Wellmaking

Thank you for a wonderful Easter celebration on Sunday! In the most famous words of Julian of Norwich, Easter is a resounding reminder that “all shall be well.” Julian describes how this will come about, through the great vitality of the Living God:

On the Last Day, the blessed Trinity shall accomplish an amazing deed. We will never know what that deed is until it has been accomplished. Divine goodness and love wants us to know that this deed will take place, while Divine strength and wisdom hides from us what it will be and how it will be done. God wants us to know it will take place, so that our minds will be eased and our love will be made stable by peace, so that we can stop worrying about the troublesome things that hold us back from truly enjoying the Divine. This Great Deed was planned out from the beginning and hidden within the Divine Essence, and by it shall absolutely everything be made well... And all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”  -Julian of Norwich

In this vision of the restoration and salvation that Jesus began on the cross, and will finish at the end of time, even the unwell parts of our lives play a role in God’s “great well-making.” God made everything - and those parts that fall into unwellness help us to know ourselves and embrace reliance on God. God helps us to love those hurting parts of ourselves until they teach us what we need to learn. Just as the weaker members of the body are due honor and protection, the lower we have fallen in this life, the higher we will honor God in the next for his great mercy and salvation.

This week, I am blessed to be away on silent retreat with Julian. Since Alan introduced me to her book last year, The Revelation of Divine Love has been with me continually, and I am so excited to be sharing her with you. A record of Sixteen Showings, Julian’s manuscript reminds us that God made us and loves us; God suffers with us; and God will make all things new. Her theology of universal, gradual, or progressive salvation goes back to the early church, and is widely embraced by today’s pastors. Here is a short video from one of my colleagues.

This Easter season, I pray that just as the joyful Trinity made everything out of nothing, so the same Trinity will make well all that is not well.

with love, Pr. Chelsea