Chapter 5. Theological Issues Impacting Pastoral Challenges

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Noah Barnett
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1 Chapter 5 Theological Issues Impacting Pastoral Challenges For this revelation contains deep theology and great wisdom, and is not meant for those who are enslaved by sin and the Devil. Beware of selecting only what you like, and leaving the rest... Take it whole [and] all together. 1 One cannot read Bl. Julian's Showings without being aware from the very beginning that there are multiple levels of meaning in what she is sharing. The simple and direct manner of Julian's expression is misleading for many who do not take the time to study her thought as theology. As devotion her text is helpful and comforting. But it is tempting to enjoy and dismiss her words as delightful spiritual reading only. Taken and studied as theology her thought probes to the deepest levels of the mind and spirit, causing us to think and meditate and to wonder that God's love, so profound and so extraordinary, is accessible to all who would be God's lovers. It is not my intent to present a comprehensive analysis of all Julian's themes. Rather, I would deal specifically with those themes that I believe are important to the discussion of the challenges for pastoral ministry. As we have already discussed, Julian was rooted in the theology of the English Church and that was her point of departure. However, after receiving her Revelations she continued to study, meditate, contemplate and pray in order to understand the deeper meanings of those confersations with the Lord. What she developed was not just devotional although her text is wonderfully useful for devotional reading and meditation. However, her thought goes much deeper. All she wrote came out of a life that was rooted deeply in meditative reading and prayer not just the kind with which most of us are familiar; not what I sometimes refer to as the Lord bless me and take care of me and make sure I don't have any discomforts in my life kind of praying. Far be it from me to be downplaying any kind of prayer. But that is not the variety upon which Julian built her life. Hers was a prayer that entered into the very life and Passion of the Lord Jesus. 1 Colledge and Walsh, Revelations of Divine Love, 343.

2 To understand Julian's spiritual pilgrimage is to understand the way reading and praying were substantively different from our manner of doing so. Medieval reading was to involve the entire mind, body, and spirit in the process as influenced by the Benedictines. Lectio Divina was the method used in the fourteenth century, and Julian would have been well versed in this method. The purpose was never just to gain information or increase knowledge. It was to enter into the entire experience, to participate personally in the Passion of the Lord. How different a prayer that is composed quickly, designed to get the job done and then move on! Meditative praying is far more than a list of requests or a recitation of our grievances. It is important to be sensitive to the clues within the Showings which help us realize that Julian must have been a very practical mystic. All she ever wanted was to be oned with Christ and to share all she experienced and learned with others. This desire to draw others into greater unity with God is at the heart of all her desires to advance in unity with God. It is also the foundation of all her teaching. It is what draws us into the Showings as we read, for Julian is holding out her hand to lead us and to walk along with us as she reveals this amazing vision of a loving Lord, and we are graced with sharing her delight as we experience our own Ah ha! moments. The research seems to demonstrate that a pastor's response to the negative side of parish ministry is rooted in a belief that one has failed God, s/he has failed their particular congregation, and has failed oneself, thereby earning God's displeasure. Pastors may be reluctant to say such a thing out loud or entertain such thoughts seriously, but subconsciously manyfeel that they have done something to bring God's frowns upon them. I and others in ministry have wondered why we are having all this trouble or what we may have done to displease the Lord. Countless times I have said: Lord, I have tried to do the best that I can. I have tried to serve you with all my knowledge and with every talent I possess. Why is all this happening to me?

3 Julian would share a different perspective with us. Her revelations from Jesus convinced her that the love of God, the very essence and nature of God as proclaimed in Scripture, can contain no wrath or displeasure with those for whom he yearns and for whom he sent the Son in grace. For God so loved the world... 9 This verse does not express, according to Julian, a whipped up extreme feeling of obligation toward the creation that caused God to send Jesus. This was not just a single act of giving. Julian tells us that the very essence of God is love and as such cannot be revealed otherwise than to be compassionate and long-suffering, generous, and the gift of One who would comfort us in all our sorrows. She would assure us that it is God's quality to always have mercy. Wesley's poem reflects this same wonder: And can it be that I should gain An interest in the Saviour's blood? Died he for me who caused his pain, For me who Him to death pursued? Amazing love, how can it be, That Thou my God should die for me? 10 Julian always believed that Holy Church was the context within which the truth of God's love became known best. She also understood God's activity in the world and within individual human hearts to be actualized through the activity of the great Three-in-One, the Trinity. This trinitarian reality was demonstrated through the love bond between God our Father, Christ our Mother, and the supreme Companion and Nurturer, the Holy Spirit. The bonds of love given to all believers as a reflection of the trinitarian bond between the Persons of the Trinity is the Communion of Saints, between the Church Triumphant and the Church Militant, the very Body of Christ. And yet, Julian recognizes that sin has wrought its divisive work not only in relationships between Christians but within the individuals themselves. She is aware that even the teaching of Holy Church has become focused more on the sins of the people than on the forgiving grace of our God in whom there is no 9 St. John 3:16, KJV. 1 Charles Wesley, And Can It Be, Hymns for the Family of God, Nashville: Paragon Associates, Inc., 1976.

4 wrath. From the early centuries of the Church God's wrath had been accepted as truth. The issue of Godly wrath is seen throughout the Old Testament, so much so that many people refuse to equate the love of a dying Savior with the wrath of a God who wiped out whole nations because of their sinning. Here we come to the matter of what theologians call progressive revelation. Without getting mired in a long-winded discussion of this topic, suffice it to say that it is helpful to see the content of the Old Testament by using this perspective. God's interaction with people was significantly different before the Fall than in the ages afterward. One of my Bible professors years ago looked at the conversations in the Garden of Eden just a little differently. Instead of seeing God's response to human sinning as dictums of judgment, he believed that God was simply outlining what would be the devastating outgrowth of their choice to give place to evil. This was not his will for them and my professor expressed the view that it was possible sorrow and hurt for these two people he had created and so richly endowed rather than anger and judgment. In the centuries that followed sin did indeed do its dastardly work. We see the progressive nature of God's relationship with humankind evident in the post-flood times when the people were given permission to kill animals for food because the Flood had changed the availability of foods that were vegetarian in nature. The way God dealt with the Children of Israel as reported in the pages of the Pentetuch, Joshua and Judges is significantly different from God's interaction in later centuries, especially after the division of Israel following Solomon's death. And so we perceive that Julian has valid reasons for assuring her fellow Christians that she saw no wrath in God. How we would love to believe that! Believers have struggled with this assertion because our Christianity has always taught and preached the wrath of God as an overriding reason for coming to faith in Christ. It is a theme that has become even more fully developed in American Christianity in both the Roman Catholic and Protestant context. The so-called Free Church Movement has been tainted with it as well. Julian's visions speak of sin, wrath, mercy, and pity interchangeably so

5 that we can never separate them in our understanding. That is exactly as she would have it. She never perceived sin as being separate from God's forgiving love and compassion, working always to undo the schism sin works in our mortal souls. Perhaps that is a great deal of the problem for contemporary believers: in systematizing theology we have categorized our understanding of sin and its results. In so doing, our categorization has prevented us from perceiving God's grace and mercy in relationship to

Sanctification John 17: /20/2005 Copyright by Mark Vaughan 2/2005

Sanctification John 17: /20/2005 Copyright by Mark Vaughan 2/2005 Sanctification John 17:13-19 2/20/2005 Copyright by Mark Vaughan 2/2005 We continue our study of John s Gospel today in Jesus prayer in John 17 and we ll be focusing on verses 13-19. So let s begin by