. When you farm, you become connected to the land, you invest in expensive equipment, and in the local community. Often generations of the family have farmed in the same place. And every decision on a farm is done with the harvest in mind.
As disciples, we are called to a lifelong commitment played out in everyday small acts of care. Discipleship is a lifelong commitment, unrelenting hard work but with brief exquisite and glorious moments of harvest.
Discipleship like farming is risky work. In church and in our personal lives things can happen that can make us lose spiritual traction like a change in the weather conditions can destroy a crop or prevent a crop from taking root.
This year many crops of fruit and vegetables were destroyed by the heatwave.
This year there has been a shortage of workers and an estimated 500,000 vacancies across food and drink businesses.
2022 saw the first ever mass cull of healthy pigs in the UK because of a shortage of abattoir workers.
A shortage of seasonal workers has resulted in fruit and veg being left unpicked in fields,
A shortage of lorry drivers led to a limited choice of products on supermarket shelves.
Sometimes we may look at our own lives and all the effort that we put into producing a spiritual harvest and are disappointed by what appears to be so little progress, and we note the risks and challenges that we must overcome.
The farmer looks at his failed crop as a physical reminder that the harvest unavoidably belongs to God. The farmer must be faithful to lay the groundwork for the harvest, but the harvest cannot be forced; it can only happen because of God’s provision.
Our lives, like the farmer’s, are ever-changing seasons and cycles of life; and all the emotions and actions that we experience through life, positive or negative are points of growth in learning to trust God.
To grow in faith, we seek ways to tend to our relationship with God, by studying the Bible, drawing near to God in prayer, gathering to worship as the body of Christ, and encouraging each other when we become weak.
We are in the season of ordinary time in church and the liturgical colour is Green a colour. Green represents nature, growth, life, and hope. It is a time of transformation. About the gradual growth that happens in our lives and by which we become more and more like Jesus Christ.
During Ordinary times we are given the opportunity to examine our lives in the light of the Gospel. The more we reflect on the gospels, the more the teaching and example of Jesus Christ should inspire us to act, to transform lives including our own.
Every season belongs to God. But we can control how we live in whatever season God brings along. Planting by investing our time and work and energy in whatever opportunity God gives us for the future. Then like good farmers we will have something to “uproot” at the harvest.
If we don’t give up, one day we will enjoy the final harvest and its bountiful rewards. But unlike for the farmers this harvest is absolutely guaranteed. Amen

18/09/2022

Address: Rev Annette Shannon for the Commemorative Service for Queen Elizabeth II in Combe 11.15 (shortened and adapted for Kintbury 9.45am) based on Revelations 21:1-7

So many messages have been written, read, heard, and delivered about the Queen that it is difficult to find fresh words for this occasion. We are all only too aware of how privileged we were to have had such a patient, humble, selfless Queen for over 70 years. So I want to talk about loss, to try and reframe it as the nation grieves on the eve of her funeral tomorrow.
It is strange that although death is a natural part of life somehow when it occurs it can still seem so unnatural and unexpected. We all knew that the Queen was becoming frail and yet so many of us couldn’t quite believe the news that she had died.
Maybe it is because death is so painful that we try and deny it. It is uncomfortable because it marks the permanent separation from life here on earth and the end of valued relationships. Every culture has its own way of responding to that vacuum of loss and providing a context to work through it. People sometimes struggle to process their grief feeling disorientated. It is why I am so uncomfortable about the rise in the number of people selecting the direct cremation route. People sometimes struggle to process their grief feeling disorientated.
We have seen so many flowers, books of condolences, Paddington Bears, and even marmalade sandwiches appear as people feel compelled to express their grief. Commemorative, thanksgiving, and funeral services provide a framework to encourage the process of healing. So today on the eve of her late Majesty's funeral we meet for a commemorative service to reflect on our own sadness at her passing, but also to mark this as a special time.
Unfortunately, our culture has left us with some frightening images of death, ‘the grim reaper’, ‘the chilly hand of death, and ‘the spectre in the night.' It is hardly surprising that for some it remains the last enemy. But I have a precious memory of a member of my ministry team. She was seriously ill with cancer and shared with me that she no longer feared death but had reframed it. Death was now a comforting friend who would come to lift her out of this world if it all became too much. I hope that is how the Queen greeted death.
My beloved father-in-law on his deathbed spoke about his interest in discovering the answer to the questions we all want to know...where do we go after death? And what is it like?
Whilst we who are left behind may mourn her passing for the Queen, death marked the end of all the cares of this world, the end of any suffering, the end of any fear of death, the end of the worldly temptations that could mar her life. And the beginning of rest, of a new more abundant life, of a time of restoration when all the potential within her was revealed, and of being in heaven with the God who gave her the gift of life and who loves her unconditionally.
The book of Revelation provides glimpses of vivid metaphors and imagery of what heaven may be like. But human language cannot really do justice to the magnificence of heaven. HS. Galileo wrote, “The intention of the Holy Spirit is to teach us how one goes to heaven and not how heaven goes”? Queen Elizabeth listened well to the Holy Spirit, and I am confident that she knew that heaven was her destiny.
I like to believe that heaven will surpass any expectations that we may hold. Whilst Jerusalem, particularly in today’s world, is an unlikely model to use for heaven, it symbolises how God can transform human existence into something new and wonderful.
We are so fortunate to have benefited from Queen Elizabeth’s reign and her constant and faithful presence and the images of her beautiful smile. We still have so much to learn from how she lived out her Christian faith. She was a precious, wise, and fearless monarch who cared about people not only in her country and commonwealth but across the globe. She was meticulous in her preparation before meeting anyone showing how much she valued them, and she strove to put people at their ease. The tangible effect of her death on so many is testimony to the love we felt for her.
Her mind was sharp, but we knew that her body was becoming weaker, so it is good to know that she is now restored to her full glory by God.
The Queen was not one for sentimentality. She was far too stoic and practical, drawing on her faith to guide her through the challenges she met in her life. One of her many comments on faith was,
“Throughout my life, the message and teachings of Christ have been my guide and in them, I find my hope.”
I imagine she would be encouraging us, following her funeral tomorrow, to dry our tears and allow that hope in eternal life brought for us by Christ and the knowledge of that special place in eternity, to still our souls and to support her son who has the difficult task of following her.
In time we will be able to share in the experience of that incredible truth of eternity but for now, we are left to live out our lives enriched with precious memories.
St Augustine wrote, ‘Our heart does not rest until it rests in God.' May you rest in peace now Ma’am. Thank you. Amen

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