Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Much will be said in the coming days about the life of Her Majesty the Queen, her steadfast service, her unremitting sense of duty, joyfully offered, the zeal and zest for life and a life so fully lived. But there are two things for me to focus on in these hours after the announcement of her death.

Firstly, to echo my sermon at the Platinum Jubilee Service she remained firmly ‘in the saddle’ right until the end of her long and full life. I suspect many will look fondly at that last photograph issued this week from the Drawing Room of Balmoral, with the spry, penetrating, yet warm gaze straight into the camera, and we saw the photographs of her appointing the new Prime Minister. Hers was, until the last, truly a life dedicated to the service of her people, these nations and the Commonwealth.

Secondly, that theme of service leads us directly to Her Late Majesty’s deep faith. It was an evangelistic faith and she increasingly spoke of her personal commitment to Jesus Christ and the way in which this sustained and strengthened her.

These days will be ones of profound mourning and sorrow. Indeed few, if any of us, now remember a time without the Queen and so many of us will have a profound sense of loss. Rightly people will look to the Church to offer consolation, a place to gather and to express their own sense of loss.

Resources to help with this will be shared in the coming days on both the Church of England and Diocese of York websites and I hope you will make use of them. The Queen believed profoundly in the hope of the resurrection and once again people will look to us to share that hope with them. I know you will be ready to offer hospitality know that you will be ready to respond to any such need.

+Stephen