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 the hustle and bustle a couple weeks ago was the annual Renewal of Vows service for rostered leaders (pastors and deacons) in our Northeastern Ohio Synod. Of course, if you ventured onto social media then, you would have seen our sister synods providing the same time and space for their church leaders: from our neighboring Northwestern Ohio Synod to the Northwest Washington Synod. The idea was for all these ministers to have a bit of…“be still and know [God] is God” amidst the Holy Week hustle and bustle, for starters. The actual renewal of vows was for these relatively new and veteran clergy and all in-between to hear, yet again, the vows they professed at their ordination. It’s a time of re-centering, a time of solidarity, a time of tending to the soil of our heart.
I remember being rather enamored with the last one. Granted, we Lutherans do some ministry and church things well, but with all the flack we have given to our Roman Catholic siblings in Christ the last half millennia, they do their fair share rather well, too. Of course, there’s their charitable organizations helping those in impoverished circumstances and many people who have been given up on by nearly everyone else, and they do some what we call “high church” worship experience fairly impressively with their beautifully crafted cathedrals and chanting and incense among other things (not everyone’s cup of Sunday morning tea, I understand). But the conclave, where the highest of higher ups in the Roman Catholic Church throughout the world gather in the Sistine Chapel to determine their leader…that’s a whole ‘nother level of organized religion interest that I’m not so sure anything else can quite touch.
The readings for this Wednesday in Holy Week include a beloved passage for many children of God: Hebrews 12:1-3.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.
3Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart.
There’s something rather calming about after all the children finally cave in for bed time, and the toys and books can be put away in a somewhat organized fashion, or the cups can be neatly stacked before the youngest one knocks them down the next morning; and, at least for a couple rooms in the house, some sense of order and perhaps even some peace and tranquility is restored. There’s something almost triumphant about it: that no matter how chaotic the day had been, somehow peace, in the end, can still reign.
