Message from the Pastoral Care and Eldership Team (PaCET) for Sunday Meeting 23rd October 2022

Dear Friends,

In 1373 a woman aged 30 became seriously ill, close to death, and she experienced what might have been visions or hallucinations. She became an anchorite (a person who lived in a cell attached to a church), vowing to stay there for the rest of her life. She is now known, after the name of the church, as Julian of Norwich. After 20 years meditating on her visions she became the first woman to write a book in English, Revelations of Divine Love. While much of her thought is of the 14th century, there are insights of lasting value. Instead of the harsh teaching of the church she saw God as a loving mother, forgiving the faults of Christians as they struggled with life.

When one bright summer day I visited the Julian shrine, a chapel built on the site of her cell, I found a simple but comfortable room where several people were praying or meditating. It had the atmosphere of a gathered Quaker meeting. They must have been very conscious of Julian’s words, “All shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.”

A few years later I was in Norwich one Sunday and I decided to visit the cell on my way to meeting, expecting the same wonderful atmosphere. The weather was windy, rainy and cold and the shrine seemed desolate. I had learned another lesson from Julian.

In her time it was not always sunshine. England was at war with France.  Norwich was twice ravaged by the black death, the harvests failed, starving peasants revolted and the bishop ordered the execution of their leader. Heretics were burned at the stake. Julian knew this well but she did not despair. She never underestimated the power of evil, but she was certain about the ultimate power of love to overcome it.

Faith does not save us from trouble, it upholds us when we are in trouble. We might hope but we can’t expect that the economy, the war and everything else will be resolved by a miracle. What we can be sure of is that nothing can stop us from responding with love rather than hate. We have that to give to the world and then, within us, all will be well.

I saw also that there was an ocean of darkness and death, but an infinite ocean of light and love, which flowed over the ocean of darkness.
George Fox, QFP 19.03

In Friendship

David

On behalf of the Pastoral Care and Eldership Team (Bob Harwood, David Hitchin, Chris Lawson, Tim Pitt-Payne, Theresa Samms, Nancy Wall)