3 mins

Perfect love

After a year like 2020, here’s a thought with which to begin 2021:

“All shall be well,

and all shall be well

and all manner of thing shall be well.”

These words come to us from the 14th century, from the wisdom of Julian of Norwich. Julian was an anchoress; that is to say she was a woman who, for religious reasons, withdrew herself from secular society in order to lead an intensely prayerful and reflective life. Such ascetic, monastic folk have sometimes been characterised as being withdrawn or escapist, but the truth, in Julian’s case, is that her life in Holy Orders left the Christian tradition with an understanding of God which was far more generous and forgiving than that espoused by most of her contemporaries.

In her writings we discover that at one time she obsessed about sin - unable to understand why an all-powerful God would have allowed wickedness and evil to penetrate the world. She knew the only too human tendency to rupture relationships, to dishonour the Divine, to make unfortunate choices, and try to hide our faults. She would say, “If [God] had left sin out of creation……. all would be well”.

It is, however, in her later thinking that she dispenses with the whole concept of sin and replaces it with love. In her Revelations of Divine Love she writes: “I believe that sin has no manner of substance, no particle of being nor could it be known except by the pain it causes”. This is a deep truth that, while sin may be known through its impact on others or on creation itself - it has no existential value. She says: “[God] showed me that God does not have one iota of blame for me, or for any other person. So, wouldn’t it be unkind of me to blame God for my transgressions since God does not blame”. So Julian could say, with no ifs or buts: “All will be well and all will be well and every kind of thing shall be well.”

This optimistic theology derives from an understanding of the unconditional and unlimited nature of God’s love and compassion. Pope Benedict XVI referred in 2010 to Julian’s work, saying: “Revelations of Divine Love contains a message of optimism based on the certainty of being loved by God and of being protected by God’s Providence.”

As we leave behind a year which has disturbed the peace of our relationships and shaken some of the most reliable things about our church life; it is a good time to be reminded of, what is sometimes known as, the omnibenevolence of God. As we stand on the threshold of a New Year in which the future shape of our church is largely uncertain; it is a good time to be reminded that at the heart of all that there is, is the God, whom the Bible describes as perfect love. And in God’s love we can rest assured that, “All will be well and all will be well and every kind of thing shall be well.”

“And in God’s love we can rest assured that, “All will be well and all will be well and every kind of thing shall be well.”

Too often in our presbyterian tradition God has been portrayed in dark and judgemental tones; a God who scares children and makes little sense to adults. That maybe the God of some ancient traditions but, it is not the God of Jesus. The God of Jesus is the one captured in these words of Minnie Louise Haskins:

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:

“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”

And he replied:

“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.

That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”

So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night.

These too, are words to take into this New Year.