Some Further Thinking

It is about a year and a half since I posted a blog the day after the death of our Queen Elizabeth II. The occasion definitely brought out the best in many of us grieving a beloved majesty. I sympathized with the Royal family and our whole British Commonwealth of Nations now needing to face a new chapter, including the immediate appointment of heir to the throne, Prince Charles now become King Charles III. Here are a few paragraphs of that sentiment.

Charles was the princely boy whom my brother and I watched not like a hero, but as one who would be king someday and who lived his life way out there up there somewhere waiting for the day. That's quite a while ago. And while we were apparently growing up and trying to make something of ourselves, in our mind Charles just needed to show up with his sister Anne, looking handsome and well-groomed and only needing to behave royally. Then Charles changed a bit, as we probably also did during the growing up years, Charles definitely becoming a little more interesting at least according to radio reports and newspaper and journal articles (no sidebars, no social media, in fact no computers yet in our possession)! He was fascinating, somewhat of a free thinker quite akin to many others our age with hippyish inclinations during the 1960s. Then Charles entered into marriage including some behaviors which caused much grief to his beautiful wife Diana, also his parents the Queen and the Duke, and obviously feeding eager journalists and paparazzi with many a juicy tale. The slow maturation of life then included Diana’s tragic death, allowing Charles to marry 'the other woman', quietly enduring the pain caused to his two sons and the ill-repute which has dogged him ever since, even among his own family members. Now at age 74 he is King!

How can a person with spotty personal life, spending an almost total lifetime in training, learning protocol, riding in motorcades, reading speeches written by others, step up to a position increasingly questioned not only by those who idolized his mother, but also wondering about the man who would now be king. I do not blame a people questioning the state of British monarchy, and possibly the state of a monarchy period. Is it an outdated expense for all concerned? Needless to say, the wrinkles and worry lines on Charles’ face suggest he may have already spent considerable time thinking about this.

This begs the subject many have reflected on, many have agonized about, and yes many have made a profitable profession of, including psychologists, psychiatrists, theologians, and of course historians who have provided the story line (?) for our kids in elementary and high schools in the many countries of the Commonwealth. How Should we then Live? said Francis Schaeffer a Presbyterian minister a number of years ago in his famous book of that title (Crossway, 1976), even then already noting the mainstreaming of religion blended into everyday western life. Schaeffer’s still troubling question probably is why Father Richard Rohr's books have come to my mind alongside the Prince. Rohr’s contemporary wisdom of a doing–reflecting life cycle strikes a chord seemingly for many, religious and non-religious, for persons of faith in many religions certainly including Catholics and Protestants, and interestingly with advocates and critics in both the evangelical as well as the liberal versions of Christianity.

Thus went the tone of that ‘tome’ which at the time appealed to positive (sympathetic?) interpretation when things happen in royalty. I am almost surprised at my own civility as I went on to reflect on what is the best way for Christians, albeit of many stripes, to pray for, obey and give service to those whom “God has appointed” (Romans 13:1) to rule over us. Although I am a firm believer in the democratic process in selecting governing authorities, I focused on our responsibility to our leaders. That biblical instruct, however, is being strained these latter days, especially as one observes almost a "divine rights of presidents" mentality as another electioneering year foists itself on our neighbors to the south, while in Canada we claim an equal opposite mentality as we crap on our Prime Minister at will! Much prayerful discernment (repentance?) is needed especially among those of us who call ourselves Christian in our western colonializing democracies.

Yesterday I received a ‘forward’ in my inbox, one of many every day. I read most from this particular sender because I enjoy his vantage on almost everything. He is a spiritually and politically wizened friend, and we both know that some topics may well comfort the afflicted, and others may afflict the comfortable. Here goes.

 Not all Children grow up in fortunate Circumstance

When I was a child, my father cheated on my mother and didn’t love her. Later, my parents divorced.

My mother died in a car accident, and my brother and I had to live in my grandma’s old house.

Grandma’s sister was an alcoholic.

The whole family lived on my grandma’s savings.

Grandma died recently.

My Uncle Andy is barely keeping himself out of jail from day to day.

My brother left home, and won’t talk to us anymore.

Dad, now 73, had to go out to work to support the family, and eventually he is going to want me to do the same thing.

Yours sincerely,

Prince William

Obviously written by another other than the prince, possibly a critic or a friend, this is still continuing fodder for the academics and journalists. It also raises a self-critique in me. I’m not sure that civility is the most compassionate or best response to some of the governing and leadership structures flaunted not only in BCN, but many nations in today's warring world. Children are being victimized.

"A Lifetime in Waiting" was title of that earlier blog. Seems to me now that it is not only thinking but very much our thinking AND our doing which must be part and parcel of whatever we are waiting for.