Thank you for your words, Jeff. I find your perspective so valuable. I live in Belfast and I've trying to process the Queen's death in context of where I live. I specifically chose to study here because of the history of division and conflict between traditionally Irish Catholic Unionists/Republicans and British Protestant Loyalists. And, naturally, the response to the Queen's death has been mixed. While Ireland itself generally views the Queen quite favorably, there is still resistance to British rule and the monarchy. Throughout the UK, anti-monarchy protesters are being arrested. The upcoming bank holiday for the Queen's funeral raises a lot of questions about which businesses will be open or closed and why. I never thought I would be living in the UK when the Queen passed, and I find myself trying to examine my own thoughts and feelings while also being mindful of the experience of those around me. And it's all quite complicated. But most of all, I am resisting the temptation to fall into binaries and just allowing the complicated tension to breathe and take up space, both inside myself and around me.
The binaries are so tempting! The particularities of Ireland are fascinating and, yes, complicated. In moments like these, folks are wrestling with generations and generations of deep longing and emotion—such human desires, including belonging and autonomy, respect and connection—in a way that's often unfamiliar and disorienting.
Thanks for sharing your interesting and informative family story. Reading this makes me wish I had more knowledge about my family's past, probably English.
Thanks, Jeff. I really appreciated your insights. Most of all, this particular piece helped me to get to know you better. Long live the Queen, the King, and Jeff Chu!!
So grateful for your wisdom and your story that go deeper than the social media shouting and controversies to whisper humanity and clarity back into our troubled spirits
i'm an american but regard the brits as our cousins, in "the special relationship." i am torn about the monarchy's future. i love the pageantry but recoil at news of the monarchy's vast wealth. the u.k. taxpayers are footing the bill for the queen's funeral events. yet, elizabeth's steady hand as head of state strikes me as a positive influence. she openly professed her christianity. --tom ozinga, gr mi
Thank you Jeff, I often appreciate catching a glimpse of your perspective. I’m British, living in Texas (corporate move. I’m not saying anything more than that) and the response to the Queen’s passing has been an interesting insight into my own sorrow at the Queen’s passing and the emotions of friends and neighbours around me. I always liked the Queen but could never gather the energy to feel anything about the British monarchy one way or the other. I think I’m a great disappointment to my American neighbours that I have never watched The Crown and that I don’t actually know what a Queen Consort is without googling it. It has been my stay in America that has awakened me to racial inequality and to take a step back and look at my own colonial past. As I learn more about America’s history, I hold it up as a lens to mine - my personal / family history and my ethnic history. Not sure what to do with that. Thank you for so eloquently giving voice to the questions that get stuck in my head. And for the reminder to look to God.
When I was living in England, it was striking to me how so much more discussion was about class than about race, though I know it is changing. And sometimes it really is helpful to be in a different cultural setting to gain a deeper understanding of one's origins. Thanks for your encouragement and support!
Hi Jeff. Your writing this week made me think of my own family’s mixed history of immigration to Hawai’i from Japan. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, my grandmother, who cooked for a Caucasian family, stopped wearing her kimono to serve dinner. My husband’s grandfather was incarcerated during WW2 because he ran a Japanese language school. His family didn’t know where he was for 3 years, and he returned a scarred man. I grew up more “American” and in my adulthood tried to catch up to learn about my Japanese cultural heritage (other than food), in which I have found breathtaking beauty. I have learned about the atrocities of the Japanese in China and Korea. I live in a place that was illegally annexed by the United States. When we are honest with ourselves and can acknowledge the good and bad, we will find that we all live by God’s grace. There is no other way that I know to deal with the good and bad in my heritage, in myself. And that compels me to extend grace to others, including the Queen. None of this is easy, but in my gut it feels true.
I don't know that there is any other healing way other than an ever-deepening understanding of what grace is and means—and that is so counter-cultural, in a world that desires retribution. One of my grandmothers was never able to forgive Japan for what was done during World War II; that hostility would bubble up at unexpected times and in unexpected places. Memory is a powerful thing. When it's unexamined and just left to fester, it can do such harm; when it's carefully considered and turned to healing, it can be so beautiful.
I know Jeff that you would prefer to be a private person. I’m a number six on the enneagram too. But I and many others are so grateful that you put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). You present to us a perspective that needs to be heard. Thank you.
Thank you for your thoughts. Lots to chew on. Familial ties to England, living in a commonwealth country and a connection to the Anglican/Episcopal Church, though understanding the complexity of the empire and its legacy. Still, it seems we’ve lost a kind of global steady hand, grandmotherly diplomat and a keeper of history. She is of similar vintage to my late grandmother, so there’s something of that loss in losing her as well.
I suspect that the Queen's age and people's tendency to identify her with beloved grandparents both have something to do with much of the grief we're seeing now.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences, which you have so clearly and wonderfully described. I am not a follower of the Royal family but the death of Queen Elisabeth II has moved me and made me want to know more about who they really are and what the future will be for Britain.
I also just want to say that I really enjoy and love how you write and express yourself, Jeff! Thanks so very much.
"A God who, with an endless thread of divine care, sews all our ragged strands of human story into a quilt of redemption." Wow, what an eloquent and achingly beautiful description of God's love.
I started reading this post because I still mourn the passing of Queen Elizabeth, and gravitate to any mention of her. But to come away with this gem is such a gift. It resonates with me as a Christian and as a quilter. Thank you, Jeff!
Thank you for your words, Jeff. I find your perspective so valuable. I live in Belfast and I've trying to process the Queen's death in context of where I live. I specifically chose to study here because of the history of division and conflict between traditionally Irish Catholic Unionists/Republicans and British Protestant Loyalists. And, naturally, the response to the Queen's death has been mixed. While Ireland itself generally views the Queen quite favorably, there is still resistance to British rule and the monarchy. Throughout the UK, anti-monarchy protesters are being arrested. The upcoming bank holiday for the Queen's funeral raises a lot of questions about which businesses will be open or closed and why. I never thought I would be living in the UK when the Queen passed, and I find myself trying to examine my own thoughts and feelings while also being mindful of the experience of those around me. And it's all quite complicated. But most of all, I am resisting the temptation to fall into binaries and just allowing the complicated tension to breathe and take up space, both inside myself and around me.
The binaries are so tempting! The particularities of Ireland are fascinating and, yes, complicated. In moments like these, folks are wrestling with generations and generations of deep longing and emotion—such human desires, including belonging and autonomy, respect and connection—in a way that's often unfamiliar and disorienting.
Thanks for sharing your interesting and informative family story. Reading this makes me wish I had more knowledge about my family's past, probably English.
Thanks, Jeff. I really appreciated your insights. Most of all, this particular piece helped me to get to know you better. Long live the Queen, the King, and Jeff Chu!!
So grateful for your wisdom and your story that go deeper than the social media shouting and controversies to whisper humanity and clarity back into our troubled spirits
i'm an american but regard the brits as our cousins, in "the special relationship." i am torn about the monarchy's future. i love the pageantry but recoil at news of the monarchy's vast wealth. the u.k. taxpayers are footing the bill for the queen's funeral events. yet, elizabeth's steady hand as head of state strikes me as a positive influence. she openly professed her christianity. --tom ozinga, gr mi
Thank you Jeff, I often appreciate catching a glimpse of your perspective. I’m British, living in Texas (corporate move. I’m not saying anything more than that) and the response to the Queen’s passing has been an interesting insight into my own sorrow at the Queen’s passing and the emotions of friends and neighbours around me. I always liked the Queen but could never gather the energy to feel anything about the British monarchy one way or the other. I think I’m a great disappointment to my American neighbours that I have never watched The Crown and that I don’t actually know what a Queen Consort is without googling it. It has been my stay in America that has awakened me to racial inequality and to take a step back and look at my own colonial past. As I learn more about America’s history, I hold it up as a lens to mine - my personal / family history and my ethnic history. Not sure what to do with that. Thank you for so eloquently giving voice to the questions that get stuck in my head. And for the reminder to look to God.
Thank you also for letting us subscribe AT LAST!
When I was living in England, it was striking to me how so much more discussion was about class than about race, though I know it is changing. And sometimes it really is helpful to be in a different cultural setting to gain a deeper understanding of one's origins. Thanks for your encouragement and support!
Hi Jeff. Your writing this week made me think of my own family’s mixed history of immigration to Hawai’i from Japan. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, my grandmother, who cooked for a Caucasian family, stopped wearing her kimono to serve dinner. My husband’s grandfather was incarcerated during WW2 because he ran a Japanese language school. His family didn’t know where he was for 3 years, and he returned a scarred man. I grew up more “American” and in my adulthood tried to catch up to learn about my Japanese cultural heritage (other than food), in which I have found breathtaking beauty. I have learned about the atrocities of the Japanese in China and Korea. I live in a place that was illegally annexed by the United States. When we are honest with ourselves and can acknowledge the good and bad, we will find that we all live by God’s grace. There is no other way that I know to deal with the good and bad in my heritage, in myself. And that compels me to extend grace to others, including the Queen. None of this is easy, but in my gut it feels true.
I don't know that there is any other healing way other than an ever-deepening understanding of what grace is and means—and that is so counter-cultural, in a world that desires retribution. One of my grandmothers was never able to forgive Japan for what was done during World War II; that hostility would bubble up at unexpected times and in unexpected places. Memory is a powerful thing. When it's unexamined and just left to fester, it can do such harm; when it's carefully considered and turned to healing, it can be so beautiful.
I know Jeff that you would prefer to be a private person. I’m a number six on the enneagram too. But I and many others are so grateful that you put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). You present to us a perspective that needs to be heard. Thank you.
Thank you for sharing your family's story in the context of global history.
Thank you for your thoughts. Lots to chew on. Familial ties to England, living in a commonwealth country and a connection to the Anglican/Episcopal Church, though understanding the complexity of the empire and its legacy. Still, it seems we’ve lost a kind of global steady hand, grandmotherly diplomat and a keeper of history. She is of similar vintage to my late grandmother, so there’s something of that loss in losing her as well.
I suspect that the Queen's age and people's tendency to identify her with beloved grandparents both have something to do with much of the grief we're seeing now.
Beautiful essay, Jeff.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences, which you have so clearly and wonderfully described. I am not a follower of the Royal family but the death of Queen Elisabeth II has moved me and made me want to know more about who they really are and what the future will be for Britain.
I also just want to say that I really enjoy and love how you write and express yourself, Jeff! Thanks so very much.
"A God who, with an endless thread of divine care, sews all our ragged strands of human story into a quilt of redemption." Wow, what an eloquent and achingly beautiful description of God's love.
I started reading this post because I still mourn the passing of Queen Elizabeth, and gravitate to any mention of her. But to come away with this gem is such a gift. It resonates with me as a Christian and as a quilter. Thank you, Jeff!