The Queen's death marks the end of an age
As this part of our long story ends, the prevailing note is simple gratitude for what we have been given.
As this part of our long story ends, the prevailing note is simple gratitude for what we have been given.
Like many of us, I prayed that Justin Welby would use his sermon to preach the gospel – and I feel hugely encouraged by a prayer answered.
The case of John Mason MSP is a chilling indication of how Orwellian and authoritarian the SNP, and thus the Scottish government, have become.
If King Charles means what he says in his oath to act as Defender of the Faith, he may find that he places himself in both the spiritual and political firing line in the culture wars.
The Queen's funeral may well prompt a further outpouring of sadness, as men and women connect with their own grief – perhaps going back decades – as well as mourning Queen Elizabeth.
The mourning that will accompany the Queen's passing will be a grief not only for a remarkable woman, a treasured mother, a dignified grandmother and a much-loved Queen, it will also include a sorrow for the passing of a Christianised culture whose deepest and most noble virtues she represented and embodied, writes her former Chaplain, Gavin Ashenden.
As we take time to mourn our loss together, whatever our feelings about the monarchy, let's acknowledge that the Queen was a solid, faithful figure, always there – most of us haven't known a time when she wasn't on the throne.
But in recent years she had spoken openly about her faith, explaining how it provided the framework of her life.
Isaiah 6 has some helpful verses as we process the passing of Queen Elizabeth II and the succession of a new king.
The death of the Queen is being felt profoundly by a nation that has been under her reign since 1952, but Christians will be mourning the additional loss of a monarch who so often spoke with warmth and gentle humility about her own personal faith.
These are sad days but, as the Queen herself would no doubt have wished, those of us who are Christians can – should – lift our eyes upwards.
Evangelist and blogger David Robertson offers his take on Brian McLaren's latest book, Do I Stay Christian?
You might think the Church of England would naturally wish to offer support to a minister hounded out in this way. But apparently not.