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Voices out of lockdown
Jan Sutch Pickard (ed)
www.ionabooks.com
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Contents of book © individual contributors Compilation © 2020 Jan Sutch Pickard First published 2020 Wild Goose Publications 21 Carlton Court, Glasgow G5 9JP, UK www.ionabooks.com Wild Goose Publications is the publishing division of the Iona Community. Scottish Charity No. SC003794. Limited Company Reg. No. SC096243. ISBN 978-1-84952-733-0 Cover image © Callum Redgrave Close | Dreamstime.com Other internal images © Jan Sutch Pickard All rights reserved. Apart from the circumstances described below relating to non-commercial use, no part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including photocopying or any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. Non-commercial use: The material in this book may be used non-commercially for worship and group work without written permission from the publisher. If photocopies of small sections are made, please make full acknowledgement of the source, and report usage to the CLA or other copyright organisation. For any commercial use of the contents of this book, permission must be obtained in writing from the publisher in advance via PLSclear.com. Jan Sutch Pickard has asserted her right in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this compilation and the individual contributors have asserted their rights to be identified as authors of their contributions. Overseas distribution: Australia: Willow Connection Pty Ltd, Unit 4A, 3-9 Kenneth Road, Manly Vale, NSW 2093 New Zealand: Pleroma, Higginson Street, Otane 4170, Central Hawkes Bay Printed by Bell & Bain, Thornliebank, Glasgow ®
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Contents Preface
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Introduction: Words, silence and the Word Nobody saw it coming Because
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We haven’t cancelled worship Through glass doors
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17
Beatitudes for these days In a time of Covid-19
19
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A poet imagines a seashore during lockdown Anosmia
25
Another walks beside Isolation
Hazel twigs
Refugee
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Listen to the stones
Now
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33 35
Good Friday
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Prayer – in every breath
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23
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We will not give in to fear (Psalm 23) We say farewell as best we can Resurrection will come
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I lift up my eyes (Lockdown Psalm) Unprecedented challenges Covid-19 haikus
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In perilous times
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43
47
Gathered and scattered
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From within dark times
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Touch
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57
Affirmation of faith (based on Psalm 130) God grace us Blessing
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We will meet
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Postscript: A local community speaks out of the lockdown About the authors Index of authors
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Preface These are the voices of a few people living through the Covid19 pandemic, and what government and media called ‘lockdown’, the restrictions imposed in European countries in March 2020. While using a word that many people will recognise, we acknowledge that it is abhorrent to some. None of this material was commissioned; it represents what a handful of people were moved to write, often with urgency, from the common ground of this crisis, which isn’t over yet. Much is still being written, in many languages, about experiences which people all over the world will recognise. There is so much powerful writing out there, right now, being published in different ways. What do we have to offer here that may be unique and useful? These writers are members and associates of the Iona Community, a radical ecumenical international movement with a down-to-earth approach to theology. Putting together this collection is an example of our ‘engaged spirituality’. It explores shared experiences and asks tough questions. Faith for these writers takes different forms, but doesn’t find easy answers. For the most part, because of length, we haven’t attempted to include prose, although from the Community and wider society we’re aware of reports, articles and reflections, which are well worth reading. Instead we focus on poetry, psalmody, prayer. There are repeating riffs on themes that touch us deeply. You’ll find here, however, two pieces of prose, written
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with care in all its senses, about the similar ministries of a hospital chaplain in the Netherlands and someone working in a hospice in the UK. These twin pieces give a glimpse of the ways that those who are part of the Community have responded to this crisis, using professional skills in medicine or counselling, and giving pastoral support. Others have been teaching children, giving on-the-ground neighbourly support, shopping, working with food banks, supporting campaigns for justice, reaching out to the lonely and helping folk to keep singing even when in isolation, producing online liturgy, and communicating, from podcasts to postcards. In this we are simply responding as so many other people of faith – and those who say they have none – are doing. Many positive things are happening in our communities at this time, and the Iona Community is learning from these as well as from the crisis and – at this crossroads – both taking action and reflecting. May the reflections that follow help all who read them. Some of these pieces first appeared in e-Coracle, the online magazine of the Iona Community (Neil Paynter, Ed.). My thanks to Neil for his patient, persistent and sensitive work in helping to bring together this collection at such short notice. Jan Sutch Pickard
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Introduction: Words, silence and the Word First there was the silence of thinking that an outbreak of disease on the other side of the world had little to do with us, preoccupied as we were with the climate crisis, the plight of refugees, and the chaos of Brexit: silence which was lack of response. Then there were the voices of those who saw more clearly what was coming: scientists, epidemiologists, hospital doctors, the World Health Organisation. Our response was the silence of not wanting to hear, or of questions hanging in the air. Then there was the clamour of our questions, of What will happen now? How much danger is there? Where is it? What can we do? How can normal life go on? Inside – the cold silence of fear. Then it was clear that the pandemic was upon us, among us, and lockdown was imposed. Communities were silenced by shock, of incredulity. And then, as each person or household ‘sheltered in place’, the silence of isolation broke upon us: a silence that roared in our ears. Many were completely alone. But even couples, families, were cut off from each other. Sure, we had phones, radio, TV, Internet, FaceTime, Skype … soon there were Zoom conferences being set up. There were daily briefings and hourly news bulletins, political bluster and breaking news. It was a perfect
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storm, and we were all at sea. But all this noise of a 21st century society in crisis couldn’t drown out the silence underneath – of loneliness and the fear of death. Into this chaos came words. Many people turned to writing: diaries, letters, cards, poems. Human words, sent out across the void of our isolation, shouted into the storm over which we had no control. What we could do was communicate with each other, raise our voices against the silence of separation, argue with our own doubts, call out to God, express our fragile hope. Here are the voices of just a few – with poems, psalms, songs, affirmations of faith and prayers written during ten weeks of lockdown in the spring of 2020, from mid-Lent to Trinity Sunday. We offer these human words believing that when the darkness seems overwhelming, light dawns; that into the silence of our worst fears, God speaks a living Word. Jan Sutch Pickard
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Nobody saw it coming – Liz Delafield ‘I wrote this as part of a Church Action on Poverty workshop. The first line was given in the workshop. I am a primary-school teacher. The final week before lockdown was an extraordinary experience. In England, schools have been open to keyworkers and vulnerable children throughout the pandemic. Now plans to open more widely are causing a great deal of stress.’ Nobody saw it coming. It changed everything. All those things that seemed important yesterday, Ofsted, SATS, spreadsheets of data, observations, suddenly wasn’t. We began to realise what was. People, keeping safe, being happy, little things like soap. May we always remember how it felt, when the unimportant important things came crashing down. Yet with them important important things. Like … a child’s hand held in safety, laughter of a game played together with friends, a trip to the zoo,
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lining up for school dinners, storytime and reading books (in real life, not online), walking with you and helping you grow, saying goodbye with hugs and handshakes. And when we emerge once again, instead of going back to normal, may we go ahead, remembering what we missed, and what we didn’t.
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Because – Jan Sutch Pickard because the government is banning gatherings in certain buildings where people may come too close, the church must be locked – it’s for our own good – and because I live nearest to the church, when the community’s in lockdown, that job has fallen to me – to fasten the sturdy oak door – but because I don’t have a key to a door that has never been locked and no one knows where it might be, I will need to put up a sign forbidding folk from crossing a threshold that most don’t anyway, because they see this place for funerals, weddings maybe – not private or public prayer and because I believe that these are all valid ways to use this building with its shabby holiness, I don’t want to turn anyone away; but because I’ve been asked I’ll do it, I’ll try, which is why I’m standing here, with a sign whipped about by a rising wind, trying to drive drawing pins into the solid oak, and my fingertips start bleeding; and I’m crying because
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We haven’t cancelled worship – Thom M Shuman ‘I wrote this piece in response to the concerns from other clergy about what might happen if we closed the buildings and cancelled worship (as if that was the most important thing on people’s minds).’ We haven’t cancelled worship; we’ve cancelled a religious service at a specific time, in a specific place, on a specific day, but folk will still worship God when they are caring for the grand-kids and walking their dogs; worship as they serve beside Jesus at foodbanks and pick up groceries for a neighbour; worship when they share the Spirit’s peace by singing songs over the phone to a parent; worship when they work from home; worship when they endure extra shifts in nursing homes and group homes; worship when they e-mail someone far away and wave to a stranger across the street; worship when they take toilet paper to a homeless shelter and volunteer at a polling place. We haven’t cancelled worship, just the ‘official’ part that may be the smallest part of it all.
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Through glass doors – Desirée van der Hijden Desirée is a Hospital Chaplain in the Maasstad Ziekenhuis in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She wrote this in March 2020 in the very early days of Covid-19 as a snapshot, after being asked to share her experiences. At that point in time, things were changing by the day, she says. Every day a bigger part of our hospital is in lockdown. It’s a steady flow of Covid-19 patients taking over the wards. We see our colleagues through glass doors and wave at them. We phone, leave them chocolate and flowers. The thing most people – relatives, patients who are awake but in isolation, and hospital staff – find very difficult is the isolation. Usually in times of crisis we come together, hug, share food. None of this is possible. I realise it’s the same for everybody outside – but the more you need emotional support, the harder it hits you when people can’t give you a hug. What we chaplains do is, every three or four days, phone relatives of people who are in the intensive care unit. Just to see how they are. We are setting up a system of phoning patients who are awake in isolation. Staff have asked people to bring in ‘baby-phones’ so that they can talk to them from outside their rooms and wave through the window in the door, because every time someone goes in, they have to change completely – we too are running out of masks and protective visors, so interaction is down to the basic minimum. We too would love to go in – but there simply isn’t enough protective material, so this is for doctors and nurses only, and for
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one visitor a day for each patient. Most partners of patients, of course, are at home in self-isolation. Our psychologists and social workers have set up a 24/7 support system for our staff. I myself have sent a lot of silly apps to staff I’ve known and worked with for 13 years. We miss each other. So what can you do yourself? I’m not advising you to start phoning relatives – unless maybe you’ve been close since childhood. Most of them will be too tired anyway and don’t need to talk about what’s happening all day. Send them a card, leave some flowers, and make it very clear you don’t expect an answer. If you offer help, be very specific. Not: ‘Call me if you need me.’ People seldom do. But: ‘Can I do your shopping tomorrow?’ Also, you might want to support any people you know working in medical professions by offering to cook and leave them a meal. And pray! For the living, for their relatives, for staff. And ultimately, don’t forget those who die. And look after their loved ones – today and next week and next year. In our hospital we have created a beautiful Garden for Remembering those who have died. We write their names on stones and light candles. We remember them – and we remember ourselves, that however hard we try, life, ultimately, is not in our power.
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Beatitudes for these days – Thom M Shuman ‘I have always been intrigued with how we can claim the Beatitudes and Psalms for our times.’ Blessed are they who wash their hands, for they shall hold living water; blessed are those who keep their distance, for they shall draw closer to God; blessed are they who self-quarantine, for they shall help others; blessed are those who do not hoard, for they shall feed families; blessed are those who sing songs to sheltering neighbours, for they shall be members of the heavenly host; blessed are parents who learn to teach at home, for they shall learn from their children; blessed are they who shop for older folk, for they shall receive everlasting thanks; blessed are the frontline health workers, for they shall be called healers of humanity.
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Wild Goose Publications, the publishing house of the Iona Community established in the Celtic Christian tradition of Saint Columba, produces books, e-books, CDs and digital downloads on: l l l l l l
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