Resources for remembrance of those who have died with Covid-19 and for reflecting on Good Friday this year
On the anniversary of the first lockdown, 23 March, Newcastle Anna Chaplain, Joan Grenfell, conducted a service of Light, Thanksgiving and Reflection in her local care home, Craghall.
Joan reports that the service was well attended, with ten residents and four care staff present.
'The emotional response shown by residents and staff is, I think, an indication of how necessary this service was. The reading out of the names of those residents who had lost their lives to the virus was an especially poignant part of the service.
'Some staff members had lost residents they had cared for seven days a week. Sometimes for years. I was conscious of how important this service was for the staff in giving them an opportunity to acknowledge their grief and to put it in a Christian context of future hope.'
Joan explained that their 'previous Associate Priest, Pauline Pearson, wrote a final poem' for the Order of Service. 'I asked if she could write one to reflect the situation we were remembering. She came up trumps. I think what she has written is beautiful and completely captures the past year and the future hope':
Invisible
It began, quietly, In that sunny spring,
When we could still see
Friends, sit together, talk,
Do crosswords and drink tea.
Then chatter stilled
No visitors allowed
Birdsong through the open window,
Sounded loud
In the silence.
Meals served and eaten apart
Familiar comfort.
The taste of tea
And scones;
Small sandwiches, filled
With meat or paste;
Red white and blue
Iced cakes too,
To celebrate Victory past
Sometimes, familiar voices
Echo from a screen
Sharing the news
Of births, and deaths …
Too many deaths:
A cohort of companions Lost.
An interconnected community
Of pain.
But now, Light brightens.
Soon perhaps
We will reach out again
To a familiar hand,
Hear a child’s laughter
Unrestrained,
Share companionship and bread,
Reach out and hug
Our neighbours,
Plant seeds for future flowers,
Sketch hopes, dream dreams,
And breathe love.
Pauline Pearson
Meanwhile, Joan has also devised a ‘Thought for Good Friday.’ She said, 'Our staff team were asked to offer a thought to be put on our website for the three hours on Good Friday. This was my thought, which my vicar kindly made into this image. I plan to have it made into postcard size cards to take in to care homes for residents and staff.'
