A Rather Unusual Week

 

The past week has been one of contrasts – and so will merit two blog posts!

 This first one, naturally, focusses on the death of Elizabeth II, which has touched us all. My initial reflection was that one of my very first memories of anything outside my experiences at home was hearing that ‘the King’ had died – in February 1952. Aged 4, I knew almost nothing about this ‘king’, apart from seeing some photos of him in the newspaper, at something called the ‘Festival of Britain’. But I was aware something significant and sorrowful had happened. That means that I grew up in the emerging ‘New Elizabethan’ age. The Queen was always there, visible in so many ways – on coins, stamps and bank-notes; appearing on papers and TV in countless situations.  As time passed, I became aware of her profound and firm Christian faith and came to admire her integrity and concern for all her people – in contrast to too many of our other public and political leaders.

 Obviously, her death was not given the prominence in Turkish news as in British, or European media. But it was noted. She had made at least one state visit to Türkiye, and had come to Izmir many years ago (in the days when there was a British Leyland factory here, as well as visiting the NATO base.) For most Turkish people she must have been a fairly distant figure. However, on Saturday we held an open afternoon at the church, with a book of condolence waiting to be signed. Not many came, though the Catholic Archbishop wrote a thoughtful letter, and the British Consulate next to the church flew its flag at half-mast. But among those who came, there were two women from established Levantine families, who had been introduced to the queen when she visited the city; and a young man, with British citizenship, who had continued his grandfather’s practice of sending the queen a Christmas card from Izmir each year, which had been acknowledged from the Palace, especially when the queen noticed that the name of the signatory had changed. He brought a lovely cross-shaped wreath to place beside the Queen’s portrait. There was a Kurdish man, who had worked in the hospitality industry; he wrote a long tribute, to the queen’s smile, and her ‘tireless efforts’ for humanity and for peace and was clearly very moved; he also copied out, in Turkish, some words sent by a cousin who lives in Europe. A couple of American Christians, long-standing members of a Turkish evangelical church, commented on Elizabeth’s faith and faithfulness. I had a conversation with an academic at one of Izmir’s Universities, who had been born near Exeter and attended Hele’s Grammar School – which was one of the constituent members of the High School all our children attended! 

 On Sunday morning, like all British clergy, I found myself leading a service which had been re-structured at short notice, and preaching a sermon written the day before, to provide opportunity for thanksgiving for her majesty’s life and expressions of sadness at her death; Jo wrote suitable intercessions, and we tried to fit hymns to the theme. But, unlike my colleagues in Britain, I was leading worship in a large Turkish city, and before a congregation of nearly 40 people, of whom fewer than a quarter (including Jo and me) were British citizens. For as always, the service was a microcosm of the universal church, with an Iranian and Korean sides-persons, Turkish and American readers and musician, and a Lebanese server; the congregation included a family from Iraq, and the usual Turkish members. Our Kurdish visitor came. There were some representatives of the small British contingent at the NATO base, including a young couple only recently arrived from a posting in Kenya. And at the end we British, at least (and I think some others!) sang, for the first time in our lives, ‘God save the King.’

We begin this week with a new monarch and a new prime minister of the United Kingdom. But God is unchanged; and Jesus Christ is the same ‘yesterday, and today, and tomorrow.’

 We begin this week, with a new monarch, and a new prime minister of the United Kingdom. But God is unchanged; and Jesus Christ is the same ‘yesterday, and today, and tomorrow.’