Upon the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

A letter from Lutheran Church–Canada (LCC)’s President Timothy Teuscher upon the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II:

“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14).

It was with those words of St. Paul that the Reformer, Martin Luther, began his sermon at the funeral of Elector John of Saxony in 1532. At the end of the sermon he said:

“We have the sure hope that the merciful God has thus taken our beloved, deceased elector and will raise him up again with Christ. And because we know that he was baptized into Christ, and that he confessed the Gospel and remained steadfast in the Christian confession and died in the same, I have no doubt that when the trumpet of the archangel is sounded he will joyfully rise in an instant from this crypt and, with us and all Christians, go to meet Christ, shining more brightly than the sun and all the stars.”

It is in light of those words that I call upon all pastors, deacons and members of the congregations of our Synod to lift up their hearts and hands in prayer upon the death of her gracious majesty, Elizabeth, our Queen:

Gracious and merciful Father in heaven, Lord of heaven and earth, King of the universe, we give You our thanks and praise for all the blessings You granted Elizabeth, our Queen, during her long earthly life, for her many years of dutiful, sacrificial service to our nation and all the nations of the British Commonwealth, and especially for calling her to faith in Christ and preserving her in the confession of His holy name. Comfort the members of the Royal Family who mourn her death with the hope of the glorious resurrection and a joyful reunion in heaven for all who confess Jesus Christ as Lord. And grant that we may one day share with her in the joys of all those who now rest in Your presence; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

New Reinhardt poem "For my Queen"

Rev. Kurt E. Reinhardt, hymnwriter and pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Kurtzville, Ontario has written a new poem as our nation mourns.

The beginnings of the poem came to Pastor Reinhardt as he tolled Trinity’s Church bell 96 times upon hearing the announcement of the Queen’s death on CBC Radio.

“The thoughts developed in my heart and mind as I sat and prayed at the deathbed of one of my sheep over the past week,” said Reinhardt. “I finally put pen to paper yesterday morning as I was getting ready for Service and completed it yesterday afternoon.”

“From childhood I have been devoted to our Queen as our God-given sovereign and an admirable Servant of her people and so her passing has had a marked effect on me, as it has on many Canadians and people throughout the world,” Reinhardt added. “This poem is my humble attempt to pay homage to what she did for us and gave to us in a very Christ-like way as a Child of God.”

For my Queen

Let Church bells strike their mournful toll

Thus sounding out her people’s dole;

For our beloved nation’s head,

Our gracious noble Queen is dead.

In her great heart each had a place

No matter what our creed or race;

Our glorious lady strong yet kind

Would keep us on her thoughtful mind.

From many lands under the sun

She did unite us all as one;

Although our cultures weren’t the same,

We shared the Queen we all could claim.

She kept her duty’s solemn call

And gave her life to serve us all;

With constant calm she carried on

Through war and plague and sorrow’s dawn.

She served us faithfully for years,

Stood fast for us before our fears;

Through all our trials our Queen was there

To give us hope in all that’s fair.

God grant her now with Christ to rest

In paradise amongst the blessed;

And make our new King true to reign

Long ov’r us in Your Holy Name.