By The Rev Robert A Hamilton

ON Monday, May 18 a village stepped out, safely lined the streets and fell silent as a funeral cortege left the family home. Kept away from the service itself because of the necessity of social distancing, the villagers who knew the deceased well only broke the silence to applaud a larger-than-life character who had touched their lives and the life of the village as well as the life of his family.

The power of this silence came from a community coming together as one to pay tribute to one of its sons who had died in hospital of complications from Covid-19. The silence was a powerful reminder to the family that they, without the usual visits, hugs and handshakes, were still embraced in love by those around them.

Something similar happened just over two weeks before when a whole street came out, suited and booted for a funeral service, to stand in silence as the widow and daughter made their way to the crematorium for the funeral service. Again, the silence was powerful in the tribute it made, a tribute without words, to one who had lost the battle against Covid-19. It was powerful for the family that day because unlike normal circumstances when neighbours would have jumped into cars and followed them, they left the street on their own.

In 2010 the British Legion emphasised the importance and power of silence in the release of a single called “2 Minute Silence”. Chris Simpkins, the-then Legion’s director-general, spoke about the significance of this. “Rather than record a song, we felt the UK public would recognise the poignancy of silence and its clear association with remembrance,” he said.

It is a silence that speaks volumes in remembering, remembering those who have died and those who are left. It is a silence that speaks volumes of love, encouragement and compassion, an expression beyond words. It is a silence that in the “new normal” where families do not have the same support because of physical distancing know that they are still embraced in love.

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard in his support of a national memorial in The Herald recently spoke about what is happening here in Airdrie as a number of people now fall silent at 8pm on a Sunday night. This is an attempt to show that not only friends and neighbours care but also that a community cares and the hope that this might be replicated nationally not sometime in the future but now when it matters the most. Such a national lament would act as a release as well as speak volumes of a nation which cares for those who are left to pick up the pieces as we draw alongside them.

Attempts have been made to make this go “viral” but the silence it has generally been met with has been deafening.

Can the deafening silence be broken by a silence that speaks volumes? Can it be broken with a silence that actively listens to the many voices crying out in these awful times? Can it be broken with a silence that leads to action, an action of coming together and staying together?

Remembering is a bringing together – of memories, of love, support and compassion, of communities and of a nation. It is in this togetherness that we will get through and get beyond.

The Rev Robert A Hamilton is Minister of the New Wellwynd Parish Church of Scotland, Airdrie