This post is in response to the many articles and social media tweets wrestling with the monarchy’s influence in the 2nd Elizabethan age, particularly throughout the commonwealth. Some overpraise while others deny her praise, with those in the middle trying to make sense of both: Elizabeth the matriarch, and Elizabeth the symbol and head of monarchy, the British empire and maintainer of the status quo. Elizabeth the steadfast.
When Elizabeth was a little girl she was asked by a reporter what she would like to be when she grows up; she responded I should like to be a horse.
Instead, she was called to sacrifice her dream for personal freedom and enslave herself to the traditions and expectations of the monarchy.
Today in Canada is the national day of truth and reconciliation where we as a nation take the time to remember the impacts of colonialism on Canada's aboriginals, particularly those who suffered and died in the residential school system. Thus, while Elizabeth's funeral is done and dusted and the world has moved on, there is no better time for the Church to take a moment and reflect on her reign.
Do we praise her for her dedication to public service, her personal faith, her poignant sense of humour and her voice of calm and steadfastness in turbulent times? Or, do we reject her because of the atrocities of colonialism and her determination to maintain the status quo of the monarchy? We needed her steady hand and nations groaned under its weight. How are we to make sense of this?
I agree with biblical scholar Walter Wink’s statement that any [Christian] attempt to face the problem of evil in the world must be bound to our understanding of the Powers and their role in sustaining and subverting human life. This has never been truer today in our attempt to make sense of Elizabeth.
The Powers
New Testament authors often speak of the Powers and Principalities. What are these, where do they come from, and what do we do with them? My upcoming course Calling answers these questions in more detail, but I summarize some of them for you here.
According to Wink, the concept of the Powers for interpreting our social reality are identified as institutions, structures and systems. The powers are both an outer, visible structure (buildings, computers, paperwork, people) but they also have an inner, spiritual reality.
This inner spirituality is often described by words such as the organization's culture– it's the felt or intuited qualities that the organization holds.
For example, in the 1st century, there were Jews and Christians who perceived in the Roman Empire a demonic spirituality that they called Sammael or Satan. Yet they encountered the spirit in the actual institutional forms of Roman life: legions, governors, crucifixions, payments of tribute, Roman sacred emblems and standards. The spirit that they perceived existed right at the heart of the empire.
An example of this would be the palpable evil in the air that hangs over land during times of war or the pervading atmosphere of an organization that has toxic leadership.
Wink’s thesis put simply is this:
The Powers are good. The Powers are fallen. The Powers will be redeemed.
These three statements must be held together, says Wink; as we cannot affirm governments or businesses [or monarchs] to be good unless at the same time we recognize that they are fallen.
Yet, we cannot face their oppressiveness unless we remember that they are, at the same time, part of Yahweh’s good creation.
And reflection on their creation and fall will appear to legitimize these powers and blast any hope for change unless we assert, at the same time, that these Powers can and must be redeemed.
The Powers have been created in, through, and for the humanizing purposes of Yahweh; that is, they have been created for the benefit and flourishing of humankind.
One way of describing their fall is that the Powers are the spirituality of systems and structures that have betrayed their divine vocations.
Domination System
The domination system, a term coined by Wink, is used to indicate what happens when an entire network of Powers becomes integrated around idolatrous values. Satan, therefore, is the name given to the world-encompassing spirit of the Domination System.
It's been naïve, therefore, of some denominations, to turn the Powers solely into personalized demonic beings whose primary agenda is to tempt and destroy individual souls while ignoring the mammoth and crushing evils of our day; racism, sexism, political
oppression, ecological degradation, militarism, patriarchy and economic greed.
Quoting Wink directly, this scenario is Pentecostal naivete writ large on the universe. As a daughter of Pentecostalism, I conquer. This isn’t to say that the demonic doesn’t play a role in our personal lives, but when the Powers become obsessed over in this way, it can be used as a brilliant tool for distraction.
At the same time, equally naive, says Wink, is the refusal of many in the Church today, blinded by the materialistic age in which we live, to recognize the reality of the demonic role of the Powers in the list above.
We should not want to remain ignorant of the role of the Powers in the world, or else we remain ignorant of our compliance with them.
Aligning with the rebellious Powers
Yahweh and Mother Sophia (see link below) knew that aligning ourselves with fallen and rebellious Powers turns our allegiance away from our original vocation; children of the Most High. This is why in Samuel 8:6-18, Yahweh tried to persuade the Israelites against having an earthly King...
...Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.”
Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still, others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves.
I remember having a conversation with a fellow classmate at University who was convinced that colonialism was invented by Christianity. On the contrary, the church has just been guilty of betraying its own divine vocation by aligning with the narrative of the old and true fallen Powers.
Domination is not a new concept. It’s been around since the Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Persians, Macedonians, the Romans. Eventually along came the British Empire who were just following a well-known path of dehumanization where a few at the top benefit from the majority at the bottom.
Nationalism and the MonarchySure
Nationalism is inescapably tied to all forms of domination, including the monarchy. Nationalism cannot accept the existence of a Power higher than itself, so it must destroy, or at the very least avoid, any form of Christian faith that goes beyond cultural inheritance. Therefore, traditions, rites, customs and symbols of Christianity are used only insofar as they enhance the power of the wealthy and the goals of the nation.
This is why it was ok, even commended, for the Queen to have a personal relationship with Jesus–the personal always emphasized in her speeches. As long as she didn’t stir the pot. As long as she remained a good host to her visiting dictators for the good of the British empire. As long as she remained silent about economic or racial systematic injustice– the monarchy would be allowed to maintain its position of power.
This is why the commonwealth’s new King Charles III tried to quell fears that he would use his position to promote his favourite causes (climate change). When asked if his public campaigning would continue as King, in his own words he responded…No, it won't. I'm not that stupid.
And, this is why the new British prime minister can read from the Bible at the Queen's funeral–and still hold the economic, environmental and social policies that she does, without wincing.
But domination and the idolatry of the nation-state is not our story. The whole biblical narrative from Genesis to Revelation is about the Holy Three (Yahweh our Father, Wisdom Sophia our Mother and Jesus our Brother) guiding us away from domination towards mutuality and self-sacrificial love. It's also about our ongoing unwillingness and failure to participate in Yahweh's story--and Their determination not to give up on us.
...Creator chose the tribe to be a light to other nations, but they failed to keep His peace treaty, broke His laws, and misrepresented Him to others. He sent many prophets to turn the hearts of the tribes back to the right ways of the Great Spirit, but they did not listen, and their hearts became like stone..." (-The First Nations Version: An Indigenous translation of the New Testament-)
Elizabeth the Steadfast; her fall and her redemption
Elizabeth II actively participated in the system of injustice. Her royal crown, the symbol of her reign, holds the world's most expensive diamond stolen by British colonizers in India. The jewels, says one of her subjects, represent a history of coercion, subjugation, loot, loss, and grief. She never attempted to change the system, rather she continued to benefit from the empire’s violent colonization of African, Asian and Caribbean nations and their diasporas. She did everything she could to maintain the system as it was. Her narrative was nationalism in the name of Israel's God. In this way, Elizabeth the steadfast was her fall.
Yet, in other ways, her steadfastness was also part of her redemption story. Elizabeth revealed our hunger for constancy in a world of turmoil and change. Her faithfulness to a demanding role revealed our human need for constancy and for matriarch; a Mother figure who rules with firmness and gentleness, kindness and humour. Who in the face of chaos, reminds us to be calm and carry on, and one to whom we can go to for wisdom and guidance.
It was here that she both reflected and pointed us to the One who has been around since the beginning when She hovered over the waters. The One who teaches us stillness. The One who truly seeks justice for those used and abused by our broken systems. The One who cries out...
...How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings...
The rainbow that appeared over Buckingham Palace while mourners gathered was not a sign and symbol pointing to Elizabeth's faithfulness, just as it wasn't intended to point us to Moses. Rather it was a reminder of the hope we have in Wisdom Sophia; our Matriarch. The strength and stay of all who seek Her.
I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. Do not put your trust in princes; in human beings who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God. He is the maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them-- She remains faithful forever. Psalm 146:1-
Elizabeth II, faithful defender of the faith? No. A prisoner of the system, like all of us, yes. Free now to ride among the wild horses, side by side with all of those broken by domination. Together, somewhere in that land over the rainbow, they are our cloud of witnesses who pray for our redemption from these chains. One day, says our hope, this groaning creation will be renewed.
In the meantime, those of us still living and breathing in a world that is not yet restored, must continue in our struggle of honouring, criticizing, resisting and calling the powers back to their original vocation.
With Mother Wisdom Sophia guiding us and leading us, who can be against us?
References
Walter Wink: Wink, Walter, Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination; Redemptive violence and the natinal security state, location 404-494 , kindle edition.
First Nations Version: An Indigenous translation of the New Testament https://firstnationsversion.com/book/first-nations-version/
Photos
Queen on horse as a little girl: https://www.insider.com/queen-elizabeth-owned-more-than-100-horses-look-at-lifelong-passion-deathhttps://
Rainbow over buckingham palace: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-08/double-rainbow-appears-over-buckingham-palace-as-crowd-gathers-to-mourn-queen#:~:text=A%20double%20rainbow%20has%20appeared,appeared%20after%20a%20heavy%20downpour.
Music: Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwoʻole 1959-1997: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FQQRYVhIVA
King Charles III: www.reuters.com/world/uk/an-outspoken-prince-king-charles-may-have-bite-his-tongue-2022-09-09/
Upcoming Courses
If you'd like to stay updated with my latest posts and hear about upcoming courses that delve deeper into the themes of deconstructing and reconstructing the Biblical story, please subscribe to my mailing list by filling out the form below.
