Hello and thank you so much for downloading this episode of the Speak Life Podcast. My name is Thomas Thorogood, media producer at Speak Life, and today Glenn Scrivener, Nate Morganlock, and Paul Feasy from Speak Life reflect on the life and death of Queen Elizabeth II. So I will hand straight over to the three of them.
SPEAKER_05Well, hello and welcome to the Speakeasy. My name is Paul Feesey, and as always, I'm joined by I'm Glenn Scrivener. I'm Nate Moore, good luck. And today we're reflecting on the events of the last few days. I imagine pretty much everyone watching this by now will have seen the news that Queen Elizabeth II has passed away, and it's uh it's a massive moment really for um the UK and I guess other people other places around the world as well. Um the longest reigning monarch of the UK, I think the oldest monarch as well, the longest living monarch um ever uh for uh the UK as well. And it feels like a uh a big thing for a lot for a lot of people. There's been um obviously lots of coverage of it over the last few days, um and lots of people reacting to it. Um maybe people as well reacting in ways they were a bit surprised about how they reacted to it. Um what were your sort of reactions when you heard about the Queen's passing on Thursday?
SPEAKER_03I guess it it shouldn't have shocked any of us. Um and yet it was kind of shocking, wasn't it? When you when you started to think, you know, that she's the only queen we've known. Um, you know, me growing up in Australia, but what are they fifty different Commonwealth countries as well, for whom you know she has been our queen for 70 years. You've got to be long into your 70s to have remembered any other queen other than her. And so just the the idea of speaking about the Elizabethan age in the past tense is just horrendous, really. It's it's kind of shocking because she she kind of embodies the people and she embodied an age, and to think that's gone, and we're not getting that back. Um, as well as the there's the personal loss and the tragedy of of the queen herself passing, but but also that that sense of we are now in a new age, and I'm not ready for that. So it's quite shocking, really.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I my reflections, I think in a way I've been preparing myself for several years. So I remember when we left the UK to move to the States for a time, I was thinking, well, you know, this is only in 2017, and I was thinking, you know, will Queen Elizabeth II still be the monarch when we get back? And sort of was thinking, oh, it's gonna be a big change, everything. So I in a way I've been quite consciously trying to prepare myself for the fact that this is gonna be it's inevitable. And yet, as you say, when it when it was announced that she died, you did sort of think I had also had this sneaking suspicion or hope that she was eternal, that she would reign forever, because she has always reigned, as you say, like she's the only monarch I've ever known. Um and yeah, it I've I've found myself each day since there is a certain point into the morning, whether it's five minutes in or an hour in, when I suddenly just go, the queen died. And that's that's been a daily event so far that it's just sort of taken a moment to sort of come to terms with.
SPEAKER_03Which is what grief is like, isn't it? You know, you constantly forget and then remember, and you hate the the fact that you remembered. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I mean I think uh much like you guys, it is a feeling of kind of you know, surprise. I think there was I'd always kind of assumed we'd hear that the Queen is she's unwell, there's going to be a decline over a few weeks. And of course we know that she'd been pairing things back, but there wasn't really a sense, at least not publicly, that she was right at the end. And of course there were photos of her just in the days before having met with Liz Truss and um, you know, obviously an aging lady, but seemingly in good spirits with it. Um and of course, really it felt like to us in an afternoon she'd gone. And and again it's that sense of only I've only ever known the queen as the monarch. I can't, you know, it was very strange to read, you know, that the king was by her side, and you think, oh they who are they talking about? You go King Charles, right? Charles is the king. And I I saw a statistic that said something like, you know, nine out of ten people in the UK have only ever known the Queen, which is phenomenal, yeah, really. Yeah. Um so it's a massive sort of it is a massive upheaval. And a bit like yourself, Nate, I think that you know, I I think back to the 60th Jubilee kind of celebrations, and there was a sense then of saying, I doubt we'll see another Jubilee, yeah, you know. And yet you she got to 70, and there was a kind of feeling of, is she just gonna live forever? You know, like it does feel like she's just gonna go on and on. So yeah, and and I think people have been surprised, you know. I I I felt a little bit sort of, you know, a little bit emotional about it, you know. Um, but I've seen comments from people online as well who who themselves would say they they weren't kind of people who were particularly pro the monarchy, and they themselves were feeling shaken by the events of the last few days. Yeah. Um so obviously it's it's been an incredible response from the nation and around the world. It'd be interesting though to talk a little bit about sort of the church's response and how we respond, maybe as Christians. Um I mean, Glenn, you I mean, lots of people have been kind of speaking this weekend, preaching this weekend, many of us in church. You were actually preaching, weren't you? Um I think your talk you gave is now online for people to it's on the channel, on the YouTube channel. I mean, tell us a bit about how you kind of approached that.
SPEAKER_03Well, it was amazing that um 1 Corinthians 15 had been set as the passage for this Sunday months ago. And um as early as sort of Monday in the week, I was thinking, why is this passage assigned? Because it actually wasn't part of a One Corinthians series, and it wasn't part of a Creed series, it wasn't part of any other series. It was just we had a spare Sunday in between two other series, and Mark Al Vicker just assigned 1 Corinthians 15 about the resurrection and about Christ the second Adam. And I was like, well, okay, it's a it's a it's a long chapter, it's an involved chapter, I'll I'll have some thoughts. And then the Queen died on on Thursday, and I was and the more I thought about it, the more appropriate it sort of became not only because of this discussion of resurrection and and how death is swallowed up in victory uh with the Lord Jesus, but also the Adam and Christ story as the story of two rulers, these two sovereigns who embody their realms and embody an age. And actually, it just became more and more um apt, actually. The the more I thought about it, the more I thought about uh Queen Elizabeth and especially this this quote from C. S. Lewis really helped me. We can get this uh up on the screen. During the coronation in 1953, C. C. S. Lewis wrote to a friend in America, and he said, You know, over here people did not get that fairy tale feeling about the coronation. What impressed most who saw it was the fact that the Queen herself appeared to be quite overwhelmed by the sacramental side of it. Hence, in the spectators, a feeling of one hardly knows how to describe it, or pity, pathos, mystery. The pressing of that huge, heavy crown on that small young head becomes a sort of symbol of the situation of humanity itself. Humanity called by God to be his five vice regent and high priest on earth, his deputy and his go-between on earth, yet feeling so inadequate, as if he said, In my inexorable love I shall lay upon the dust that you are, glories and dangers and responsibilities beyond your understanding. One has missed the whole point unless one feels that we have all been crowned, and that coronation is somehow, if splendid, a tragic splendor. And that sense that as the queen is being crowned, she is representing us, and she's representing humanity with our weakness and our frailty, and yet somehow bestowed by God the responsibility to rule and to serve. Um, that sense of the queen kind of being an Adam figure really it helps me to understand 1 Corinthians 15, um, in which Adam defines a people and defines an age and yet he dies and how confronting that is. But it also helped me to understand this moment in which Elizabeth and her death means far more to us than a celebrity dying or a politician dying, because she represents us. She is she's a ruler who sums up the people in a way that an elected official can't really. An elected official kind of plays a a role in an institution and they come and go. But the queen is the institution and the queen is dead. And I think that that started to help me process, you know, why why does she mean so much to us? Why why is her death so confronting? Because she is us, really.
SPEAKER_05And I guess the even even though you might kind of say, well, surely an elected politician is definitely the uh the the person of the people, but of course it's very partisan. And of course, as a royal, you are to stand outside of party and policy, really, aren't you? Right. So that you are in uh in to represent all people, regardless of whether you are conservative, labour, green, whatever you might be, your political stripes and colours. Yes. There is supposed to be something about that. You know, whether that is how it all works out, yeah, you know, we can all quibble about those things. There is supposed to be this bigger idea there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And that that a a politician has a set of policies and has an ideology or a view of the world, a thing that they're trying to get done. They're an activist in a sense. Yeah. They've got the there's a vision for the future, and can they convince enough people that their vision is better than everyone else's vision, and so put me in into the position of power, and I will, you know, arrange things, manage things, and organise things. There's something, and I I was in the congregation on Sunday listening to the sermon, and what I loved was how you you you helped us to see that the there is a person living their life who is the monarch, and they live their life, and they uh have you know, she had children, right? She had a wedding, yeah, she's now having a funeral, and these are things that that politicians, of course, they do them too, but that's not why we don't p pick a politician to live a kind of representative life. And yet, so for so many of us who've lived um in the United Kingdom and in the Commonwealth over the last 70 years, we've watched her family grow and go through these, you know, tricky times and and and happy times at the same time as we've watched our own families grow. And so there is a kind of reflection of the life lived, yeah, which is being kind of portrayed in the monarchy, which is intuitive.
SPEAKER_03Which I think is counterintuitive because you just think, well, the royals they're just so distant from us, they're far richer than us, they're far more privileged than us, you know, their their day-to-day existence is so different from our day-to-day existence. But there's another sense in which they're just so close to us because you know, we were there at the royal birth, we were there at the royal wedding, and and therefore we are there at the royal funeral as well, which I think is is is again why it's going to be so confronting on Monday to see the queen you know laid to rest. And and and I think it'll it'll provoke all sorts of personal grief about people that we have lost. But but I think at an even more profound level, it's if she represents us, we are being confronted with our mortality in a way that's just really uncomfortable for us. And I'm not sure, I'm not sure as a society we we know how to face death at all, you know.
SPEAKER_05No, I saw an interesting Facebook post from uh Billy Bragg talking about it, and he was kind of you know, quite a long post, but just saying how actually for him, like and his parents were almost the same sort of age as the Queen, and so as she went through her life, they were at the same life stages, and although his parents had passed away with the Queen passing, there's a sense of all that their generation, you know, clung to and stood for passing away as well. Um, and you know, of course, other people saying, you know, oh it reminded me as she passed, it reminds me of my my grandparents, whatever. You know, I I myself in these last few days have been thinking to myself, oh you know, my grandparents, um, you know, three of my four grandparents have passed away, and I can I think to myself, they would have you know, they they would have loved to have seen this moment in the sense that they they had such respect for the queen, you know, that they spoke of her so funny. I mean, Christmas Day was you know, three o'clock, you sit down to watch the Queen's speech, and that and that was what we did, you know, and there was such a kind of deference to her. Um, so you can see why it dredges up these emotions in people. Um, so yeah, I mean it's it's a kind of fascinating thing to behold. Like you say, when we come to Monday, that'll be uh interesting to see how that unfolds, I think.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Do you think there'll be much backlash? Will it will it happen before the funeral? I mean, that there have been a number of tweets, and people said mean things about the Queen, and I hope she dies in pain because of the horrors of colonialism, which seems bizarre to me because you know no one has presided over more decolonization than Elizabeth II. Um so there I mean there have been one or two you know hecklers as the as the coffin is sort of processed among people, um, but by and large, um people have just been so um so positive about certainly Queen Elizabeth II's um but will there will there be more kind of calls for republicanism now that she's gone? We're we're less we're less sure about Charles II, Charles III.
SPEAKER_02So I I think that it's a very good point. I mean, you know, I remember you asking me a long time ago, you know, do you are you a monarchist? Now it was like I believe in Queen Elizabeth II. Very much a fan of hers.
SPEAKER_03And it's actually the first question I ask people. Do you trust in Jesus?
SPEAKER_02Um and I think with one of the things that that has come through for the Queen, you know, getting to 96, dying after 70 years of of reigning, is there is a sense in which living through without scandal. Now I obviously don't mean there's been no scandal in the in the royal family. There have clearly been lots of scandals over the years with the royal family and throughout history as well. However, Elizabeth lived in in a way dealing with the scandal. She shrewd in the way that certain things were allowed or not allowed, even within her own jubilee earlier in the year. Um you you get that sense that she has been a faithful presence in her role and someone who took her duty very, very, very seriously and who remained faithful to her calling as the queen, as the monarch, until the end. And literally so that she could oversee you know Liz Truss becoming the or get rid of Boris. That's the other interpretation. Yeah. And and that sense that she's been there, she's you know, 15 prime ministers through her her reign, from from Winston Churchill to Liz Tross. That's a sentence. You know, I I mean it it it in some ways Liz Tross, I don't think I've ever seen someone take on a role in which more people are convinced that she will not be able to do it and she'll be an absolute disaster.
SPEAKER_03It reminded me somewhat of um Donald Trump holding the Bible in front of that church in Washington, DC. Liz Truss trying to curtsy. But it would take up Donald Trump.
SPEAKER_02I'm hoping Liz Truss is going to be on some fantastic character arc in which through the you know next coming you know, months and whatever it is, she forms into this incredibly um stateswoman like that. She just she just takes on the role and she's able to do. Pray for the Prime Minister, right? You know, never needed to praise like, don't mess this up, sort of thing. And all that sort of ceremony and pageantry and and stuff around her, you've sort of seen that. But yet the queen was the the person who was effortless in all of that sense of occasion, sense of state. She was unruffled, right? She she seemed to deal with everything in a stride, like a swan, you know, just serenely going through, never kind of with an outburst, never with some sort of great public statement, just reading the movie, and just providing a constant and a and a presence which was sure for so many people. And that I think is the question mark that comes up with Charles, because of course there has been, you know, there's all the sorts of stuff that you know with his marriage with Diana. Um people have taken a long time to you know come round to to Camilla as queen consort. I think they now have it feels as though he's back on a sort of an level even keel, and yet we're also aware of an activism of concerns that he has. He's you know very concerned about the environment and uh lots of other issues as well. So there is a sense in which the monarchy is the only monarchy we know is the reign of Elizabeth. The Elizabethan monarchy is all we have real experience of. And so the the reign of Charles, you know, there's an awful lot of people who are thinking, oh, now's the chance.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, we don't know quite quite know what he's gonna be like as king, and they've been saying that a lot in the coverage, haven't they? It's now time for Charles to display what type of king he will be, because we assume that what we've seen, this is what it means to be royal. Yeah, but of course, it may be that there are many other ways of being royal that we might like or we might not like. Um I mean I think you're right there about the queen's character. I mean, it's certainly been noted before that although there has been scandal in her family, she herself has generally risen above it from a personal point of view. You know, I met someone had written and said, you know, in all the times they'd worked with the queen, they'd never once seen her sort of get angry and raise her voice and lose her temper with people, um, at least not sort of in any form of outside of the family kind of public space um or anything like that. And I think she st she stood, hasn't she, therefore I think as well, there's never been a sense of sort of um lauding it, kind of grasping power, um, which I think that's something that makes us quite distinctive from other leaders, because when you compare it to sort of political leaders who are kind of scrabbling to be top dog, often kind of it's a dog-eat dog thing, it's you know, let's get one over on this person, how can we get forward in this? She has always it's always been noted that she's very much been a servant kind of queen, yeah. That she does see it as her role to serve the people in the position she's got. And I think you said to me uh uh before, Nate, that and maybe it's you know, maybe there's a sense because her role is it's not dependent on being voted in, yeah, she doesn't feel that need to constantly be like on top dog. She's she's comfortable in the role, she was comfortable in the role of being the servant.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, um, and that's what makes us more comfortable with her being queen is that the role was thrust on her too. She wasn't just one who was thrust on us, but the crown was thrust on her in uh in a remarkable way. She wasn't expecting, you know, there was the abdication, and then her father died earlier than she was expecting, and then all of a sudden the 25-year-old has the throne, and that sense of, well, she is shouldering the burden and serving in this. And it makes it makes it far easier to sort of bow the knee to one who themselves is stooping for you. Yeah. Which, you know, there are all sorts of Christian resonances there.
SPEAKER_05And that's so, and I think as well, we forget how because we've only ever known Elizabeth, that's such an unusual thing. Because even if I mean Charles is obviously the is he the oldest king to come to the throne, they say oldest monarch. Right. Um, but even if Charles does sort of 20 years, I mean he's clearly got good genes, you know, good medical plan as well, I'm sure. You know, you know, if he does 20 years, William will become king at about sixty, which is still quite old, really, compared to Elizabeth. So she's such an unusual case, like to come to the throne at such a young age. Yeah. I mean, obviously we there have been times in British history, you know, back you know, much further back, but it it's not likely to be something we will see again in our lifetimes. No. A young king coming to the throne or young queen at all.
SPEAKER_03And what what do we say to those people who who are like, well, it's just a tremendous waste of money, isn't it? To to spend all this money on the pageantry and the pomp and the ceremony.
SPEAKER_02I'd say whose face is on the money.
SPEAKER_03That's what I'd say. It's very Christ like. Whose image is this?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Um I think we'll use these pound coins to pay for her funeral. Okay. Um well, I don't know if they can get the pound coins or not, but um I think won't be changed with it, but economically with Nate Morgan luck. Yeah. But yeah, there is um I think the the the cost I d one of the things I hate is when things are w reduced purely to their economic value. Um and that feels to me like a way to to diminish any other aspects of what is significant and important in life. Um and there is a you know there is a there is absolutely a r a right place for uh frugality which the queen was known for having a single bar electric heater that she sort of kept with her and top of where containers because she hasted wasting things. So we're not talking about someone who was you know lavish and and and constantly sort of um throwing their money around um but there was something about the very sense of the nation like well what else would a nation spend its money on? Right. Um well coming together to acknowledge its mortality and in a way You're talking about the funeral now in particular. Yeah, sorry, the funeral in particular rather than monarchy in general. I think there's culturally, we do not like to address death. We don't like to to deal with it, we operate as though it we can we can get beyond it with human means and enough skill and dexterity. COVID was something that that presented death into the cultural conversation in a way that had not been done for a generation. We actually now have a national funeral, a state funeral through which could potentially become a kind of lightning rod for the fears around death, the the anxiety around our own mortality to come to a sort of head, to have a kind of ceremonial point at which we all sort of acknowledge not just the death of an individual lady, but a national death, and this period that we're currently in of national mourning feels like an incredible opportunity for a culture and a society which which does not like to address death to really reflect upon who we are and and and our vulnerability. And um it it's strange that the Lord has has brought those things about in that particular way, you know. Um she didn't die in the middle of COVID. She didn't, you know, we have of course we had had uh Philip Phillips Phillips' funeral as well. That's a very interesting set of of circumstances for the nation to find itself in. Yeah. And yeah, and and what a what a gift in a way um to be able to to come together and to and to mourn.
SPEAKER_00This conversation went out live on our YouTube channel. You can watch it and all our other conversations at youtube.com forward slash speaklifemedia. We're on the other social media platforms, just search for SpeakLife UK. That will keep you posted. And why not join us when we next go live? You can also email comments and questions to info at speaklife.org.uk.
SPEAKER_05SpeakLife is supported internally by the generosity of people like you, especially through your prayers. If you'd like to contribute financially, regular or one-off donations are much appreciated, and you can do that at speaklife.org.uk forward slash give. If you're a regular giver, you can request access to our Discord server where you can join us for more conversation and exclusive behind the scenes content. Let's get back to the podcast. Like even in its most basic form, or you or you could have a handful of people there, or that you know, at the beginning there was cases of people not being able to go to the funeral of their own children, you know, like 15-year-old who died, and you know, it it was that extreme. And you see, there is something in this in having a funeral. Now you want to uh you might want to ask questions around what that looks like, you know. I mean I mean the thing that a lot of people are you know, a big thing at the moment is people saying cost of living's going up, energy crisis, food banks, and all these kind of things, and we're gonna spend however much money on this thing, you know, this state funeral. Um but you know, it it took me back to a tweet I'd seen a while ago um where someone was just comparing the changes in design of things, you know. Um and the one that really stuck out was just like uh telephone boxes. So, you know, you've got your classic London telephone box with the red, you know, the red design, we can all picture it straight away, or you've got your BT telephone box, yeah. So nothing's a good one. Functionally, yeah, functionally they achieve exactly the same thing, but of course, one is much more expensive to produce the red one, and it has an aesthetic quality to it. The BT one is this kind of drab, horrible looking thing, really. Now, if everything is just economics, well, we just make a load of BT phone boxes like that, but there is something about these things which are beautiful and crafted, and they you know, examples of all kinds of things architecture. Do you just make a block of flats to fit in as many square feet of flats as you can, or is it has it got beauty and something to it? And I think there's something about that in the pageantry of of the these processions, you know. As we you know, you you you watch these guys over the last few days standing there in these garbs, trumpets, and you know, the embroidery, and there's clearly masses of money has gone into that at some point over the years. Um and and I can understand what people are saying, you know, about the f the financial side, but I wonder whether there is something more to those things, like they there is they are similar to something. I I I I don't quite know personally. I think if you get rid of those things, you will lose something. You know, if we just said the Queen has died, she was just gonna have a very basic funeral, none of that. I I think they would lose something. I think there is something in you know, seeing all those soldiers marching together kind of up at um Holyroot Castle, you know, in their in their outfits, and you know, you think that there's something in this. I can't put my finger on it, but there's something about the the the display here as well.
SPEAKER_02It's not yeah, I can't quite put my finger on it, but I think there is something I absolutely think we you know let's talk about the the cost issue and and and a sense of pageantry and and all that sort of stuff. But there is actually just this is all is different for us because it's it's morning and it's it's solemn and solemnity actually we are having Remembrance Sunday each year is an is hopefully people have some resonance of that. Um there is there is something actually about being in those grand buildings, you know, grand grand churches, which of course we'll all see you know inside Westminster Abbey um on Monday. And and it being quiet and having you know lots of people in mourning dress, wearing black, and and the weight of that, the gravity of that aesthetic, which isn't cheap, you know, and it's not sort of a bunch of people just turning up wearing whatever they like. It's got some weight and dignity to it, which is appropriate for those who are a quintessence of dust, those who are the made a little lower than the angels and and you know reigning over the animals. That the humanity itself, exactly as that Lewis quote comes in to say, is is the blessed dust and is has is a vice regent and has you know dignity and vulnerability built into it. And that it is something that culturally we're just terrible at doing because we just want to hit the make it a celebration button. Let's have a celebration of the Queen's life. Right, right.
SPEAKER_03And so many funerals are like that. And and people give their advice to their loved ones and they and they think they're doing them a favour. No one wear black at my funeral, right? And and they make them swear, no one wear black. And it does them, it does the rest of the family a great disservice. And it's they need to be sad.
SPEAKER_02And we've got to say, we I think we want to say, as you know, I think churches want to be able to say, bring your grief. We we we have have ways of dealing with this. We have hope in the face of death, we have we have a recognition of death that so many other things will not have, and the sort of the alternative options that they will give you will not have not stood the test of time and will not satisfy in the same way. So I do think that you know, and an established church, the Church of England has an opportunity, and she had faith, she knew her Redeemer lived, and so you know the the the spiritual potential for the proclamation of the gospel on Monday afternoon is just it is incredible.
SPEAKER_03Because the context of proclaiming my redeemer lives is death, and the problem with our modern society is that we don't see death at all. You know, grandma dies out of sight, out of mind, and gets rushed away and gets prepared. And and even if there is an open casket, you know, so often people say, Oh, she's never looked, she's never looked so good, you know, put on little lights and made to look pink and and and alive. And then quite often the the the burial or the committal or the the cremation happens off to one side, and certainly you know, death happens off to one side, and the public consciousness of death doesn't happen. Last year I got to talk to um uh John Bear, who's a patristics expert, a theologian, orthodox priest, and he says that the number one barrier to preaching the gospel today is that nobody sees death, and nobody, you know, it's nobody sees their need for resurrection because we kind of think we'll live forever. Um and here we are within ten days of mourning, and we're actually forced to slow down, and the news cycle is just covering this, and that's kind of that's confronting because we always wanted to refresh. What's the new thing? What's the new or death again? Yeah, or death again, or death again. And in one sense, the the news cycle is driven by death, but it's always driven by the avoidance of death. And you know, if it bleeds, it leads. Right. But you know, if they grieve, we leave. Yeah, like we we we don't want to meditate on this thing that we're being forced to meditate on. So what an opportunity to to come and preach resurrection in the midst of this, as we're finally because especially because if she is our representative, if she is us, then we're watching us get buried, you know, on Monday. And I'm just I'm just praying that uh it has a spiritual impact on people.
SPEAKER_05Well, I mean, that's like someone on my Facebook feed said, you know, it just feels like the whole with the Queen's death, it feels like this country's unraveling at the seams. And I think there's that's like you say, there's that reminder within her death. It's not only the because of the circumstances we're in as a nation, it does feel a bit like things are unraveling, but even the queen is unraveling, she's unraveled, and her unraveling reminds us that we're all unraveling as we're all unraveling towards this grave, you know. And it's an and and for a lot of people as well, there has I think I've seen a lot of that chatter as well, people saying, you know, it reminds us of our own mortality in a way that's quite confronting, and people do want to shy away from it, yeah, you know, naturally as well. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um I mean we and we don't know how to talk about it. Like on Sky News, um, Kay Burley was talking about how the Queen was being processed along the way, and the Queen was going to be, you know, at Westminster Abbey, and people were going to see the Queen. And I think in former times the newsreader would have talked about the earthly remains of the Queen, because there's some acknowledgments that the Queen is not exhausted by what lies in that box. And what a materialist age we're in when actually you sort of say, Oh no, you see that that is the queen. Yeah, every everything the the queen is completely boxed in by that coffin, and the queen does not exist in any other way, other than that that coffin that's headed headed to the ground. Um we know that's not true.
SPEAKER_02You know, but interesting as well, the the number of usually drawn uh sort of cartoons that you've seen online over the last couple of days, uh usually a Rukan figure, the queen, shown from behind, and she's either holding hands with uh Parrington Bear, who's walking her into through the pearly gates or or whatever it is, or she's she's with Philip. Yes. And so you've still got a very strong sense now. If if the if whoever is is is preaching um at the funeral is able to connect to join the dots between the monarch going down, uh sorry, the the the coffin going down and and the bones being buried and the queen entering into the presence of her creator. Like if you're able to genuinely do that and show how it is that this lady, this image bearer, is put before this God, um, and that is through Jesus Christ. I mean, in one sense, like you've got those two right there. You've got a whole nation who's desperate for Paddington Bear or James Bond to be with with her majesty and and sort of carrying it through, and yet to say, no, the the person who's who's got her through death, who got her through life, yeah, you know, is is Jesus.
SPEAKER_05And that was striking, like there was a clip, wasn't there, of Tim Farron in the House of Commons just in the last couple of days saying, you know, she had a faith, it was not a performatory faith, it wasn't just a functional faith, it was a true and living faith in a living saviour Jesus Christ. And therefore, you know, you know, in my heart of hearts, I think myself because I've often looked at the Queen, and I, you know, I don't really know what I think about the monarchy generally, I don't have a strong opinion on it, but I am a fan of the Queen. Well, you know, was a fan of the Queen. She was probably one of the most um kind of clearly in view outspoken Christians in the public eye in the UK. You know, her her mess, you know, she was obviously very normally very overtly Christian in her message, not just kind of church on a Sunday type Christian, but Jesus Christ Christian, you know, I'm talking about the name of Jesus. Um and so you think to yourself, it would be absolutely criminal if on Monday this service and the the preach does not reflect that. Um I've probably got less faith in the Church of England to pull that off, if I'm honest. My feeling is it will be a disaster. But I really think we've lost our best preacher.
SPEAKER_03Well, exactly. The preacher's over there, like she's in the wrong position.
SPEAKER_05But I really hope and pray I'm wrong. I don't know who will preach. I I presume you'd assume it'd be an archbishop, yeah, some kind. Um so you would hope that there is a and it just a you just want a doozy, don't you? You want an absolute killer sermon that just points people to Christ.
SPEAKER_03I think the the biggest difference on earth to show um the difference that Jesus makes is a Christian funeral versus any other kind of funeral. Christian funeral just singing, I mean, on the crown, when they had the ABFAN episode and the Welsh singing in the midst of that incredible tragedy and a horrific tragedy, singing in the context of tragedy is just such a Christian thing. And like a humanist funeral is just the most like devastating thing, as opposed to let's yeah, let's pray it's a it's a really good Christian send-off.
SPEAKER_02I think one thing which from in terms of the national mood, you know, obviously we're we're we're aware um other nationalities uh watch the uh the speak live media output. Um but certainly in terms of the UK, um there will be a media desire that as there always is around every major international footballing tournament that England do well and potentially even win. And so this is taking place in the you know in mid-winter that there will be the World Cup, and you can feel the sense there's an awful lot of uh broadcasters who are so desperate for the redemption story that the you know this nation that's been in you know, gone through some terrible times, gone through mourning cost of living crisis, can have this kind of euphoric moment as Harry Kane scores the winning goal in the World Cup final and you know the Jules Romay trophy, you know, uh the World Cup trophy is given to him as captain, and the nation can rejoice, right? Of course, that would only be the English, right? It wouldn't be the Welsh, it wouldn't be the Scots necessarily, or the Northern Irish, but the proper um s next act after the after the state funeral of uh Queen Elizabeth II is the coronation of Charles III. Now you will have seen most of the images we've seen of Charles in the last uh few days. He's been in mourning dress, he's been you know, wearing black, looking somber, looking serious. When we get to the coronation, which I believe is likely to be sort of spring next year, he's not gonna be wearing black, he's going to be wearing the robes, he's gonna be wearing kind of that that you know big kind of I don't know what exactly what um fur it is on that thing, or the crown of a thing. And he will be resplendent with orb and sceptre, okay, he'll be anointed with everything, and that is the proper new age coming in. And you that will ought to be the the the relief, the national relief for the Scots and the Welsh and the Northern Irish, not only the English, who would have been relieved when Harry Kane scores a winning goal in the World Cup final. Um you heard it here first, yeah. But but so that yeah, that that sense that we we live, we have a national life, which I think in lots of ways we've tried to get around and avoid. Covid, with its national restrictions, really put that back in. And the death of Queen Elizabeth II, I think, has reiterated our national life and national unity together. And hopefully, uh, as we have Charles III's coronation in the 2023 will be, you know, a f a further, you know, confirmation of the United Kingdom as as a nation state.
SPEAKER_03A nudge towards nationalism, a nudge towards monarchism, do you think? Yeah, maybe.
SPEAKER_02I I just think if if if if there was any sense that we could be post-national, right? Oh, I'm not I I watch I watch YouTube videos from people around the world, you know, I'm not so so narrow-minded. Um, but you are physically embodied in one place, in one nation, yeah, and it is pro right and proper that that nation has its own rules and governance and constitution and and and uh everything else. And in when we're in an internet age, you can try to sort of forget that. You can become such a an international man of mystery that you you know you're not really part of this, you're a global individual. It's like no, we're real, we we weren't actually designed to be global individuals until we have all nations, tribes, and tongues and languages gathered. In the gospel, then the gospel.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. And so that so that's interesting because I I think these are intramural disputes among Christianized peoples. Whether you're a monarchist or a republican, well though you get monarchism from the Bible, you also get democracy from the Bible, you know, representative democracy. You get you get rule of the people by the people for the people, in that the one who rules the nations is the man Christ Jesus, so he kind of represents us, and we want we want the one to represent us to be of us and for us and and by us. But we also believe in kings because King Jesus and and so like the Republican democratic sort of uh impulse and the monarchist royalist impulse are both Christian, and we sort of fight it out. Similarly, with nationalism and globalism, um, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. You know, Jesus is located as Jesus of Nazareth and and tribes are important. You know, God loves so loved them so much. He had twelve of them in the Old Testament, and he still wants to preserve tribes, nations, and peoples and tongues, you know, at the end. He also wants to weave them together and bring them together in this sort of we are all one in Christ, no Scythian or slave or free, no barbarian. Um and so there's there's that globalist impulse that's also Christian. And so it's it's interesting to me that even as we're talking about um, you know, am I a monarchist or not? Do we think it's a waste of money or not? Is it national jingoism or is it rooted in something deep? It's interesting to me that you know we're we're all just having these Christian conversations among ourselves and and fighting it out, um, but no one's really standing outside the Bible to have these conversations. We're all we're all standing in.
SPEAKER_02You know, you I think it was you who pointed out to me how um uh Elizabeth uh remained alive in order to see the the appointing of Liz Tross, and then her duty was kind of done. And you you see that with the people growing old and staying you know, staying alive for one particular Christmas or one sort of uh wedding or whatever. Um but I don't actually think it's it's accidental that she died in Scotland. I think you know, of all the times that Queen Elizabeth II spoke out, she asked people to be considered carefully before you vote in the Scottish referendum. Independence referendum and the fact that Operation Unicorn, I think it was called, is because she died, the monarch died in in Scotland Um there is there is a s in a sense a Scottish ownership of uh Queen Elizabeth II when she died. And the first people of all those in her realms I love hearing that realm word, new eras, new realms. Um of all the the people in in the realms of of uh the monarch, it was Scottish people who were able to see her first. And then later this week there will be sort of she will be lying in state in in London. And that that sense of the the holding together of nations in a monarch. Right? So you know, you've got Welsh nationalism, you've got Scottish nationalists, you've got English nationalists, United Kingdoms, and remarkably there is something in the United Kingdom in which there is there is there is a monarch being acknowledged and reigning over multiple nations, uh not confused and not you know losing their distinctions and yet and yeah still being united together. It's a rich tapestry. Yeah, the lion and the unicorn, man.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, there we go. Um I mean, lots of things there we've talked about. I mean, it'd be great to hear your people's thoughts uh down below on this in the comments. Um I'm sure I'd be very surprised if we don't get any comments on on this video, um, given the outpouring sort of there's been over the last few days, and of course just the amount of discussion it's caused, no matter what your thoughts are on it. So we'd love to hear from you. Um let us know, and um yes, we'll I'm sure we might refer to this. I'm not I don't know what we'll talk about after we might see her after the funeral next next time. Um yeah, post-match and ask yeah. Uh let's I mean let's pray. I mean, one thing for us as Christians, let's pray for Charles coming in. We are told to pray for our rulers, you know. We ought to pray for Liz Trust no matter what our political stripes are as well. Um, and we what you know, I I think I I definitely want to pray for next Monday because it is a time when of course these ten days are a sort of an intense period. Like you say, there is this period from then on until the coronation where we're still waiting kind of for the the king to come, yeah. Um but after Monday it's very much gonna tail off. So, you know, let's really pray that you know whoever's whoever's getting up to preach that day brings their A game, so to speak.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. And if so, if people want to hear um my sermon from Sunday, that's on the channel. You're not free, are you? Yes, I am actually. People are used to that after lockdown. Um we've also got uh an interview coming up on the channel um with Kath Butcher, who wrote the only book that the Queen endorsed in 70 years, which was The Servant Queen and the King She Served, uh, which is an incredible um comment on the Queen's service in the name of Jesus and inspired by Jesus. And Kath Butcher um is gonna talk to us about that book and sort of her experiences of the Queen and that sort of thing. So that that'll be on the channel, and I'm sure other things about this uh this very significant time in in our history. So yeah. Great. Look forward to those bits. Thanks for joining us, everybody.
SPEAKER_05We'll see you again next time. Take care, bye-bye. Bye-bye.
SPEAKER_00Well, thank you so much for listening. We hope this episode has been helpful to you in reflecting about the life of the Queen, and our thoughts and prayers are with the royal family and all around the world who are grieving at the moment. Just to let you know that the sermon Glenn mentions in this episode, his sermon that he gave at All Souls Eastbourne on Sunday the 11th, that will be released as a podcast as well, a bonus episode this week. So do look out for that if you haven't heard it already. You can also watch it on our YouTube channel youtube.com forward slash speaklifemedia, or just type speaklifeuk into the YouTube search bar and it will come up. Well, that's all from me. Thank you so much for listening, and we will be back next week. God bless.