The Parish Magazine October 2022

The vicar's sermon
This sermon was preached by Rev Jamie Taylor, Vicar of Sonning, Charvil and Sonning Eye, at the
service of Commemoration of Her Late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II on Sunday 11 September
In these last few days we have heard a number of public figures, including our Member
of Parliament, the Queen’s 13th Prime Minister, say words to the effect that we have all
known that we would have to face the loss of our beloved Queen one day, but that does not
diminish the sadness and yes, the emotion, that so many of us have been experiencing since
last Thursday’s sombre news. There is a sense of unreality because so many of us have only
ever known one Sovereign, but nonetheless, I have found it fascinating and somewhat
reassuring to witness the seamless transition to a new reign, with all the traditional
protocols and customs dusted off and put to good use — representing such a powerful link
with our nation’s long and noble history over the last 1,000 years.
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Of course, no vicar of this parish has had to preach on an occasion like this in the last 70
years, and we have to go back to Canon Sidney Groves who last stood here and attempted to
do justice to such a consequential loss; the loss of a monarch and supreme governor of our church, in February 1952. The televised
speeches and sermons that are given at national occasions at such times are usually given by those who have known and worked
with the departed Sovereign. They have the advantage over us tuppence ha’penny clergy, and I will admit to a slight sense of
trepidation as I prepared this sermon yesterday. That is one reason why I asked our good friend, Lord Carey, to preach at the
Queen’s 90th birthday service and at the recent Platinum Jubilee. Perhaps I should have invited you Theresa to give the sermon
today — I for one want to hear more about your culinary accident at the Balmoral picnic!
THREE GREAT VIRTUES
In my parish magazine letter in the Jubilee month of June I wrote of three great virtues that to me the Queen has demonstrated
in an exemplary fashion for all these years. In the interests of not reinventing the wheel I will restate them today. I believe they are
particularly commendable because they are rare in our age.
— Firstly, Service: In 1947, at the age of 21, she said this in a broadcast to the nation: ‘I declare before you all that my whole life, whether
it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.’ Many of us were deeply
moved as we heard that broadcast played at our Platinum celebration. Well, the Queen more than kept that promise. Sometimes we
may have taken her service to the nation for granted but it’s worth remembering that we live at a time when putting yourself first
is almost universally taken to be the first rule of life. Denying this, the Queen served her peoples around the world in a remarkable
and selfless manner, and what an extraordinary photograph, her last ever, we all saw on Tuesday of our frail yet smiling Monarch,
greeting her 15th Prime Minister, two days before her death.
— The second virtue, Faithfulness: We had a Queen on whose shoulders fell enormous responsibilities at a very early age, yet who
remained committed for seven decades to fulfilling them. This lifelong commitment is striking, given how unpopular duty is in
our age. One of the overriding trends in Western culture has been the gradual erosion of commitment and obligation in almost
every area of life. Whether in private or public life, we find that where there were once solemn bonds there are now only loose,
breakable and disposable links. Behind this trend is the belief, now celebrated as a universal truth, that we human beings can only
find the true purpose of life if we have the freedom to seek our own pleasure. Here, too, the Queen went against the flow.
— Finally, the third great virtue, Determination: In one sense determination is the least of virtues. In another, it is the rarest.
After all, we can all do a bit of duty and service for a few hours or even a few days; the challenge is to do it for a lifetime. And that
is exactly what the Queen did. Here again we find that determination is not one of the values of our unsettled age. During her
long reign the currents of shifting values and fashion have flowed so fast and fierce through British life that age-old traditions and
social patterns have been swept away. Amidst it all, the Queen persevered, enduring as a fixed element in the tumult of our time.
Indeed, as the bonds that unite the peoples of Britain seem to become fewer and more strained, her role as the embodiment of
what we are as a nation became even more vital. I am sure that King Charles III will seek to emulate this and we assure him of our
prayers and loyalty as he takes on the mantle of Kingship.
SOMETHING ELSE?
The Queen demonstrated service, faithfulness and determination. That she was able to do this against the spirit of the world
is surely because she took her bearings not from the world and its wisdom, but from something else. That something else was her
strong Christian faith, something that Her Late Majesty openly and unashamedly talked about. The qualities she displayed were
Christian virtues, lived out to the full in Jesus Christ who came to serve and to give his own life for the world. The Queen exhibited
those virtues not simply because she sought to imitate Christ but because she had a relationship with him, now brought to ultimate
fulfilment in heaven, as spoken of in our epistle and gospel reading. She knew, I believe, the great truth that in order to live out
Christ’s teaching you must live in Christ. In the Queen we witnessed a great Monarch, perhaps our greatest ever, but her greatness
came from the fact that she trusted in an even greater King.
Just a few short months ago, the Queen’s fifth Archbishop of Canterbury stood here and celebrated our Platinum Queen. 20
years previously, he stood in the pulpit of Westminster Abbey and preached at the funeral of Her Late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth,
the Queen Mother. He concluded his sermon with some verses from Proverbs which were appropriate for her and clearly even more
so for her eldest daughter. There are many reasons why he was an Archbishop and I am not and never will be, so I shall conclude
with his choice of an ending as I cannot put it better myself: 'Strength and dignity are her clothing and she laughs at the time to come.'
'Many women do noble things, but you excel them all.' O Lord may your servant Elizabeth rest in peace and rise in glory. Amen.