In a previous Plug-in, we highlighted the importance of Queen Elizabeth II’s Christian faith in her life.
The 96-year-old monarch’s funeral rites certainly reflected that.
The Guardian’s Harriet Sherwood explains:
The powerful liturgy and rituals of the Church of England – the established church since the 16th century but increasingly marginalised in everyday life – were at the heart of a ceremony watched by billions around the world.
The Queen’s funeral took place under the magnificent gothic arches of Westminster Abbey, the setting for every coronation since 1066, home to the tombs of kings and queens, and the church where the then Princess Elizabeth was married in 1947.
The service was taken from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, the C of E’s official prayerbook, noted for its beautiful and archaic language but largely displaced in recent decades by those seeking a more modern style of worship.
The Queen was said to be devoted to the Book of Common Prayer, along with the hymns and readings chosen personally by the monarch for her funeral.
The Washington Times’ Mark A. Kellner offers additional details:
“Few leaders have received the outpouring of love we have seen,” Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said during the state funeral. “Her Late Majesty’s example was not set through her position or her ambition, but through whom she followed.”
Archbishop Welby said the queen, who reigned for 70 years and celebrated her Platinum Jubilee in June, modeled the servant leadership expressed in the life of Jesus, her savior.
“People of loving service are rare in any walk of life,” he said. “Leaders of loving service are still rarer. But in all cases, those who serve will be loved and remembered when those who cling to power and privileges are long forgotten.”
At the National Catholic Register, Father Raymond J. de Souza characterizes the queen’s state funeral this way:
It was the grandest state funeral in history for history’s longest-serving monarch.
First and last, though, it was a Christian funeral.
The Church of England rendered a signal service to all Christians in providing a model for how funerals ought to be conducted, in a time when both sacred and civic funeral liturgies have become rather emaciated.
The music at this grandest of Elizabeth’s funeral rites “was inspired by her ‘unwavering Christian faith,’” according to ABC News’ Jon Haworth.
In his national “On Religion” column for the Universal syndicate, Terry Mattingly provided more theological insights on “The last rites for Elizabeth II.”
While not directly related to the funeral rites, a story by the BBC’s Aleem Maqbool notes that the queen’s Christian faith went beyond duty:
Almost every aspect of official ceremony surrounding the death of the Queen has been steeped in religious significance.
But accounts from those close to Elizabeth II emphatically suggest that to her, faith went far beyond protocol and duty.
It shaped and guided her throughout her life in a way the public only started to appreciate later in her reign.
"I think there have been only two Sundays since I've been here - apart from Covid times - that she didn't come to church," says Kenneth MacKenzie, who for 15 years was domestic chaplain to the Queen when she was at Balmoral.
In the months each year the late Queen was in Scotland, she would attend the little parish church of Crathie Kirk where she would sit in a pew to one side, upholstered in purple velvet.
While one of her constitutional titles was Supreme Governor of the Church of England, this church she attended so regularly was Presbyterian.
Finally, check out these related stories:
• U.S. leaders honor queen in D.C. as official mourning moves stateside (by Michelle Boorstein, Washington Post)
• King Charles is interpreting ‘Defender of the Faith’ for a new Britain (by Catherine Pepinster, Religion News Service)
• The queen and the King of Kings (by Erik Tryggestad, Christian Chronicle)
• Westminster Abbey has witnessed nearly a millennium of British history — but many rituals, like those at royal funerals, aren’t so old (by Paul Hammer, The Conversation)
• Elizabeth II mourned in England amid decline of church (by Frank E. Lockwood, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
If you missed it, our earlier Plug-in detailed “5 facts about religion in the life of Queen Elizabeth II, who served Jesus her king.”
Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads
1. At Gracepoint Ministries, ‘whole-life discipleship’ took its toll: “As the predominantly Asian American church network expands to dozens of college towns, former members come forward with claims of spiritual abuse,” Curtis Yee reports for Christianity Today.
In a statement issued in response to the CT story, senior pastor Ed Kang said, “The incidents reported are not characteristic of our ministry and do not represent approved practices by our church.”
Coincidentally, Thursday brought a different negative story about Gracepoint from Wired’s Dhruv Mehrotra. The headline: “The ungodly surveillance of anti-porn ‘shameware’ apps.”
CONTINUE READING: “As Billions Watched Queen Elizabeth II's Funeral, Christian Themes Were Evident” by Bobby Ross, Jr., at Religion Unplugged.