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Friends,

Earlier today it was announced that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II died peacefully in her 97th year surrounded by her family. While we knew that this moment was inevitable, because we all die eventually, it is nonetheless  a moment of sadness and disorientation for the United Kingdom, and maybe for us as well, as we wonder what life is going to be like as this era of history comes to a close. There will be many commentaries about this moment, but however we feel about the monarchy, the crown, and Queen Elizabeth herself, any death can bring profound reflection and unusual emotions as we seek to understand the world now that the news has hit us. Emotions, feelings, anxieties, we may not know what to do with.

We may, as time moves on, have unexpected emotions and feelings as the machinery of history turns the page from the Elizabethan age into the next. We have known the stability of a single figure for so long that as the image of the Queen starts to fade from our public life, we may find life more uncertain, more unusual, as we start to realize just how much this moment really is for us. We may remember our own griefs, our own losses, our own unknowings, our own anxieties, when we’ve experienced the pain of a loss too come flooding back to us because of this, and I want you to know that you are not alone in that place. My door is always open to you for prayer and conversation.

There will be many moments, many memories, many remembrances, many conversations, and many unknowns in the days and weeks ahead, but the one anchor we know as Christians is this; Death is not the final answer. Love always wins. And the power of love’s victory in Christ will bring us to new life together. New life which will take us to new places, new experiences, and new vantage points we never thought possible before. A new which may feel odd and unsure right now. A new, in which God will hold our hands and guide our feet as we walk together into it.

Our Diocesan Family is gathering to remember the Queen, with our Cathedral open from 10am -4pm for prayer and to leave messages of condolences in a book of remembrance. National Services will take place in Toronto, after the funeral in Britain, and information will be shared as it is available. 

Please pray for the Royal Family, King Charles III, Queen Camilla, the Queen and all the faithfully departed. 

May the Queen, and all the faithfully departed, rest in peace and rise in Glory.

Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!

Alex+