Showing posts with label royal family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label royal family. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 20, 2022

Common Wealth

Through the majestic arches of Westminster Abbey
rang words of everlasting truth and hope, not just for those attending Her Majesty,
the late Queen Elizabeth II's funeral but for everyone in all walks of life
Hallelujah! 


A few powerful pointers and reminders to take with us!
"The pattern for many leaders is to be exalted in life and forgotten after death.
The pattern for all who serve God, famous or obscure, respected or ignored,
Is that death is the door to glory…

…People of loving service are rare in any walk of life.
Leaders of loving service are still rarer.
But in all cases, those who serve will be loved and remembered while those who cling
To power and privileges are long forgotten.

Her late Majesty’s broadcast during covid lockdown ended with ‘we will meet again’!
Christian hope means certain expectation of something not yet seen.
Christ rose from the dead and offers life to all. Abundant life now and life with God in eternity....

...As the Christmas carol says, ‘where meek souls will receive Him still the dear Christ enters in.
We will all face the merciful judgement of God. 
We can all share the Queen’s hope which in life and death 
inspired her servant leadership. Service in life. Hope in death. 
All who follow the Queen’s example and inspiration of trust and faith in God
 can with her say, ‘we will meet again’."

Archbishop of Canterbury-The Most Reverend Justin Welby


His Closing Prayers
Heavenly father, kings of kings, Lord and Giver of life,
who, of Thy grace in creation didst form mankind in thine own image, 
and in Thy great love offerest us life eternal in Christ Jesus.
Claiming the promises of Thy most blessed Son,
we entrust the soul of our sister Elizabeth, here departed, to Thy merciful keeping
In sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life
when Christ shall be all in all, who died and rose again to save us,
and now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit in glory forever.
Amen.

Go forth oh Christian soul in this world.
 In the name of God, the Father Almighty who created Thee.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Son of the living God who suffered for thee, 
In the name of the Holy Spirit who was poured out upon thee 
and anointed thee in communion with all the blessed saints 
and aided by the angels and archangels and all the armies of the heavenly hosts.,
May thy portion this day be in peace 
and thy dwelling in the heavenly Jerusalem.
Amen.


***

Life's charge of duty and demand
Bestows a grand decree
The onus of time's sifted sand
Accountability

The common wealth of shoes to fill
Anoints the common blessed
As we march to Dues beat and drill
Until eternal rest

We, subjects of the King of kings
Each have a sacred role
Until death's doleful belfry rings
With summons of the soul

Each morn time's runway is unfurled
A hallowed thing to see
Poured through the fanfare of this world
Into eternity

How solemn is the chartered span
Of moments in the sun
Where soon the numbered days of man
Are snuffed like stars at dawn

How holy is the beckoning
Until God's final call
How surely is the reckoning
That waits for one and all

How worth this while, the hurt and hope
Of serving faithfully
Because, beyond earth's grave-strewn slope
How sweet Heaven will be
 
© Janet Martin

The precious portion of Scripture below was also read...

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, 
and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, 
and this mortal shall have put on immortality, 
then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, 
Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is thy sting? 
O grave, where is thy victory?
56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, 
always abounding in the work of the Lord, 
forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

'Life goes on' I said to my sister yesterday
as we texted while watching the funeral
midst many interruptions...
for me-

harvesting tomatoes

emptying mousetraps-ugh!!


...and all ultimately for the Lord!


Monday, September 19, 2022

The Lily Blooms Again

 

Inspired by the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II

A few precious passages, familiar to believers
warmed, comforted and exhorted we who remain...

Psalm 103:13-18
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
14 for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
15 The life of mortals is like grass,
they flourish like a flower of the field;
16 the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.
17 But from everlasting to everlasting
the Lord’s love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children’s children—
18 with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.

Rev. 21:1-4
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”[a
for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away,
 and there was no longer any sea. 
2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, 
prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
 “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. 
They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 
4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. 
There will be no more death’[b
or mourning or crying or pain, 
for the old order of things has passed away.”

So many moving images...







The Lily’s bloom is shed
Her crown of glory spent
The scepter falls, as silver thread
Of mortal breath is rent

The Lily’s splendor lies
In funereal repose
Her final flight escapes the eyes
Fixed on life’s curtain-close

The Lily’s beauty bows
Beneath the Hand of He
Whose law is love, whose kingdom flows
Throughout eternity

The Lily’s stem is shorn
Though petals deck the sod
Her darling, deathless Bud is borne
Back to the arms of God

So, though we mourn the loss
Of touch, of sight and sound
The Lily sheds the albatross
Of glory, sorrow-crowned

Where tears will never fall
Where flowers never fade
No roses strewn in farewell’s thrall
As dust to dust is laid

The Lily is not dead
But fairer now than then
In the presence of God instead
The Lily blooms again

© Janet Martin

In memory of Queen Elizabeth II, with love














Sunday, June 5, 2022

Of Love's Royal Priesthood

Why this post?
Because preaching doesn't just happen behind a pulpit
got me to pondering royalty and priesthoods...
(watching/listening to the trumpets play in honor of Her majesty, the Queen
for her years of faithful service
literally covers me with goosebumps
and evokes thrills because this celebration is a
miniscule/pale glimpse of
what honoring the King of kings and Lord of lords will be)


I didn't realize until partway through this message/session that it
was an exhortation of encouragement to church leaders.
However, I continued listening to the end because its exhortations were encouraging
to the 'sheep' as well as the shepherd...



But you are a chosen generation, 
a royal priesthood, a holy nation, 
His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him
 who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

Serve well the God who is I AM
With heart and hand applaud
Not to seek accolades of man
But to glorify God

Serve well the God of humankind
We, in his image made
Are glimpses of He who designed
Us, and our pardon paid

Serve well the God who gave his Son
Whose sacrifice sufficed
To save and teach us to become
Imitators of Christ

Serve well the God who will supply
Our need; He knows it well
And made a Way that none need die
And be cast into hell

Serve well the God that numbers days
And lends the lease thereof
The God whose mysterious ways
Are always filled with love

Serve well the God who giveth life
Who keeps in perfect peace
The mind that guards against the strife
That hinders love’s increase

Serve well the God whose mercy tries
Whose grace and truth abides
As faith presses toward the prize
That God alone provides

Serve well the God, the King of kings
He who is just and good
Calls us to share the sufferings
Of love’s Royal Priesthood

Serve well thy God and fellowman
With renewed courage run
For what thought can be sweeter than 
To hear Him say 'well done'

© Janet Martin

Tuesday, April 26, 2022

Faithful to the End


 


I am still enjoying a beautiful bouquet given to me a week ago 
after helping at the funeral of  the oldest member in our church family.
 She would have turned 100 years old in July!
Listening to all the heartwarming memories and tributes
was so inspiring and encouraging to we still in the process of 
creating legacies not yet left behind.

Below is the photo released of Queen Elizabeth II 
on her 96th birthday on Thurs. April 21, 2022

 
We cherish her example of faithfulness as well!
 Both of these women
live/lived through an incredible almost-century of progress, 
and tremendous challenges and change
with unwavering faith!

 “For me the teachings of Christ 
and my own personal accountability before God 
provide a framework in which I try to lead my life.”
~Queen Elizabeth~
 
Oh, that we would also be able to leave behind a lifetime legacy, 
not of perfection but of courageous faithfulness to the end,
of 'remembering our own personal accountability before God'
so as we leave we may rejoice in this triumphant farewell...

I have fought the good fight, 
I have finished the race, 
I have kept the faith.


It’s not in how we start but how we end that we achieve
The climax of commitment and the legacy we leave
A few good turns are not enough to earn triumph secured
Or prove the love and faithfulness of the good fight endured

Success and happiness are not always as they appear
Where opulence and pleasure can produce a false veneer
Desire keens the catalyst of longings that will prove
Where we fix our eyes; on things below or things above

Life’s ups and downs that test and try will refine or destroy
Not for the faint of heart is faith fixed on immortal joy
Where faithful to the end God’s promises accompany
Where faithful to the end He bids His followers to be

…thus, breath by breath and step by step and prayer by prayer we go
Faithfulness takes a lifetime its fulfillment to bestow
We cannot rush or fool the proof wrought by life’s highs and lows
Where faithfulness suffers love's thorns with eyes upon The Rose

© Janet Martin