Live Music from Gary Kemp, and Mo Gilligan

I’ve been rather cautious returning to general society. But recently, for the first time since 2019, I tiptoed out, to the cinema. But “cut” – it didn’t work out as planned. I’m a big film fan – this was a return to my happy place, my quiet place – well it was actually A Quiet Place Part II: ‘This time it’s even quieter’.

But it didn’t stay quiet. It’s been a while since I’ve been to the flicks, so when I accidentally booked a ‘4DX’ ticket, I didn’t know what 4DX meant. I thought 4DX was like 4K – enhanced, hi-def picture quality. I’m naïve. For years I thought IMAX was to do with hair removal.

But no, turns out, my 4DX cinema ticket was not just visual. The seats moved! Onscreen an alien breathed down the neck of our hero, so a blast of air hit the back of my head, then the backs of my knees. And I was wearing shorts! Most unnerving. During car chases, my chair jolted left and right. A character ran – my chair jogged up and down with her!

After 18 months of home comfort and security, this assault on the senses, this wild throwing-about of whatever a 4DX cinema seat is... was unexpected, unpredictable, like the outside world can be.

A vicar friend of mine has been puzzling out how to plan ahead – how his church can welcome back EVERYONE, including those anxious, vulnerable, uncertain about a seat in church surrounded by others – although it won’t throw you around like my cinema seat did. He’s considering masked and unmasked seating areas, like smoking and non-smoking areas we had in restaurants – remember those? When Monday comes, so-called Freedom Day, many of us won’t be ready yet – but perhaps all of us could be ready to welcome the rest.

It reminds me of the Parable of the Lost Sheep: The shepherd, or God, going out of his way to search for the missing one percent. In days ahead, I think ‘shepherd thinking’ could benefit all of us. Some cinemagoers won’t return to cinemas, some churchgoers won’t return to church. I pray we don’t forget those we can’t see, those emerging slowly. The outside world can be a quiet place, a noisy place, an unpredictable place – but hopefully a place for all of us.