Video

Coronasilence – Tom Gregory

Watch this original, creative and very current spoken-word piece by Tom Gregory. CORONASILENCEI live in a society, whereUp until very recentlyThe concept of a pandemic was something that was largely academicIt existed on TV and onlineBut then I became infected with this thing called C-V-1-9Now, treat it seriously But best not to call 9-9-9And it hit me so imperiously like rayThat’s 6-1-9But mysteriously, when I was taken to a sanatoriumAnd they described that my delirium would become an afflictionStill they wouldn’t prescribe the DeLorianTo take me back to the future when this was still fictionSo it appears that we are living in a time where peace is past tense,Perhaps I should bow my heard in repentance Because we have all started to say things that are simply past sense I hear that even the footballers will starting to pay penanceSo truly, this is unprecedentedBut penny for your thoughtsCos I want to say something That has been less well representedYou see there’s this thing that is badgering meBut I don’t want to treat it like a badge of honourIt’s a scar casting a shadow over my mindLike the dark mark in Harry PotterSo wingardium leviosaI am so far gone with stressYou see what happens When a shadow of doubtPushes you into the valley of the shadow of death?This used to live in a great land But all I see is a wastelandMore empty than the charmless kiss of a wasteman,Where is my faith now?Cos I could be lifting my palms for thisSeeking God’s plan in the grace landWhere David is writing psalms for thisBut honestlyAll I can feel is the harm in thisAnd I have become so dysfunctional That I reject the wisdom of Simon PeterFor that of Simon and Garfunkel So I am afraid of coronavirus,But truthfully, my darkest fear is that I can’t cope with the sound of this silence. Now everybody is saying to meThat I should use this as an opportunity for realignment Put a chair up on the shore,Absorb some vitaminsAnd just appreciate the chillnessBut 5 minutes in, I send a flare upMan over boardBecause I need Ritalin Just to survive the stillness You see my great illnessIs that I’m always playing the victimApologising to people with my arms foldedI’m really sorry but I just don’t have time to fit you inFinally, I can kick back, kill some timeAnd stop the pillagingBut when it comes to free time I put my fists upCos all I wanna do is fill it inI could have followed the lamb away from the slaughterBut without my busynessI just feel like a fish out of waterSo if you’re telling me that the catch of the day is to stew in my own juiceWell truthfully, that sounds to me more like a Catch 22. Now this is all so disparaging But surely there must be an alternative narrative?My mind is working murcielago trying to make sense of the pestilenceAnd finally, I’ve met a man Who like Leonardo in The Revenant Literally put an embargo on deathThen carried the cargo of my malevolence You see Jesus saw my heartache So he took me on a man dateBecause I had a couple of questionsBut afterwards he gave me a mandateTo share a couple of blessingsHe sees us living in this interludeBut he’s not a back-bench MP trying to hide from viewRather, he’s an MVP down in the trenches trying to fight for youAnd although COVID has got us running for coverTrying to recover a bit of our former comfortStill he holds the compassCos even when I was east bound and downHis head never went West like Kanye’sCos you can’t put Jesus Into love lockdownAnd even when they tried to put him in the groundWith a blow that was supposed to finish him All his death served to doWas to rip apart a partitioning3 days later in the garden with Mary witteringWe follow a God Who is not in the habit of social distancing. So Corona might become overwhelmingBut from what I can tellGod won’t start chokingThe shops might get boarded upAnd they might even put our borders upBut his heart will remain openCos in my experience when God has spokenHe specialises in drawing beauty from things that were previously brokenSo where as social mediaWas this piranha that grows ever greedierThe Father’s heart moves ever speedierSo that one of the previous causes of emotional unhealth Has literally become a resource For relational wealthAnd as our leaders are brought to their knees Defaulting, whenever they’re asked to provide meaning In the meantimeOur key workers are exaltedAs we lift our shopkeepers up to the ceiling It is not just an instigation of feelingBut when we value individuals We embark on a process of reciprocal healing But I can see what I have started. A white guy trying to do a rap about catharsisThis is all getting a bit too Alan Partridge So for my departureI want to say that the orchestrator of natureWill never forget about our human nature And that sometimesThe most profound expressions of the CreatorAre found in the very essence of the goodness of human behaviour

Posted by Lifecentral Church on Saturday, April 11, 2020