Faith Venture

People over the years have developed some strange (at least to us) practices. In 14th Century England (the time of Chaucer for you literary buffs), sometimes a woman of some means would both become widowed and have a religious experience. They would lock themselves in a room, never to exit alive.

Julian of Norwich was such a woman. Her room was built on the outside of the wall of the local church. She had a small window that looked in toward the alter, a locked door and a window open to the alley so that she could talk with people (and I presume obtain food).

Before this happened, she was thought to be on her death bed. The priest was called. He brought the crucifix up to her lips during the last rites. At that moment she had an overwhelming experience of God. It was revealed in many “showings.” She lived many years afterwards and wrote her “Reflections” which detailed the visions and her explanations.

Early in the manuscript, she says there are “three objects of our seeking.” That is, there are three things that a seeker of God must do to find Him. These are seek, await and trust.

She says that we must seek willingly and diligently without laziness and gladly and merrily without unreasonable sadness and useless sorrow. This is overwhelming to ponder.

I went to a geek conference once. When you’re dealing with electronics, sometimes you can’t see what you’re looking for unless you believe there’s something there. The T-shirt they gave us that year had the phrase “Some things can’t be seen unless you believe that they exist.” That’s like God.

You believe He exists. You seek Him. But, you have to do it willingly (not by accident, but by persistent searching). You must be diligent without laziness (every day, not just on a whim, and don’t get lazy and think you’ll do it tomorrow). And with joy (remember Jesus talking about people going around looking serious and pious trying to draw attention to how religious they were, and how he disdained that).

I think that if she had not written anything else, this one instruction would serve us well.

Next week, I’m off to another conference for manufacturing geeks. This is where I get to practice that diligence. Starting Sunday, I’ll have dinners that last until 10 or so followed by breakfasts the next morning at 7. Fitting in time for physical exercise; study, meditation and writing; and answering about 150 emails will be a challenge. I’ll try not to let these meditations dry up. You can hold me accountable and ping me with your proddings.