An estimated four billion people, more than half the Earth’s population, watched the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. The longest reigning monarch in history was accorded a state funeral at Westminster Abbey on September 19. Her unwavering faith was underscored during the service, pointing those in attendance to the eternal life in Jesus Christ, wand became an opportunity to preach the Good News of the resurrection and hope.
In his sermon, Anglican Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury, focused on eternal life, the central message of traditional Christian funerals. “We will all face the merciful judgment 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 Welby concluded.
The archbishop had the perfect pulpit to challenge the world, with billions as his audience and made the most of it: “Jesus, who in our reading does not tell his disciples how to follow, but who to follow, said: ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life’.”
In an age where leadership is often mistaken for controlling the weak, the message challenged the who’s who of world leadership. “People of loving service are rare in any walk of life. Leaders of loving service are still rarer.” The queen loved her people and served them for seven decades.
Probably more people heard about faith in the Lord Jesus, who defeated death, through the funeral message of the queen: “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55). The queen, as the head of the Church of England, was a teacher of her faith and her funeral was a message for people of all walks of life—to those who believed, those who weren’t sure and those who knew barely anything—about Christ and the resurrection of the dead.
Paying their last respects to the Queen Elizabeth in Hong Kong, people queued up in large numbers to leave flowers and sign a book of remembrance. She was Hong Kong’s head of state for 45 years when it was a British colony. She visited Hong Kong twice when the city was a British territory, while her son, King Charles III, attended the handover ceremony.
The Telegraph columnist, Tim Stanley, remarked: “In 2022, an age of atheism and the suppression of faith, perhaps the largest TV audience in history went to an unafraid statement of Christian belief. The Queen’s gift.”
At the splendid service, representatives of numerous faith professions attended, including members of the Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Zoroastrian, Buddhist, Jain, and Bahá’í communities. Reports say over four billion people watched the funeral service, making it the most viewed event in television history.
The whole ceremony proclaimed to the world with eloquence and pomp the eternal truth of the Christian faith: the queen has passed from a corruptible to an incorruptible crown, where there can be no more disturbance of the world. jose CMF
