Tomorrow (May 8), the wider church celebrates Julian of Norwich; considered one of the most important children of God in enhancing the spiritual life.You can obviously do your own research on her life from over half a millennia ago (although, unfortunately, we don’t know much), but from the Friends of Julian of Norwich based out of her native England:
Julian of Norwich (1342-c.1416) is known to us almost only through her book, The Revelations of Divine Love, which is widely acknowledged as one of the great classics of the spiritual life. She is thought to have been the first woman to write a book in English which has survived…[It] is based on a series of sixteen visions she received on the 8th of May 1373. Julian was lying on, what was thought at the time, to be her deathbed when suddenly she saw Christ bleeding in front of her. She received insight into his sufferings and his love for us.
Amidst anyone’s internet researching is the massive stockpile of images pulling out quotes from her text that has grown in popularity in recent decades, as more and more people have become interested in different expressions of spirituality. Some will even post her quotes on their social media pages at times for their calming nature amidst the usual chaos found online. Perhaps the most copied-and-pasted is this: “all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”
Of course, hopefully enough of us remember our persistent teachers, who would always encourage us to go to those lovely primary sources, as opposed to solely relying on whatever is said on Facebook or Instagram or whatever search engine pops up. So, for a bit of the surrounding context:
In my folly, before this time I often wondered why, by the great foreseeing wisdom of God, the onset of sin was not prevented: for then, I thought, all should have been well. This impulse [of thought] was much to be avoided, but nevertheless I mourned and sorrowed because of it, without reason and discretion.
But Jesus, who in this vision informed me of all that is needed by me, answered with these words and said: ‘It was necessary that there should be sin; but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.
These words were said most tenderly, showing no manner of blame to me nor to any who shall be saved.
And perhaps reading a little bit beyond the famous quote helps us recognize the complication of all this. After all, part of the growth of spirituality in recent decades, and not always leading to the same growth in organized religion, is the struggle some people have with the church’s dependence on the clichés, the refrigerator magnet/bumper car sticker minimizing the depth of the Gospel. It’s not just that more than enough people recognize that, with all due respect to the beloved Julian of Norwich, but…no, not “all shall be well.” Plenty of life happenings not just on the internet and social media and the national and international stages, but in far-too-close-to-home for many: not “all shall be well.”
Granted, the church is usually more than eager to talk about the sin part of the surrounding context. And the debate continues as to how much we attribute that to Adam and Eve or our own personal condition or some other evil force (the devil or whatever you wish to call it), but whatever it is from the other or ourselves or humanity, sorry, Julian of Norwich, not “all shall be well.” However, that doesn’t mean there still isn’t hope.
And we’re not just talking about the hope when Christ returns to, in fact, fully enact “all shall be well” in the ultimate shalom (wholeness) through the peace of God beyond our human understanding. Instead, we’re also talking about hope now. We’re talking about people who know more than their fair share of their own circumstances not being well, to say the least, but still being galvanized by this Resurrection and God’s joy over us and the grace and the new life and all the Gospel has to offer. We’re talking about God thriving in people who will witness all the unpleasant not-so-good-news on their screens and right in their very midst, and cannot help themselves but spring into love-embodied action…eerily similar to the one from Nazareth long ago.
Another part of Julian’s writing includes this, oddly enough: “[God] did not say, ‘You shall not be perturbed, you shall not be troubled, you shall not be distressed,’ but he said, ‘You shall not be overcome.’” And I wonder if that’s what more of the world is looking for from the church: that we recognize that not all is well with the world. And that we will not minimize the feelings of fear and worry and pain and anguish and seemingly insurmountable anxiety about dwindling resources and seemingly relentless hatred and uncertainty about the future, to name a few. Instead, we will follow the Risen Lord in compassion, joining children of God in their struggles as opposed to saying, “all shall be well,” because not every matter of life will be miraculously transformed to well-ness. And if it doesn’t, we will do our utmost best to be a living embodiment of Christ to them: the Christ of joining in the weeping and the frustration and, when the time comes, to lift them up with Resurrection insistence. For however long it takes, we will help them believe the Gospel conclusion: “You shall not be overcome.” Amen (so let it be)!
In Christ,
Pastor Brad
For further information about Julian of Norwich, please visit: julianofnorwich.org