On May 8th 1373, a woman in Norwich had a series of revelations which she was later to write down in two versions.
These texts have come down to us and are known as the short and long versions of A Revelation of Divine Love. The woman is known to many as Julian of Norwich and we will be celebrating her feast on the 8th May. Little is known about the first English writer. For a while it was thought that even her name was not her own but taken from the church where she was incarcerated as an anchoress. Fourteenth century Norwich was a very different world from the one we inhabit today, where the state of one’s soul rather than one’s bank account was centremost. For some, like Julian, the desire to live a wholly God focussed life meant they sought the way of the anchorite. It was quite a commitment for a parish to take on an anchorite or anchoress, for it meant meeting the everyday needs of someone who had undergone the funeral rite and been enclosed into a small room abutting the church. In return, the anchoress would bring cudos to a place and from the heavily veiled window which opened onto the world would give spiritual advice to everyone who came to seek it.
Julian’s writings are remarkable not because of the descriptions of her visions focussed around the cross but for the theology she spent nearly twenty years distilling from them. Many of you will know the line ‘all shall be well, all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well’ but this is just the tip of the iceberg and as used today does little justice to the deep fundamental problems of faith that she grappled with. One of these problems is often deftly sidestepped during this time of the year and that is the resurrection. It’s often seen as the sticking point for many, the get out clause or pious crutch of faith. Good Friday is the time when we stand before the cross of Christ and ponder the extent to which God goes to show his love for us. In his pain and suffering, in his prayer of desolation, in his submitting to our sin, Christ reveals that Love himself is there in our darkest, cruelest selves bring healing and forgiveness. It is as if for a moment we had courageoulsy named our fear, our pain, our vulnerability, our darkness only then to have someone say those most destructive of words, “Cheer up, it will be all right, life goes on”. Is that all the resurrection is, a bit of magic which makes everything all right, transforming pain into joy? If so, I’m not surprised that so many of us just don’t buy it anymore and enjoy the ridiculous visitation of the Easter bunny instead.
In her Revelations Julain writes her now famous soundbite not in celebration of the glory of Christ but rather as she dwells on the true horrors of the cross. Julian describes two crowns: the crown of thorns which represents the pain and suffering of sin and the crown of glory. Strangely enough, this glorious crown is not made of gold or adorned with precious jewels, nor is it a wreath of victory, but it is a garland made up of us. She writes: ‘we are his joy, we are his reward, we are his glory, we are his crown’. Through Christ’s cross we are saved, redeemed, brought back to God. The mystery which Julian perceived was that one crown did not replace the other but that the two crowns are in fact one and the same. The crown of thorns is the victorious garland of salvation, the instrument of torture is us in our pain and despair through sin, the symbol of humilitation is the power and soverignty of God. In Christ on the cross we see the glory of God’s love. In the risen Lord we see the wounds of sin and death.
This is the joy and wonder of Eastertide, that through Christ’s love the instrument of death is the means of life, the wounds of sin are the means of grace and the dereliction of Christ is the prayer of salvation. So Julian can look directly at the cross and say most profoundly “All shall be well”. She reminds us of the deep joy which trust in the resurrection brings and why the church sets aside 40 days of pure celebration after the equivalent for Lent. So I hope you enjoy this month of Eastertide and continue to indulge in all of its wonderful sweetness.
Emma
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|