As children, we used to sing a song with each other as we played on the playground,
London Bridge is falling down,
Falling down, falling down.
London Bridge is falling down,
My fair lady.
We were oblivious to the profundity of children with youth and vigor singing a song about our mortality. One day we will realize, that our mortal lives, like a bridge of stone stretched across the Thames in London would decay, are susceptible to falling, and eventually collapse.
The challenge for us is to become aware of our condition and determine, as early as we can, through parents, caring teachers, and preachers, to build our decaying lives with materials that will outlast us. We build with lasting materials such as wisdom, faith, hope, and love. Such materials that last are the result of a life that has already come to an end to itself and now lives for God in Christ.
On September 8, 2022, the world heard the news of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II’s, death. She was 96. Her reign spanned 70 years.
Christianity Today pays an appropriate tribute, saying,
Queen Elizabeth II was such a monarch. Bridging the 20th and 21st centuries, modernity and postmodernity, Her Majesty credited her personal faith in God and belief in Christ as her anchor amid the many storms, both public and private, that she endured. To the end, she fulfilled her sacred coronation vows to God, living faithfully and serving those entrusted to her care.
London Bridge Has Fallen.
Her Royal Majesty's commitment to King Jesus is one which we can only hope will be repeated. I do hope that yet again in some days still in the future I will hear a monarch with as much stability and clout to again give a soul-stirring, hopeful, and Christ-centered Christmas messages like Her Majesty did for so many years. We can hope but I write with the realization that the days I hope for are days past. Still I hold hope for a new generation to find the ancient pathways travelled by Her Majesty.
For example, in 1956, Queen Elizabeth gave her first televised Christmas message. She captured the "new" of the moment with a word of caution that, now looking back, was more prophetic than she realized.
That it is possible for some of you to see me today is just another example of the speed at which things are changing all around us. Because of these changes I am not surprised that many people feel lost and unable to decide what to hold on to and what to discard. How to take advantage of the new life without losing the best of the old.
But it is not the new inventions which are the difficulty. The trouble is caused by unthinking people who carelessly throw away ageless ideals as if they were old and outworn machinery.
They would have religion thrown aside, morality in personal and public life made meaningless, honesty counted as foolishness and self-interest set up in place of self-restraint.
At this critical moment in our history we will certainly lose the trust and respect of the world if we just abandon those fundamental principles which guided the men and women who built the greatness of this country and Commonwealth.
Today we need a special kind of courage, not the kind needed in battle but a kind which makes us stand up for everything that we know is right, everything that is true and honest. We need the kind of courage that can withstand the subtle corruption of the cynics so that we can show the world that we are not afraid of the future.
She continues,
In the old days the monarch led his soldiers on the battlefield and his leadership at all times was close and personal.
Today things are very different. I cannot lead you into battle, I do not give you laws or administer justice but I can do something else, I can give you my heart and my devotion to these old islands and to all the peoples of our brotherhood of nations.
I believe in our qualities and in our strength, I believe that together we can set an example to the world which will encourage upright people everywhere.
I would like to read you a few lines from 'Pilgrim's Progress', because I am sure we can say with Mr Valiant for Truth, these words:
"Though with great difficulty I am got hither, yet now I do not repent me of all the trouble I have been at to arrive where I am. My sword I give to him that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage and my courage and skill to him that can get it. My marks and scars I carry with me, to be a witness for me that I have fought his battles who now will be my rewarder."
From the very beginning, we can see her shining faith. The foundation of her reign was set early on the incorruptible.
In recent years, Katie and I gathered the children to sit under the tree on Christmas day and listen to Her Majesty's message. We didn't realize this last year would be her last.
In her final address, she said,
I am sure someone somewhere today will remark that Christmas is a time for children. It’s an engaging truth, but only half the story. Perhaps it’s truer to say that Christmas can speak to the child within us all. Adults, when weighed down with worries, sometimes fail to see the joy in simple things, where children do not.
And for me and my family, even with one familiar laugh missing this year, there will be joy in Christmas, as we have the chance to reminisce, and see anew the wonder of the festive season through the eyes of our young children, of whom we were delighted to welcome four more this year.
They teach us all a lesson - just as the Christmas story does - that in the birth of a child, there is a new dawn with endless potential.
It is this simplicity of the Christmas story that makes it so universally appealing: simple happenings that formed the starting point of the life of Jesus — a man whose teachings have been handed down from generation to generation, and have been the bedrock of my faith. His birth marked a new beginning. As the carol says, “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight”.
Queen Elizabeth left us with a hymn of Advent. Little did we know we would soon enter the dark days of mourning her death while searching for a new bright and shining light amidst a society of “unthinking people.”
The Psalmist asks, If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? (11:3) The task before us now is to discover what made Her Majesty great.
CS Lewis offers this glimpse into her greatness and our response as he reflects on the day she was crowned Queen. He says,
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) — awe — 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 vice-regent and high priest 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.”
Do you see what I mean? 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. (Letters 3:343)
This amazing lady, who celebrated a platinum jubilee earlier this year, reminds us, just as the precious metal, the value of a life wisely lived in service to the King of Kings, Jesus Christ. Her Majesty will be greeted by God's grace at the gates of that celestial city, having completed her progress, laying her crown at his feet, and hear, "Well done good and faithful servant." On that day, she will have realized the most excellent title of all, a title that she held tightly to even as we watched. On that day she will take up her highest honor and be called servant of the Most High God.
I look forward to the day when I join her and the myriad of others as we sing one of her favorite hymns,
Praise, my soul, the King of heaven;
to his feet your tribute bring.
Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
evermore his praises sing.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Praise the everlasting King!
Though London Bridge has fallen, the materials to build what lasts are there for us. Will we be wise enough to follow her example and give our lives in service to the incorruptible Crown?