FAQs

A Julian Meeting is a small group of people who meet regularly to practise Christian Contemplative Prayer and Meditation. The meeting will consist of a brief reading, at least 20 minutes silence, a closing reading and usually refreshments.

Julian Meetings are open and ecumenical. Everyone is welcome if they are willing to respect the Christian context. Some belong to a Church, some don’t.

Belonging to a group of people who meet regularly to pray in silent contemplation can be a great help and encouragement. We do not feel isolated. Prayerful silence is greatly helped when two or three gather together, and this complements our daily personal prayer.

Some find the discipline of a regular meeting easier to manage than trying to find a time to be silent at home.If we are having problems with our praying, sharing them can help us grow through them. The Julian Meetings provide these opportunities, and exist to foster the practice and teaching of contemplative prayer.

The regular meeting with others who value the prayer of silence can facilitate a very deep spiritual bond. This is difficult to describe until experienced!

A meeting has only one purpose, which is to share the experience of contemplative prayer together and to promote The Julian Meetings aims and objectives. We do not get involved in other causes and activities, be they social, political or charitable. Individual members may be active in other areas but this is an individual matter. This is the ‘Single Pointedness’ listed in the attributes of the Ideal Julian Meeting.

We feel this is one of the major attractions of a Julian Meeting. We can leave all our other cares and concerns and simply rest in God together.

People usually take it in turns to open and close the silence. There is no formal leadership or set formula. Some might not want to lead and that is fine.

Esssential administrative work, arranging a venue, publicity, responding to enquiries and so on is usually, but not necessarily, done by the Meeting First and Second Contacts. (We require two contact persons for registration). These are appointed by the meeting.

However, each meeting will make their own organisational arrangements.

See the ‘Start a Meeting’ page for more information and resources about Meetings

Julian Meetings vary and are free to do things in their own way. A brief reading, not necessarily from Scripture, and/or a short piece of music leads into a period of silent contemplative prayer. The leader will signal the end of the silence with another short reading and/or music.

The main requirement for a Julian Meeting is that there should be a substantial period of silence. The most usual length is 30 minutes. It should not be less than 20 minutes and can be as long as the meeting decides. This is not interrupted in any way.

At the end of the silence there is usually a time for tea and coffee and conversation for those who want this.

Yes, there are several online Julian Meetings and some are a mixture of online and in person. They are all shown with different coloured icons on our meetings map. Online only are red and mixed are yellow. They are shown in the location of the meeting contacts but anyone can join from anywhere.

Anyone can start a Julian Meeting. See the About Starting a Meeting page on our website for information and resources.

No. Some belong to a meeting and some don’t. The best way to be known as an individual member and to keep in touch is to join us. This is free.

Yes and no. We do not know who attends meetings unless the Meeting member joins us as an individual member. The best way to be known as an individual member and to keep in touch is to join us. This is free.

The movement was named after Julian of Norwich, a fourteenth century mystic.   Her inspired writings are sometimes used at meetings but JM is not here to promote Julian, nor are we associated with other organisations bearing her name

 The purpose of JM is defined as ‘fostering the practice and teaching of contemplative prayer within the Christian tradition’, and this accords with Julian’s precept that the highest form of prayer consists in simply waiting on God.

This advice was offered by one of our Council members on potential issues related to meeting in a Church, in this case a Cathedral, and registering the meeting through the Church. These suggestions are appropriate  wherever the meeting happens.  The main problems occur when the meeting is registered through the Church and the first and second contacts are clergy or parish staff.

“When a group of us decided to set up a Julian Meeting, although we were mostly Cathedral ‘people’ and were able to advertise the meeting easily in the Cathedral, we held the meeting in various homes because:-

1  We wanted to meet in the evening and that made access at the building more difficult (as well as parking)

2  There are no suitable ‘enclosed’ spaces in this cathedral

3  We were clear that it should be seen as an ecumenical group and we wanted a certain independence so that we could not be closed down at the whim of any future Dean and Chapter!

So we had a freedom that some groups who meet on church premises (whatever kind of church) do not have. 

Of course there are many groups who meet very successfully on church premises and  it is helpful that the meetings can be added to their church website information. 

Julian Groups have always been  ecumenical and at a Cathedral that is much easier to hold to than in some smaller churches where the building is clearly of one denomination and there may be a perception that it is ‘a methodist group ‘ or whatever.  

But if you have goodwill and an appropriate space then a cathedral with its openness and inclusivity is a good space to offer an opportunity to simply ‘be’ in the company of a group of like-minded folk.  And a Cathedral is much more likely to be open in the daytime than many churches  (sadly).

The biggest issue for us, if we had met on the premises in the day time, would have been the clash with the cathedral’s very varied diary commitments especially rehearsals for events!”

Does this mean we cannot meet in our Church or register the Meeting to the Church?

Not at all. It just means there can be issues that need thinking about. In particular in respect of the principles of lay leadership and non-demoninational/ecumenical independence of the Meeting .

Waiting upon God; listening for God; opening ourselves to God; responding to the invitation to meet God in silent awareness. Perhaps the best description is prayer of the heart. In contemplative prayer we seek to be aware of the presence of God and to remain silently and attentively in that presence, completely open to God. The Julian Meetings do not teach any particular method but we do offer some guidance. See our website and shop for details

Yes and no. The short answer is don’t worry about it too much. Sitting quietly doing nothing is fine. The terms contemplation and meditation are often used inter-changeably. But they are different ways of being open to God.  Imagine being shown a picture: If you meditate on the picture you actively engage your mind, imagination, and perception. What is the subject? How was it painted? How does it affect you? What might the artist have intended? If you contemplate the picture you just sit and gaze at it, allowing it to ‘speak’ to you however it may. So in contemplation we just ‘are’ before God with the four ‘S’s: Stillness, Silence, Simplicity, Surrender. See our page ‘A Brief Introduction to Contemplative Prayer’

The Julian Meetings do not teach any particular method of Christian Meditation or Contemplative Prayer but we do offer resources and guidance. You will find all these on our website on our Contemplative Prayer and Meditation page and All our Resources page.

We chose this plant to decorate our publications because of its silent witness to the heart of the Christian faith. The passion flower is a native of southern Brazil and first flowered in England in 1868. The name Passion Flower was given by the first Spanish friars and missionaries to tropical America, who were impressed by the symbolism they saw in the flower. The flower has spikes protruding from the centre, symbolizing the crown of thorns. The flower’s five petals and five petallike sepals represent the 10 apostles who remained faithful to Jesus throughout the Passion. The circle of hairlike rays above the petals suggested the crown of thorns that Jesus wore on the day of His death. The passion flower blossom is often used to symbolize events in the last hours of the life of Jesus Christ, the Passion of Christ. It is no longer a prominent part of our logo but represents an important part of our history.