Love is the Meaning

Love is the Meaning is an international art exhibition in response to Julian of Norwich’s ‘shewings’ 650 years ago which is in Julian’s city from 18th October – 16th November.

Julian of Norwich's writing continues to surprise, baffle and delight. She thought it was worthwhile to ask God how He could possibly claim that ‘All shall be Well’ and the end response was ‘Love is the Meaning’.

To celebrate the 650th anniversary of Julian’s shewings in her home city, the Friends of Julian and the Julian Partnership wanted to focus on the pictures themselves, not only the words of this remarkable woman. So in March 2023 they challenged modern artists to think about Julian’s “shewings” and imagine what she actually saw.

Over forty artists from several different countries have responded, and the results are on show in three venues. The artists have used media from the traditional crafts of stained glass, stone carving, and weaving to conceptual art in sound and light. There is a podcast and interactive installations to spark the imagination and light up Julian’s words.

Often it takes years of living with a picture – a good picture – to see it all. And often we can’t put the reason it is so satisfying into words. Julian studied the pictures sent to her by God for over twenty years – because she wanted to understand them and she believed their meaning was important. It was a most dangerous act of faith in those years when it became illegal to read or write about God in English. For lay people like Julian, teaching theology – in English – was punishable by a most hideous death of burning at the stake in nearby Lollard’s Pit. In spite of the danger, Julian wrote the first book in English by a woman.

St Julian's, St John's Timberhill, and St Stephen's Rampant Horse Street in Norwich are all connected with Julian's life. The exhibition takes the form of an exciting pilgrimage walk and exploration of the art and history of these important churches. Special guided walks with Paul Dickson on some dates introduce visitors to Medieval Norwich to help visitors explore the medieval city that Julian would have known so well.

“Julian counselled people daily throughout her years as an anchoress, and we want to reawaken the conversation.” says Lucy Care, curator of the exhibition. “This exhibition exploring her pictures through the eyes of modern artists allows us to see her work with fresh eyes. Prepare to wonder, be confused, indignant or refilled with happiness as her conviction that Love is the meaning of God’s creation is made visible. That love resides in every being, every drop of water and every organic cell of the universe, just as the artist’s DNA can be found in every fibre of their own work.”

The exhibition is over three venues, St Julian’s in Julian Alley, St John the Baptist, Timberhill and St Stephen’s, Rampant Horse Street. The exhibition is planned to give a sense of pilgrimage as visitors walk the streets of medieval Norwich. All venues are open 10am – 3pm, seven days a week. Church services will also be happening from time to time.

For information on workshops and times of church services please look on the website: https://julianofnorwich.org/pages/love-is-the-meaning-an-exhibition-of-new-art-celebrating-the-words-and-shewings-of-julian-of-norwich#.

All Shall Be Well: Poems for Julian of Norwich, the Amethyst Press anthology of new poems for Julian of Norwich has also been prepared for the Anniversary and 20 of its poems are also displayed around Norwich, several being shown close to the exhibition venues.

'All Shall Be Well' is an anthology of new poems for Mother Julian, medieval mystic, anchoress, and the first woman to write a book in English. Lyrical, prayerful, vivid and insightful, these poems offer a poetic testament to Julian's enduring legacy of prayer and confidence in a merciful God who assured her that 'All Shall Be Well, and All Shall Be Well, and All Manner of Thing Shall Be Well.' The anthology has been edited by and comes with an introduction by Sarah Law, editor of Amethyst Review. Copies can be purchased here: Amazon US; Amazon UK; Amazon AU (plus other Amazon platforms).

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Sian Croose - All Shall Be Well.

From scarcity to abundance

Here's the reflection I shared during today's lunchtime Eucharist at St Martin-in-the-Fields:

I recently saw an excellent exhibition at St Stephen’s Norwich called ‘After the Storm?’ which includes an interesting triptych about the pandemic. This triptych by Liz Monahan is called A Long Overdue Reckoning and it tells the story of the lockdown in the UK through iconic images from face masks to anti-vaxxers, clapping for the NHS to social distancing signs, and Zoom rooms to Amazon deliveries. Across her canvases she takes us on a journey from darkness to light and the hope of a brighter, albeit uncertain future, through a Stanley Spencer-like focus on the incidental details of everyday life. She also draws attention to the disparities present within our society which the pandemic has highlighted and makes a homeless man central to her story enabling us to see Christ we see in the face of this central character.

There are some great contrasts in the triptych including a nurse remonstrating with a protestor who holds a placard that says ‘It’s all a hoax’ whilst pointing to the full beds in ICU. One key contrast that has emerged within lockdown has been between those with a scarcity mindset and those with an abundance mindset.

When we are in a scarcity mindset we focus on all the deficits, all that is wrong in our situation, in lockdown that might have included all we have lost and all that we didn’t have. Those to whom Jesus spoke in today’s Gospel reading (Luke 7:31-35) were in that place as whoever God sent to them was wrong. John the Baptist was wrong because he was too great an ascetic, while Jesus was wrong for entirely the opposite reason, being too much of a party animal. The point that Jesus makes is that if we inhabit a scarcity mindset nothing is ever right, which is why he quotes the lines, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; / we wailed, and you did not weep.’

Our Vicar Sam Wells says that, as Christians, we are called to live with an abundance mindset because of all that God gives in every situation, however, difficult and whether we recognise those gifts or not. ‘I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.’ (John 10.10) 'We don’t have to look far for a mission statement for the church. Living abundant life. That’s what the Father intends, the Son embodies, the Spirit facilitates. Christians are called to live in such a way that gratefully receives the abundance God is giving them, evidences the transformation from scarcity to abundance to which God is calling them, dwells with God in that abundant life, and shares that abundance far and wide. Jesus is our model of abundant life; his life, death and resurrection chart the transformation from the scarcity of sin and death to the abundance of healing and resurrection; he longs to bring all humankind into reconciled and flourishing relationship with God, one another, themselves and all creation.'

So, a key temptation we face as God's people is to a scarcity mindset in which we reject or fail to recognise the gifts that God is continually sending to us. Jesus is described as the stone that the builders rejected. Sam Wells notes that 'the rejected stone became the cornerstone, the keystone – the stone that held up all the others, the crucial link, the vital connection. The rejected stone is Jesus. In his crucifixion he was rejected by the builders – yet in his resurrection he became the cornerstone of forgiveness and eternal life. That’s what ministry and mission are all about – not condescendingly making welcome alienated strangers, but seeking out the rejected precisely because they are the energy and the life-force that will transform us all. Every minister, every missionary, every evangelist, every disciple should have these words over their desk, their windscreen, on their screensaver, in the photo section of their wallet, wherever they see it all the time – the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. The life of the church is about constantly recognising the sin of how much we have rejected, and celebrating the grace that God gives us back what we once rejected to become the cornerstone of our lives.'

At St Martin’s we have learnt about the importance of inhabiting an abundance mindset and receiving the gifts God is constantly giving us through the work of our Disability Advisory Group, who constantly challenge us to be open to changes that enable all to fully join in here. The 10th conference on disability and church in partnership with Inclusive Church has deliberately been called (Still) Calling from the Edge because the voices of disabled people are still not consistently heard by the Church as a whole. The same is true in wider society where the achievements of Paralympians as rightly celebrated but, at the same, Government policies in the pandemic have reduced support and provisions for disabled people making society as a whole less accessible than was previously the case.

To genuinely experience the abundant gifts that God is giving as a church and as society at this time we need to receive the gifts of disabled people by making church and society more accessible, not less. We begin on that path when we reject to scarcity mindset that Jesus identifies in our Gospel reading and embrace the abundant life that he offers. To do so, means recognising the sin of how much we have rejected, and celebrating the grace that God gives us back what we once rejected to become the cornerstone of our lives.

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Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Bright Horses.