On Thursday 8th September 2022 it was announced that Queen Elizabeth had died. Although people were a bit more prepared for it than the death of Princess Diana, they were still shocked because the Queen had been seen greeting the new Prime Minister Liz Truss only a couple of days beforehand.
There was, during that time (at least among some believers),
as usual, an expectation that a revival could happen as a result. But to be
fair, any major event would make the revivalists hope that there could be a
resulting revival. If there was an eclipse, it meant a revival was imminent. If
someone had a sweet dream, a revival was imminent. In the same way that blood
moons signified the end of the world to some. I’m being a bit disingenuous
again, but this all has a kernel of truth in it.
The UK Christian media at least were very much on message and made much of the fact that the Queen was a Christian. This was largely glossed over in the secular media, although it was mentioned. Especially since the shameful abuse scandal broke, Christians had been held in a particularly low regard. This had not been helped by Tony Blair and George Bush, who claimed to be Christians. So along with the abusers, because of the actions of a few, the whole community lost respect among many of the people.
But any hopes that the Queen’s witness could raise our
reputation among the people proved to be a little too positive. The Queen died
and rainbows were seen over the royal residences. Some took it as a sign.
Others shrugged and carried on as normal. The event was huge and the country
headed into a period of official mourning. Once again, it was the UK
republicans and critics of the monarchy, including republican Christians who
felt that they were not free to express anything but the highest praise for the
Queen, whose popularity was not under question. But now many have romanticised
the time under her as being better days, when the truth is that it was
grindingly hard and bad for so many of us. For the future, if you are young,
don’t believe those who say it was all peachy when the Queen ruled. It wasn’t.
The problems were as bad, if not worse than many of today’s troubles.
As for a revival. Some of the modern prophets stated that a revival would come.
One notable prophet stated that it would not come until the country had been
significantly humbled through another recession and cost of living crisis. So,
in September of that year, when the Queen died, he felt a little vindicated.
Something had happened, even though it was not exactly what he had prophesied.
I got caught up in this hope too - the hope of revival, despite many past
disappointments. I should probably have known better. I didn’t publish this
blog though until I was persuaded that something was genuinely happening behind
the scenes.
I could not see how a revival could come without a sovereign move from God himself. We were in his hands and the gift was in his hands too. They started to call the Queen ‘mother’ or ‘grandmother’ and some of the revivalists started to call revival ‘the promised land’. Others wanted there to be another reformation, sick of the excesses and seeming inactivity of the established churches. Revivalists were by no means in unity in the UK. (And also needed to repent.)
I struggled because I wanted there to be a revival but I
didn’t want the huge cost of living crisis and recession which was looming and
which was likely to disproportionately make things so much worse for the poor.
I was also preoccupied. My brother had not been healed from a diagnosis of
terminal brain cancer. One medical trial requested £250,000 to take part. Can
you believe that? We are so sick. My brother asked us, half joking, if we would
sell our house for him. My heart was breaking and it affected what remained of
my relationship with God because I blamed God for allowing the disease. Plus, I
knew that revival was in his gift and that while he tarried, people died.
Saying ‘God’s timing is perfect’ was not helpful. Sometimes his timing seemed
to stink.
As for the country after the death of the Queen - the UK media stations changed their programming. The news was largely filled with the pre-prepared material (until that ran out). And people seemed quite flexible on the whole. They adjusted to having a new king and that was that. The Queen’s Christianity did not seem to have had the influence on the people which some hoped that it would. It was all quite depressing. Some murmured that the new king was too interested in other faiths. And, of course, conspiracy theories abounded - others said ‘He’s not my king’ (something which had historically not gone down very well with some kings). The majority of believers in the UK are monarchists though. I think it is because of all the royals in the Bible.
Around about the time of the funeral there was excitement in
some Christian circles about exactly what the Archbishop of Canterbury’s sermon
would be like at the funeral. Because it was likely to be the sermon which
reached the most people ever. Estimated to be between 3-4 billion people. The
sermon was delivered and people fell into two camps - some thought it was very
standard and unengaging (having to fit into a small time slot), others thought
that it was bold and criticised the powerful leaders who sat in Westminster
Abbey to listen. One thing it did do was to please the majority of UK Christian
listeners. As for the others - well, as usual, few people asked. There was some
conversation about it on social media, but mostly about whether the Archbishop
had subtly alluded to Harry and Megan. It seemed to please the converted most
of all.
Then, after the funeral, with opportunities missed as usual, things returned to
normal. What startled me was that this happened straight away. In the same way
that you can notice everything revert to normal after the Christmas
celebrations, things went back to normal after the Queens death. We had a king
and that was that. Comedy resumed, allowed once again on the BBC (who halted it
briefly) and we also resumed our legitimate worries about the cost-of-living
crisis, the coming winter… and the possibility of nuclear war.
On 23rd September 2022, after finally contracting
COVID for the first time, I wrote in my diary: ‘Revival has rarely felt so far
away as today.’
