Dear Friends,

Welcome to worship for Sunday, September 11, 2022. News came Thursday that Queen Elizabeth II had died at the age of 96 after 70 years as monarch. Long live the King. Listening to the round the clock news that followed it occurred to me that King Charles has inherited much, just as Queen Elizabeth had done. Needless, to say he inherits titles and responsibilities. He immediately ceased to be Prince of Wales. He immediately became Duke of Lancashire and Duke of Cornwall which apparently affects how his estate and income functions. Similar honours were bestowed upon Elizabeth the night she went to sleep a princess and awoke a queen in 1952. Royals inherit much in ways none of us can understand. But Elizabeth also inherited a tremendous amount of responsibility during a time of tremendous social change.

Not only was Great Britain still recovering from the effects of World War 2 (as they would for a generation or more) but the winds of change were blowing through the British Empire she had inherited. It was becoming increasingly obvious that independence movements in former British colonies were inevitable, and desirable as well. A ‘crowning’ achievement of Elizabeth’s reign was the relatively peaceful transformation of the British Empire into the Commonwealth of Nations. Such a dismantling of centralized power could have been catastrophic. I was recently reading about the life of the recently deceased Mikhail Gorbachev and how the sudden dissolution of the Soviet Union (also a moral necessity) was chaotic and the cause of immense suffering. But in so small part due to the grace and wisdom of Queen Elizabeth, the Commonwealth came into being in a manner that recognized the past and yet looked to a new future with hope. Above all, Elizabeth inherited a tradition, and it became her life’s work to protect and preserve that tradition, while simultaneously being the steward of that tradition’s evolution and change.

It’s a delicate balance. Some resist change while others want to see it come much faster. Still others would see the whole thing abolished. The humility and dignity, the wisdom and the integrity of Elizabeth the 2nd helped her maintain that balance for seventy years. I think governance is always complicated and so I am very thankful for her reign. There is a parallel between this last inheritance and the church. Surely, we receive an inheritance that is ours to steward through the ever-changing times.

There is always a balance in mission and ministry between honouring the past and discerning the Spirit’s movement in the present. Or as a line from a familiar hymn says, “The Church of Christ in every age/ beset by change but Spirit led/ must claim and test it’s heritage/ and keep on rising from the dead.” Baptism is one of the best examples of this. The sacrament is an inherited tradition. It has come to us from scripture, the life of the early church, the Protestant Reformation, the founding doctrines of the United Church of Canada, and the earlier generations of Charleswood United. We have received it as a gift. Yet, it is ours to share in ways that we believe are consistent with what God is saying to the church today. It is why I always seek to stress in baptism that we are not merely welcoming a new member into this congregation or celebrating the arrival of new life in a family, we are welcoming someone who God loves into the body of Christ, the church universal, the great cloud of witnesses.

There is mystery in baptism which warrants our awe. I’m sure there will be much speculation about what comes next for the Royal family and the institution of the monarchy. There always is. But I hope and pray that in such discussions there will be memory of a queen who exemplified grace, service and humility. Queen Elizabeth II seemed to embody the best of a past that should not be forgotten. She inherited much. But she left us an even greater inheritance.

Grace and peace,

Michael