QE1, Sisinnius, and Gwen Paulton

On this day in 708 Sisinnius was elected pope. He reigned for only three weeks before he died. He is of interest to me because of how little was known about the man. What was known was that he had terrible gout, so bad that he could not even feed himself.

That I find interesting as I have the same affliction….except as most can see I have no problem feeding myself. Thankfully there has been no flare up of gout in the past while. In any event three weeks is not a long time to be pope, or anything else for that matter.

In 1559 Queen Elizabeth the first was crowned queen on this day. She was pivotal in shaping the Church of England. While predecessor had brought the church back to Rome QE1 made acts of legislation allowing for the rise of the Church of England. She also worked closely with Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury to write the 38 articles of the faith for the church. She is a great figure in the history of the church and finished her reign as queen viewed as a great success.

Today was here at this moment a great day to pray for those who need our prayers. There was an ordinariness to today, but it was a necessary ordinariness. Gwen Paulton was “Queen Mum” to Rob and Sue Paulton. She will be buried tomorrow and today was a day of prayer for me for Sue and Rob and for all of their extended family. Of course in a special way we pray for Christian and Christie Paulton. Gwen is Christian’s Grandmother and as such she must have been a huge influence on him. One thing is for certain, you see when you meet people, ;like Christian, like Sue and Rob and Christian’s siblings Bonnie and Hannah, you know that you have met some of God’s good servants. I have learned that people do not get to be who they are by accident and clearly Gwen had a great [art in making such a great family. Please keep the Paulton’s in your prayers as they prepare to say farewell to Gwen tomorrow. I know how much they all care as a family for others and I do hope that we can take these next moments and days and care for them. Let this be a reminder to you; ““Love is stronger than death even though it can’t stop death from happening, but no matter how hard death tries it can’t separate people from love. It can’t take away our memories either. In the end, life is stronger than death.” I have no idea who first wrote or said that but I believe it to be true. Love and life are stronger than death. We prayer for all who grieve especially tonight we prayer for the Paultons’