The phrase ‘the importance of listening’ in the information about the recent Open Afternoon offered by the Margaret Beaufort Institute, brought to mind a conversation about lighter mornings and increasing amounts of sunshine now bringing early birdsong into consciousness as we wake: green finch, great tit, robin, and others. Now, I can identify the distinctive call of the great tit, which sounds like a bicycle pump, but not many others. What I hear is a generally pleasant sound of birdsong heralding the day, which lifts my spirits with its promise of spring.
And, of course, birdsong was one of the things people noticed and enjoyed as we went into the first Covid lockdown five years ago on 23 March. In the midst of our world being turned upside down, being separated from our families, friends, colleagues, usual routines and occupations, we sought out signs of hope.
We listened to news bulletins, pronouncements, TV addresses, and Press briefings; to radio broadcasts from presenters’ home, kitchen discos, Queen Elizabeth II’s address in April – and again to her Christmas Day broadcast – virtual church services, video calls, and online meetings, appeals to ‘Stay Home, Protect the NHS, Stay Safe’, then, eventually, calls to ‘Eat out to Help Out’ and, thankfully, to make appointments to be vaccinated.
The messages we heard as we listened were different on occasions, depending on how we were feeling at any given time. Sometimes it was difficult to hear the hope within the gloom. As with birdsong, we had to listen hard to distinguish the detail, and it got lost sometimes.
The full impact of the Covid pandemic may not be known for many years, and many voices are being listened to during the ongoing enquiry. That takes me back to that Open Afternoon information and another phrase, ‘not to be heard is not to be’. Chaplaincy is a place of listening, listening to detail, and hearing what is really being said, so that people can be.
April 2025