"Alone Together"
poems for the Lockdown
by Silvia Purdie
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Pain is a tide
Pain is a tide that rises and falls pain not for myself but for the world silly to be hurting for people I don’t know situations I don’t want to imagine I wish I could pray “give it over to the Lord” “for my burden is light” light this is not the heaviness of death and hunger weighs on my breath more to come so much more to come flooding in on me wave after wave day after day building higher and higher Some anxieties are mine will my sons have jobs? is my Italian name-sake still alive? these I can stand but the nameless vastness of it all every number in the count every percentage in the economic projections swirls around me and pools in my heart Nothing much to be done I guess other than this this prayer of pain will not drown me maybe this is the mahi for today maybe just maybe it helps in some strange way in the big scheme of things for me and you to feel for the world (mahi is Maori for work) |
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Freedom in chains
Lock down Stay home Can’t drive to the park Stay away Shut the door Cannot go to church. Lord, we love our freedom our choice to go here or there. This is new and unwelcome this house arrest this solitary confinement. Lord, as our world closes down may our hearts open up. As we lose our freedom may we find our freedom in you in your vast space your eternity of compassion your galaxies of truth. Paul signed off his letter to Colossia saying “remember my chains”. He prayed for his friends and asked them to pray for him “that God will open to us a door for the word, that we may declare the mystery of Christ” (Col 4:3). And so we pray in our time of lockdown: God of all space and time open to us a door today. Living Word, walk through our walls. Freeing Word, speak out in every way to your people in every land to release their minds from chains of fear to open space in every conversation, every text, for grace to flow in mercy for the great mystery of you here with us, freedom in chains Amen. 
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Protection and contagion
We know of course, we know that faith is not hand sanitiser that Christ’s purchase of blood* does not buy us health insurance. But into our fear of disease Psalm 91 promises: You who live in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.” For he will deliver you from the deadly plague; You will not fear the terror of the night, or the pestilence that stalks in darkness. (Ps 91:1-6) Loving God, our refuge and our home, just what exactly is it that you promise us? For we know that we’re just as likely to catch this virus as anyone else, just as likely to die of it, gasping for breath. So how, exactly, will you deliver us from it? Covid cares not a whit for national pride, status or pretention, wishful thinking, faith, goodness or optimism. Those who love me, I will save; I will protect those who know my name. When they call to me, I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble, I will show them my salvation. (Ps 91:14-16) Jesus, my friend, hold my hand. I know your name, and you know mine. Jesus, my Lord, I trust you with this life of mine. I trust you with this church of yours, this family and this earth. You are with me. What could I possibly fear? *Acts 20:28, 1 Peter 1:18 |
All is loss
Philippians 3:7-11
Every breath is heavy
Everything has changed
There’s a theme of trouble
running through my veins
For the world has splintered
as it spins around
All the world is grieving
stuck inside our rooms
All is loss, all is loss
for the sake of Christ
Any gain I had
I now count as loss
Any pain we feel
we now share with him
through his crucifixion
to his living power
For his sake we suffer
in his name we stand
in our hands is nothing
only Christ, only Christ!
And the fear is stalking
as the numbers grow
as the stakes get higher
and nobody knows
how the world is changing
and how much is gone
that we took for granted -
dare we hope at all?
But we look for greening
that the earth might share
in the resurrection
from this death and loss
For his sake we suffer
in his name we stand
in our hands is nothing
only Christ, only Christ!
Philippians 3:7-11
Every breath is heavy
Everything has changed
There’s a theme of trouble
running through my veins
For the world has splintered
as it spins around
All the world is grieving
stuck inside our rooms
All is loss, all is loss
for the sake of Christ
Any gain I had
I now count as loss
Any pain we feel
we now share with him
through his crucifixion
to his living power
For his sake we suffer
in his name we stand
in our hands is nothing
only Christ, only Christ!
And the fear is stalking
as the numbers grow
as the stakes get higher
and nobody knows
how the world is changing
and how much is gone
that we took for granted -
dare we hope at all?
But we look for greening
that the earth might share
in the resurrection
from this death and loss
For his sake we suffer
in his name we stand
in our hands is nothing
only Christ, only Christ!