Reflection which was written for the Sunday after the Queen died by Reverend Heather Wilcox, reflecting on the Gospel reading for the day which was Luke 15:1-10, the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin.

 

There is a theme that runs through the two parables Jesus tells today

The theme of ‘lostness’

Whether it be the lost sheep

or the lost coin

Something is lost

 

Many of us here today are probably

feeling a sense of lostness

For most of us

The Queens passing on Thursday,

has left us with a real sense of the unknown

We don’t remember what it was like before Elizabeth was Queen

We have always sung – ‘God save our gracious Queen’

Always used money and stamps imprinted with her image

 

Even if we do remember a time before Elizabeth was Queen

It is certainly the end of an era

A long and faithful reign

A reign in which God has been placed first and foremost

As she has led as one with a servant heart

 

And so there is a sense of national lostness

That we have lost something very dear to us

There is something that we cannot get back

No matter how hard we search, how much we sweep

As a nation we feel lost

 

Perhaps we were feeling lost before Thursday

Rocked by Pandemic … War … and a cost of living crisis.

Many people left feeling hopeless

lost and unsure which way to turn

 

But in the Gospel there is always hope

We believe in a God

Who doesn’t want to leave us lost and hopeless

 

 

God the good shepherd,

leaves the ninety-nine safe in the field to search out the lost

God the Good Shepherd searches high and low

And when he finds the lost sheep returns home rejoicing

 

We believe in God, who, for the sake of one silver coin

Turns the house upside down

Gets into every nook and cranny

Until the coin is found

And when the lost coin is found throws a party

 

As our beloved Queen has been called home

To the sound of much rejoicing in heaven

God has not abandoned us to our lostness

He searches us out still

 

He searches out all who are lost and feeling hopeless

And carries us in his arms

 

He carries our nation

With all its cares and its woes

And longs for a day when

from our lostness we turn back to Him

 

And he calls us to help him in the search

To seek out the lost

to lift them up and carry them home

and when each one who is lost is found

there is rejoicing

 

Today, as we mourn the death of the Queen

as we come to the end of an Era

The God of love reaches out to all who are lost

And carries us gently in his arms.

 

We give thanks for the life of Queen Elizabeth II

For her many years of faithful service

May we share her servant heart

And rejoice that she is now at home with the Lord.

 

Amen