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Whit Sunday…

Probably many of us will remember that, until the early 1970s, there was no such thing as the ‘Spring Bank Holiday’: in the UK we had instead ‘Whit Monday’, occurring anytime between mid-May and early June, depending on the date of Easter.  (It was the perceived inconvenience to businesses, schools etc of having this second, ‘moveable’ public holiday, variably dated from year to year, that drove the switch, with effect from 1972, to the fixed, ‘last Monday of May’ arrangement that we have now.)

As it happens, the old ‘Whit Monday’ would have been, this year, the same date as this weekend’s ‘Spring Bank Holiday’.  That’s because this Sunday is, in the Church Calendar, ‘Whit Sunday’ (called this, according to one common interpretation, because ‘White Sunday’ was a time of baptism, when white clothing would be worn, while others think its name was meant to convey the ‘wit’ or understanding associated with the receipt of the wisdom of the Holy Spirit). 

The festival’s ‘proper’ name, now again in common use, is ‘Pentecost’ (coming from the Greek word for ‘fiftieth).  Falling on the 50th and final day of Easter, it marks, as the Church of England website explains, ‘how God’s Holy Spirit was given to the disciples after Jesus’ ascension, empowering them to begin the work of making disciples of all nations’.

The Spirit plays an essential role in Christian faith and yet is something we may find hard to deal with.  We probably have less well-developed ideas or images of the Spirit than we do about God or Jesus.  But, essentially, in Christian theology it’s the role of the Spirit to make the presence of the living Jesus and his Father known, on an on-going basis.  The Eucharistic Prayer in our Holy Communion services begins with that acknowledgement: ‘The Lord is here. His Spirit is with us.’ 

So, as we celebrate Pentecost on Sunday and enjoy our ‘Spring Bank Holiday’, let’s remember that the Holy Spirit appeared not just on a single occasion but is always here.  Let’s try to find and recognise the working and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the world and in our lives.  And in the words of the much-loved hymn, let us pray:

Come down, O Love divine,
seek thou this soul of mine,
and visit it with thine own ardour glowing;
O Comforter, draw near,
within my heart appear,
and kindle it, thy holy flame bestowing.          

Amen

~Liam Pilgrim~

Image and quotation from the Church of England website page on Pentecost: <https://www.churchofengland.org/our-faith/what-we-believe/lent-holy-week-and-easter/pentecost>.  Hymn words from <https://hymnary.org/text/come_down_o_love_divine>.

 

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There’s quite a lot of publicity at the moment, not just locally, to celebrate the Christian mystic Julian of Norwich, whose annual festival falls in in early May.  The significance this year, 2023, is that it’s the 650th anniversary of Julian’s ‘Shewings’, ie the things shown to her, the series of visions she experienced in 1373, which led her to become an anchoress, or hermit, and to write the spiritual classic Revelations of Divine Love, the earliest surviving English language work by a woman.

When she experienced her visions – at the age, it’s thought, of about 30 and while very ill – she wasn’t called Julian.  We don’t know her birth name or the circumstances of her young life, though some consider she may have come from a noble family.  Her ‘public’ profile began when she became, after recovering from her illness, an anchoress at one of Norwich’s many churches, that of St Julian, in the lanes between what we now know as Ber Street and King Street in Norwich, at the time a busy industrial area leading down to the river port.   The name of the church became the name of the woman.

An anchoress was essentially a female hermit, living in a cell on the side of a church, from which its altar could be seen.  There would be some contact with others through a small window: meals would be taken to her, ablutions taken away, and she would offer advice to visitors. However, her existence was largely one of solitary contemplation.  Julian devoted her time to prayer and to reflecting on her visions, which she wrote down in English.

She lived to an old age: no one is sure of her exact dates but probably from about 1343 to at least 1416, through a period of huge change and suffering, with at least two plague pandemics.  It would have been a very hard life, both for her and those around her.

So the optimistic tone of her Revelations is particularly striking.  She describes a positive relationship with God, who is loving and compassionate and who does not blame us.  ‘Do not blame yourself too much’, she writes. ‘When we begin to hate sin and to amend ourselves . . . there still persists a fear which hinders us, by looking at ourselves and our sins . . . and the perception of this makes us so woebegone and depressed that we cannot see any consolation . . . [This] is . . . blindness.’  Since God in his grace forgives us and never stops loving us, so we must forgive ourselves. Julian takes sin seriously but her conclusion is that notwithstanding our failings, “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.” We remain enfolded in God’s love.

The messages that Julian imparted of God’s unconditional love ran counter to the prevailing orthodoxy.  Although she probably had a following in her lifetime, her manuscripts fell into obscurity after the Reformation: the cell at the church was demolished then, too, and wasn’t reconstructed until the rebuilding of the church in the1950s after it was bombed in the Second World War.   It was really only in the C20th that the importance of her work in both literary and spiritual terms was recognised.  Julian’s writing is now much valued and much loved.

As Bishop Graham of Norwich writes in a foreword this year to a booklet about the 650th anniversary:

‘Julian of Norwich’s legacy has made a significant contribution to English spirituality, and she is revered not only in this city and diocese, but across the world.  We find deep wells of consolation and hope in her writing as she seems to have an uncanny knack to speak directly to us, 650 years after her Shewings in May 1373.  Perhaps that is because we remain a people who are, at our core, afraid.  Afraid of conflict, pandemic, illness, ecological crises and death.  Afraid of all these things despite Jesus repeatedly saying in the Gospels, “Do not be afraid”.  Julian helps us to knit together our lives so that we live with less dis-ease […] May her wisdom, as well as her insight into God’s hope and love, bless us and our communities in this 650th anniversary year.’       Amen

~Liam Pilgrim ~

(abstract from reflection by Liam Pilgrim at Hempnall Group Zoom Evening Service on Sunday 23 April 2023)

See material on website of Friends of Julian of Norwich: <https://julianofnorwich.org/pages/friends-of-julian>, including article by Margaret Coles in The Times on Saturday, May 8th 2021 and booklet by the Friends about celebrations this year.  For information about St Julian’s Church, see Simon Knott, St Julian’s Church, Norwich (uploaded Feb 2023): <http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/norwichjulian/norwichjulian.htm>.

 

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Alleluia…

Most of us, probably, are aware that Lent is a season of 40 days.  But perhaps fewer of us realise that in the calendar of Western Christianity, as it has developed over time, Easter lasts longer, for 50 days until Pentecost, marking the 40 days between Christ’s resurrection and ascension and a further 10 days before the celebration of the gift of the Holy Spirit. 

We are used to thinking of Easter Day as a singular event of joy and pay less attention to Eastertide as a continuous, seven-week festival period: we don’t always sustain that sense of rejoicing through the various ‘Sundays of Easter’.

Yet in the Christian year this prolonged period should be a time to feel particularly positive and hopeful in our faith.  So, as we progress through Eastertide this year, let’s try to be joyous in our thoughts and prayers.

It’s a wonderful time to read – and sing – Psalm 100, the Jubilate Deo:

O be joyful in the Lord, all the earth;  

serve the Lord with gladness

and come before his presence with a song.

Know that the Lord is God;  

it is he that has made us and we are his;

we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving

and his courts with praise; 

give thanks to him and bless his name.

For the Lord is gracious; his steadfast love is everlasting, 

and his faithfulness endures from generation to generation.

 

And it’s a great time to say ‘Alleluia’ (‘praise the Lord’)!  A simple, but emphatic phrase. What better way to mark each day of the Easter season.

Let’s have a happy Eastertide.  Alleluia. ~Liam Pilgrim~

Information shared by Liam Pilgrim:  A free 4-part audio retreat on ‘Easter people and their stories’ (starting with Mary Madelene at the Garden Tomb) is available from St Augustine’s College of Theology.  Simply click through on website page for material to read/listen to in own time: https://staugustinescollege.ac.uk/category/audio-retreats/

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Thought for the week…

There are many ways to read the bible. Cover to cover, book by book, chapter by chapter or just sitting with a particular passage that seems to resonate and connect with your experience.

One way of reading, is to do so slowly, thoughtfully, reading the passage again and seeing what phrase or verse stands out, then, staying with that verse or phrase, ask God what he may be saying and then just wait for his response.

This way of praying the bible has a long tradition first established by Benedict of Nursia in the 6th century. It is called Lectio Divina:

Try reading these verses this way:

Listening

During the first reading, gently look and listen for a word or phrase that attracts or draws your attention.

Pondering

During the second reading, ask yourself how or why does this word or phrase has touched your heart, why it is speaking to you at this moment in your life.

Praying

As you read the passage for the last time, ask God what he may be asking of you. What is it you may need to consider as a result of what God is saying to you in the word or phrase you noticed?

Waiting

In the quiet that follows the reading allow God to speak to you and plant this word in your heart.

Psalm 16

¹Keep me safe, my God,

    for in you I take refuge.

² I say to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord; apart from you I have

    no good thing.’
³ I say of the holy people who are in the land,

    ‘They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.’
⁴ Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more.

    I will not pour out libations of blood to such

    gods or take up their names on my lips.

⁵ Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup;

    you make my lot secure.

⁶ The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;

    surely I have a delightful inheritance.
⁷ I will praise the Lord, who counsels me;

    even at night my heart instructs me.

⁸ I keep my eyes always on the Lord.

    With him at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

⁹ Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;

    my body also will rest secure,

¹⁰ because you will not abandon me to the realm of the

    dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay.

¹¹ You make known to me the path of life;

    you will fill me with joy in your presence,

    with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

 

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