Becoming A Brit
The Queen’s Coffin Arrives At St. Giles Cathedral
I think I want to be a Brit. After all, ancestral English blood flows in my veins. There was a family of Eatons on the Mayflower, who, though leaving England for a new land, were nevertheless pureblood English. You’ll find the Eaton name all over London, including Eaton Square, where former prime ministers, rock stars, and two James Bonds live.
I spent many years of my life studying and teaching English literature, culture, and language. I’ve traveled many times to the British Isles, my first visit as a sophomore in college. I stayed in a London home of an English family and came away wanting to talk like them. And then, over the last many years, I’ve been studying those extraordinary Celtic poets and monastics from Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. They’ve taught me so much about how to pray.
All of this seemed to culminate over the past week with the passing of the great Queen Elizabeth II, who, as we have been reminded, provided such stability for her people and for the world for seventy years. As I watched the unfolding of a nation and a world in grief and mourning, I became enthralled with what decency, poise, order, tradition, commitment, and duty can mean for a nation. I became swept up in longing for what clarity of faith can bring to a people, not only for the Queen’s own life, but for her nation and a world that slips hopelessly into deep skepticism and doubt, disorder and profound unsettledness. All of these things marked the person, the life and legacy, of this great woman.
We can only hope something of this extraordinary life will spill over into our future.
I am taken as well with the response of her people to her passing, the genuine affection, the orderliness of their reaction, the silent crowds as the hearse passes by, the respect, the tears, the moving services of remembrance in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, St. Giles in Scotland, and what is yet to come in Westminster. The Brits know how to do symbolism, all of it anchored by centuries of tradition. There seems no scoffing at tradition as has become the common posture these days. I loved the high liturgy, the trumpets, Scottish bagpipes, the dazzlingly colorful outfits, the choirs, the solemn oration, the clear enunciation. Indeed, I’ve been wishing I could be a Brit, if only for a short time.
It was also stunning to see that every step of the way the Queen was genuinely shaped by her love of Jesus Christ, not just the teacher of values by which she sought to live, but as personal faith. All along this long path, she was unabashedly unafraid to say these things out loud, to lift up Christ in speeches, even now in an age when all matters Christian are too often discarded as obsolete or inappropriate, sometimes illegal.
I long these days for leaders who can carry themselves with the Queen’s poise, leaders who will speak more quietly, leaders with quick wit and humor, not taking themselves so seriously, leaders who have strong hearts and full character from which to say important things, leaders who show respect for others and for tradition, leaders willing to serve, leaders who are driven by matters far more important than self-aggrandizement, matters like unity of the people, service, sincere love of country. I have watched somewhat wistfully thinking if we can’t regain our respect for history and tradition, our civilization cannot survive for long. And of course, I long for leaders to show their love for Christ, without pretense or apology, demonstrating that when the Christian faith becomes an anchor for a country, things are better.
The great British New Testament theologian, former Bishop of the Church of England, N. T. Wright, was privileged to spend personal time with Queen Elizabeth. Wright ends his touching reflection with this little prayer:
Father God,
We thank you for Queen Elizabeth II.
We thank you for her life, her dedication, her example of following Jesus faithfully through to the end. . . .
We pray for our country as we move through this extraordinary transition, that we may find faithful ways forward into a new day of more fidelity, more devotion, and more service to one another and to you.
We pray in Jesus name.
Amen.
Well, indeed, these moving days have triggered in me such admiration, respect, and a great longing. Perhaps the Queen’s example can prompt in us the desire toward recovery of how much we have lost.