In Memoriam: Queen Elizabeth II
admin | 9 September 2022In Memoriam: Queen Elizabeth II
Our parish in its history and life has existed under the reign of nine monarchs over its 251 year history since its founding in 1771 during the reign of George the Third. He provided through the auspices of the Archbishop of Canterbury gifts of “two sets of [silver] communion plate” which we use on High Feast days such as Christmas and Easter. They arrived in 1790 before the original Christ Church building was completed. Some of the silver dates to 1729. But in that long history of the Parish under monarchical rule and governance, the longest reigns were those of Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth who together constituted 134 years out of 251. The longest reigning monarch in English history and the history of the Commonwealth was Elizabeth II whose platinum jubilee (70 years!) was observed in Windsor at King’s-Edgehill School last spring and remembered in our prayers at Christ Church.
Elizabeth II embodied the very model of steadfastness and devotion to duty for which we can only be thankful. Her remarkable reign was testament not to the power of dominion and domination, of force and coercion, but to the power of duty and service in and through the changes and challenges of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century. She was a figure of unity in divided times.
Her passing marks the beginning now of the reign of the tenth monarch, Charles III. God save the King. We remember Elizabeth II with gratitude and thanksgiving for her long reign of devotion and duty and commend her soul to God’s gracious keeping.
O God, the King of Glory, who raises up Kings and Queens as the instruments of your justice and mercy, we give thanks to you for the seventy years of faithful, compassionate, and dedicated service of Elizabeth II, Queen of England, of the Commonwealth of Nations, and of this country Canada, for her witness to truth and order, to peace and good government and the flourishing of all who are under her reign, and we beseech your grace and mercy upon her soul at this time of her passing at age 96, ever mindful that the hearts and souls of Kings and Queens are ever in your sight to the praise and glory of your Name and for the good of your church and people; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Fr. David Curry
Friday, September 9th, 2022
