Collects in a Time of Virus – IV

Holy One who fears no fracture,
Lend your clarity to us for we are full of fear.
Already the abyss appears
Cracks in the earth, shifts in the ground we took for granted,
Now there is rupture
We do not trust our capacity to live.
That which is holy, divine, beyond us
frightens and allures us.
Call us to the mystery of the holy.

God of the despondent,
Who sees our tiredness at futile effort
Who knows that fear breeds phantoms,
help us we pray.
We are weary, and everywhere we turn
another impediment rises.
Our shoulders sag, the breath goes out of us.
In this stripped-back bareness, give us breath,
May we delight in our humanity, meet holiness anew.

Collects by Julie Perrin, published with permission.

Photographs by Ian Ferguson, published with permission.

JULIE PERRIN IS A MELBOURNE WRITER, ORAL STORYTELLER, AND ASSOCIATE TEACHER AT PILGRIM THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF DIVINITY. SHE KEEPS A WEBSITE, AND HER MOST RECENT BOOK IS TENDER. SHE LIVES AND WORKS ON WURUNDJERI LAND.

IAN FERGUSON IS MINISTER OF THE WORD AT BRUNSWICK UNITING CHURCH. HE TOO LIVES AND WORKS ON WURUNDJERI LAND.