Corona Diaries

Colin

“Of course, a lighthouse symbolises hope in the midst of the storms of life. Whereas some people hope the vaccine will prove to be their lighthouse, I can testify that Jesus is my lighthouse, even through my own personal experience of having covid.”

Background Information

Male, aged 32, Trainee History Teacher, Yorkshire, White, Married, Two children.

January 2021

Hi Mike,

I hope you are able to access my Corona Playlist and enjoy dipping into it. I do appreciate however that it is I think dozens of hours’ worth of music.

So, I have distilled it down to 12 songs, an LP worth if you like, with a short summary for each as to why I chose them to communicate my experience of living through this pandemic so far...

‘1. Christ Will Be My Hideaway The title says it all: this song is a Christian response to the pandemic which I love for its positivity in the face of such a bleak time in human history. It is written by Dr. Tim Chester of Yorkshire and Bob Kauflin of America, both of whom I've seen at Christian conferences over the years. It is based on a spiritualised reading of Psalm 91 in the Bible, rather than a literalist reading that naive religious people took to be a mantra to attempt to protect themselves from the virus. 2. Coope, Boyes and Simpson: Only Remembered Even though I'm a musical Christian, I only came across this old hymn through Coope, Boyes and Simpson, some folk singers I enjoy listening to. I believe it was my dad who told me that it was associated with WWI. I associate it with the war against coronavirus. British soldiers, fighting on the Western front, may well have sung 'Only Remembered' to remind themselves of an eternal, transcendent perspective on the horrors they were experiencing. I think in a very similar way, key workers today in the fight against the virus might find comfort in remembering the importance not just of 'doing the right thing', but also of following the Saviour who gives crowns (corona in some languages!) to those who follow Him. 3. Rend Co. Kids- My Lighthouse

I like this version not only because I have two young daughters, but because it has extra meaningful lyrics to the original by Gareth Gilkeson and Chris Llewellyn of Christian worship band Rend Collective. The analogy of a lighthouse is very emotive and meaningful personally and to my family. The last thing my uncle Roger wrote before he died several years ago was called The Lighthouse. Of course, a lighthouse symbolises hope in the midst of the storms of life. Whereas some people hope the vaccine will prove to be their lighthouse, I can testify that Jesus is my lighthouse, even through my own personal experience of having covid. I'm not negating the value of vaccines, I'm just saying that I believe that if we only have hope for this life, we are pretty hopeless in the face of inevitable death (unless Jesus returns first, according to my faith). 4. Waiting by Danny Elfman We might have naively assumed that this pandemic would unite humanity against a common foe. Of course, even recent history has proved that theory to be false. The Chinese Communist Party has sought to deflect slanderous Western Capitalist accusations. I love this song, from the film The Kingdom, because it recognises and celebrates our common humanity. One might assume that this film would be a simple good American Vs. bad terrorist narrative. But as this song plays, we witness the love the terrorist has for his father, and if we have any humanity, we recognise his humanity. 5. You Want It Darker by Leonard Cohen I disagree with the song title, seeming to accuse God of evil. However, as the honest and thoughtful swansong of a man facing his own mortality, it's powerful. 6. Lacrimosa by Mozart In a similar vein comes this song by Mozart, which is musically powerful and evocative as well. 7. Nuvole Bianche by Einaudi I remember a young man on The Voice being able to perform for his terminally ill father. The producers of the show played this song, and Kia Love's remix of Freya Riding's Lost Without You, to great emotional effect. 8. Paul Wilbur- The Watchman- Live I think we all have our own eschatological (end times) theories, whether we're religious or not. I think deep down we know that this materialistic, physical, temporal realm is exactly that: temporary. It's not enough to simply 'rage against the fading of the light'. We need to know what's going to happen when the Son shines again. I think Johnny Cash's Man Coming Round is a better consideration of apocalypse, but I relate to the

image of the watchman, as I characterise my writings as 'Watching Daily at Wisdom's Gates.' 9. House on a hill- passenger I love this song as a memory of a visit to a friend's family home during my university days. This song communicates that visit perfectly as a happy, yet wistful recollection of old friends.

10. Supermarket flowers Ed Sheeran Death is arguably the great taboo of our age, and this pandemic has forced us to confront it. I love Ed's gentle, reflective, hopeful depiction of how mundane the experience of the circumstances around the death of loved ones is, and how hopeful it can be. It reminds me of comedian Peter Kay's sketch about the wind blowing an empty crisp packet across the freshly dug grave of someone. The bystanders agree: it was his favourite flavour. At first glance, the sketch is an inappropriate attempt to lighten the mood of a tragic moment. I take it however as a parable that illustrates how we view everything through the prism of what we value. 11. Chimamanda - Favour I know my playlist is pretty heavy. I didn't want to make light of tragedy. But here's a lighter song to reflect the birth of my lockdown baby, whose name means 'God never fails'. His critics will of course question that fact with statistics of everyone who's ever died. But God doesn't owe us life. We owe Him our every breath. We can't ignore Him when the sun shines; and curse Him when it rains. 12. No one ever cared for me like Jesus- Steffanie Gretzinger Here's the most personal of them all, the soundtrack of my panic attack, which was a scary side effect of my personal battle with covid. Thankfully, my wife correctly diagnosed it, and sent me out into the garden for some fresh air. Irrational fear is arguably a worse plague than covid. If death is a form of sleep, what do we have to fear? But if judgement follows death, then fear of the Lord is a rational fear. Thankfully, God's perfect love drives out the fear of those who trust in Him.'