London Bridge is down. . .

Words that once gave the coded announcement of the death of the Queen have become the words which acknowledge the death of what was once greatness in Britain.  I for one am sad for it.  In many respects, the death of the Queen has either hastened it all or made it more obvious.  I am not sure which.  On the one hand are the images of Britain that we tend to see.  It is an increasingly secularized state in which the state church is largely a shell of its former self and in which agnostic and atheist seem to be able to live together with believers because they both value tradition and ceremony.  The Brits have always done an exceptionally good job of that.  But the ceremonies done so well cover the lost of much of what was once underneath it all.  Resolve and faith were hallmarks of British life and were put to the test during WWII and this small island nation seemed uniquely poised to flaunt the Nazi onslaught when other nations fell swiftly and easily under its grip.

The King is perhaps well meaning but chafed under the long life of his mother and the denial of the crown until age and disease have made him seem not simply late to the party but less than ready for prime time.  Perhaps I read too much into the tabloid stories and The Crown.  I hope so.  But the grand universities of this great empire are just as much bastions of wokism and liberalism as they are here.  The government too wedded to DEI causes over the old virtues that once held this diverse empire together.  The nation too comfortable with government money and more proud of the National Health Service than just about anything else.  Is that all there is?  This is a hard thing for an anglophile like me to ask but it must be.  Has Britain become a mere caricature of its once robust self?

It was painful to watch as the monarchy and government pandered to President Trump as if the nation of Elizabeth II and Churchill had become a mere lapdog to whoever happened to be in the White House at the moment.  A strong and profound alliance requires more than a mere echo of one opinion but a strong conversation.  Europe long ago lost its voice and identity over a Common Market, common currency, and common commitment to progressive democratic socialism.  It would seem that across the Channel things are not far behind.  The reality is that the Christian history of Britain, like that of the continent, has become a footnote and legacy -- something you prefer not to mention except in small print and something you spend half your time repenting of in order to prove you are on the right side of culture's drift. The vibrant voice of Europe and England is more Islam than Christianity and the dominant issues are more about taking care of people so they do not have to than the strong virtues of honesty, integrity, faith, and service.

This is a lament because as Europe has gone and England is headed, Canada is soon to follow.  Though Canada remains divided between its east and west, the liberal causes are there enshrined into law and not open to change.  We will be there soon unless we learn that conservatism implies that there is something to conserve and something worth conserving.  Our children are learning well their values from media and liberal educational policies and institutions.  Yes, we have alternatives and there is an actual resurgence among young men wishing to be men of virtue again but these are small numbers in comparison to those who have drunk the poison of liberalism and progressivism.  We must not simply pass on the faith to our children but also pass on virtue and honest reason unclouded by ideology and falsehood.  We must do more than merely give our children a good home but nurture their minds and their hearts in this home within the truth of God's Word and what is goodness.  We must teach them to resist and respond to the confused voices of academia who mouth the mantras of liberalism without either understanding what they are saying or seeing where it is headed.  London Bridge may be down but perhaps the George Washington is as well and countless others are falling.  Our future does not lie in the triumph of desire and individual autonomy but in truth that is also a scandal and service that gives more than it expects in return.  With the faith, we must teach our people well or Africa may be alone in resisting the  reinvention of self, marriage, and family as well as who Jesus is and what He has accomplished and what we should look like in Him.