There’s Something Else Here.
I reckon everyone can remember where they were when they heard the news that Queen Elizabeth the 2nd had died. Jeanine and I had just touched down at Tullamarine Airport after flying back from Singapore. There was a collective gasp and a solemn silence. It was unrehearsed, quite spontaneous and utterly authentic.
It was not only an acknowledgement of the person Elizabeth who had died, but also a respect for the position she held, to say nothing of the affection with which she was held.
It reminded me of that famous scene in the series ‘The Crown’ when, after King George has died, Queen Mary visits the new young queen. She performs a slow, creaking bow to signify that Elizabeth is no longer just ‘Lilibet’ or a family member; she is now the Queen of England. There is something else going on here.
And if you watch folk lined up to honour an important person, they will acknowledge in some form or another that they are in the presence of something more than just a human being. There is something else going on here.
Just as a bride and groom become something else and someone else after being married, so too the altar, the bread and wine cannot be the same, just as ‘Lilibet’ could never be the same.
You may have noticed that we do this a bit in Church as well. We bow, we sit, we stand. We show our respect, our love, our reverence outwardly and physically, for things that we know are invisible and are all the more potent because we cannot grasp them.
Some of us are a little more ‘creaky’ nowadays, but you’ll still find us outwardly showing, as best we can, that we believe that there is something/someone else going on here.