JM 2023 December
Meditation
[unstated]
In the beginning is the Word
Thinking of the reading for Christmas Day, the opening verses of John’s gospel, I found myself hearing them in my head but in the present tense, not the past. It gave an amazing immediacy to the reading. Try it for yourself.
In the beginning is the Word, and the Word is with God, and the Word is God. He is with God in the beginning. Through him all things are being made; without him nothing is being created. In him is life, and that life is the light of men. The light is shining in the darkness and the darkness does not understand it.
Here is a man sent from God whose name is John. He comes as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men may believe. He himself is not the light; he comes only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every person is coming into the world. He is in the world, and though the world is ever being made through him, the world does not rec-ognise him. He comes to that which is his own, yet his own do not receive him. Yet to all who do receive him, to those who believe in his name, he gives the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision, or a husband’s will, but of God.
The Word is becoming flesh, and is making his dwelling among us. We see his glory, the glory of the one and only, who comes from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Poem
Mary Coleridge
There
There, in that other world, what waits for me?
What shall I find after that other birth?
No stormy, tossing, foaming, smiling sea,
But a new earth.
No sun to mark the changing of the days,
No slow, soft falling of the alternate night,
No moon, no star, no light upon my ways,
Only the Light.
No grey cathedral, wide and wondrous fair,
That I may tread, where all my fathers trod.
Nay, nay, my soul, no house of God is there,
But only God.
Quotation
The Rule of Bose
Devote yourself to the art of discerning the divine presence and become a witness to this presence; learn to pray to your Lord without ceasing.
Do not value anything above the love of Christ! Christ is also in you, and in prayer you will find his presence in you.
If you truly want to live in the presence of God, your prayer should be silent, personal, and hidden, according to the example given to you by Jesus.
Poem
[unstated]
Our paths may cross
Our paths may cross
in lonely desert spaces,
or crowded city places,
on mountain steep,
or urban street,
but our paths will cross,
and you will offer
to lighten our load,
walk our road,
ease the pain,
take the strain.
Our paths shall cross,
when you will call,
and shall we turn,
can we learn
to hear your voice,
make the choice?
Our paths will cross…
Our gain or loss.
Quotation
Virginia Woolf
How much better is silence; the coffee cup, the table. How much better to sit by myself like the solitary sea-bird that opens its wings on the stake. Let me sit here for ever with bare things, this coffee cup, this knife, this fork, things in themselves, myself being myself.
Article
John Rackley
Beginnings and Endings [lead in]
The Christian Life is a journey with others; people together, sharing our lives, our hopes, our experiences, our struggles.
There are always arrivals and departures.
New travellers bring fresh experiences, different horizons. With joy and hope we welcome them, ready to learn, make room and go on together.
With gratitude and pain we farewell others who go, in answer to the call of God, into new options, to another place or move ahead of us on the road through death.
In welcome, and in letting go, we seek the presence of God’s Spirit. Always the bond and the separator, always the comforter and the distributor, always a presence of love. Neither more with the arrival nor with the departing than with those who stay.
Pioneers and Settlers receive the Spirit’s blessing.
Article
[unstated]
Julian Meetings central – vacant positions
Welcome to Phil and Jonathan
Phil Wield We are delighted that Phil is taking on the role of database, membership and meetings manager. He will be keeping track of our magazine mailing lists and meeting registrations. Plus a great deal of other essential behind the scenes administration without which the JM network could not function. Phil has extensive experience of database management and administration.
Jonathan Smith We are pleased to welcome Jonathan, who will be overseeing our communications, both printed and online. One early result of his involvement is detailed on later pages, along with some other changes to what we offer and how we do things.
Thank You x 2
Our first Thank You is to Peter Rowe, who has been our book reviews editor for a number of years. He has done an excellent job, and we are very grateful for all the skill and discernment he brought to the role. Sadly, ill health means that Peter has now retired from this role. We pray that God will bring him and his family comfort, support and healing in his retirement.
Our second Thank You is to Pat Robinson. She has been sending out our publications to all parts of the country for well over 12 years now, and has done a marvellous job. Pat has wrapped parcels large and small, and thankfully still has an excellent local post office! She adapted to dealing with on-line orders, as well as those that came through the post. Pat is a keen gardener, so will now have more time and energy to devote to this.
Could you replace either Pat or Peter?
Book Reviews Editor
Collates a selection of book / CD etc. reviews for each JM Magazine
Method:
- Liaise with publishers for review copies of suitable books
- Welcome suggestions of possible books for review from any other source.
- Welcome unsolicited reviews, accepting them if suitable.
- Keep a list of potential reviewers who have a variety of backgrounds (this currently exists).
- Welcome suggestions for new reviewers.
- E-mail reviewers details of books available to review.
- Send books of choice to reviewers, and receive their reviews in due course.
- Check the review for full publishing details, and for content and length (350 words max.). Edit the review if necessary.
- E-mail reviews to the Magazine Editor for inclusion in the magazine. They may be further edited if this is necessary.
- Receive a ‘Read’ PDF from the Magazine Editor for forwarding to those publishing houses whose books have been reviewed.
Usually there is room for 6 / 7 reviews per issue. We do not normally publish negative reviews.
We do not usually review books on theology, bible study, church history or liturgy. Keep in mind the readership and avoid being over academic. Yes, there are academics who read the magazine, but they are likely to see other reviews. Think about what might be helpful to a wide variety of people. Many people value books which include material suitable for use as a ‘lead-in’ to silence at a Julian Meeting.
The Publications Distributor
Holds the printed copies of our publications and posts these out when orders arrive by post or via the online shop.
Has enough space to store the publications, envelopes etc.
Has access to a post office to send a range of parcel sizes.
Is a well-organised person who can deal with both paper and online orders; can parcel up orders efficiently; can handle payments and pay in cheques; can keep track of stock and advise if any items are getting low and need reprinting.
Because so much of our material is available free online, this job has reduced in size but is still a vital service for those who need printed copies of booklets, publicity etc.
Please contact Deidre Morris if you would like more information on either of these roles.
We would still welcome help with:
Website management – WordPress.com / Woo Commerce
This includes a distinct role of Shop Manager, and various roles connected with the blog:
Editor – to publish / manage posts, inc. posts of other users.
Author – who can publish and manage their own posts.
Contributors – who can write and manage their own posts but cannot publish them.
Social Media – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, SoundCloud, YouTube, Vimeo, Anchor Podcaset
Domain registration and management including email addresses – One.com and 123Reg
If you’ve relevant experience of any role’s technical aspects, even if not of the specific software, could you help us?
You will be asked to provide references, and invited to join the JM Council.
If you would like to know more about any of these roles, please e-mail Ann Moran: it@thejulianmeetings.net
Article
[unstated]
What’s New in JM
Read our magazine back numbers
We are putting on our website an archive of JM magazines from 2011, in the Heyzine format. So you will be able to browse through 12 years of JM magazines, at your leisure.
Subscribe to the website
You can subscribe to our website page Blog & Articles. Go to the page and enter your email address in the box. You will then receive an email every time there is an update. We will be making more use of the Blog in future.
All our resources in one place
We have put all our booklets in a Heyzine library – see the website for the link. We have also put all our resources, downloads, Audio, Video, on a new Resources page on the website, as well as on the individual pages About Julian Meetings, Contemplative Prayer and Meditation and Starting a Meeting.
Donations for Meeting Registration
We have decided to stop charging an annual registration fee for each Julian Meeting and instead rely on the generosity of Meeting members to make a donation.
Meeting first contacts will receive a letter with this magazine explaining the changes and what they need to do to ensure their meeting remains ‘live’ on the register.
Donations have always been a major contributor to our finances, so we greatly appreciate all your donations, large or small – please keep contributing to the on-going life of the Julian Meeting.s
Local advertising leaflet
The website now has a free downloadable A5 leaflet that can be personalised with the details of your local Julian Meeting. It has the information from our tri-fold leaflet ‘Waiting on God’ but in an easily printable and foldable form, and with space to include you own Julian Meetings details.
Self Publishing on Amazon
Our Communications Manager, Jonathan Smith has researched the possibility of a self publishing account on Amazon. This is possible and could have many advantages.
We need someone to host the KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) account on Amazon. This will not affect your normal Amazon account. You will not need to prepare the publications. You will need to give KDP your personal contact details and your NI number for tax purposes. It is unlikely that there will be any personal tax implications.
Jonathan will give you all the information and support you need. Please contact him on communications@thejulianmeetings.net.
Poem
Tim Baker
Holy Ground
The soil crumbles in between my fingers,
But there lingers a sense of the deep,
The creep of roots out of sight,
Crawlies that live below the light,
And the sleep of a million, million layers pressing ever downward.
I press my fingers into the dirt,
And the little stones and thorns and spikes hurt
A little bit, but nowhere near as much as I feel alive.
I thrive in the grittiness where everything thrives and trees survive
In the hive of creatures and creepers and clay.
The soil is washing away and breaking down
While we build another city, extend another town,
But it is here, with my hands lost in sandy loam
That we are closest to home,
Closest to the God who shaped us,
Like I’m shaping this mound, and waiting to be found
By the spirit who moves over this ground
The bit of compost in my back yard,
Where suddenly feeling connected doesn’t feel so hard.
And I take off my shoes for a moment,
Because the bush isn’t burning,
But there’s a glimpse of glory in the bird-sound
And I think I’m standing on holy ground.
Article
[unstated]
Prayer Walking
Following April’s article on prayer and walking, I was sent this extract from a Diocesan leaflet suggesting different types of prayer people might try.
Prayer walking – Alone, paired, or in groups: praying for the places, and the people who live, work, learn or play there, as you walk the streets of your Parish. People may do this often in places where they walk regularly, or there may be a planned route to cover the whole of the parish every few months or at least every year.
I was also told of a diocesan member of staff whose job took him all over the diocese. If the roads were not too busy, he often prayed for each parish as he drove through them. He would know some of the problems they were facing, or some of the good things that were happening, and all could be put into God’s hands.
Quotation
Richard Coles
He needed no text, for the order for compline was always the same, and he knew it by heart. As an invariable prelude he said silently the Jesus Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Each petition was slow, measured, geared to his breathing, and as his mind and body stilled, the troubles and distractions of the day began to fade from his thoughts. And in that vacated space silence unpacked itself and, through the static and hiss, a deeper silence came, like the depths of the sea.
Quotation
Brother Roger
Prayer, descending into the depths of God, is not there to make life easy for us. Prayer: not for any kind of result, but in order to create with Christ a communion in which we are free.
Quotation
Meister Eckhart
Wisdom consists in doing the next thing you have to do, doing it with your whole heart and finding delight in doing it.
Article
Margaret Coles
Julian of Norwich – a gifted, tenacious journalist?
Amid a worldwide miasma of lies, ‘alternative facts’ and obfuscation, who can we trust to tell us the truth? Whose voices report faithfully from the front line?
This year marks 650 years since the medieval mystic, Julian of Norwich, was given a message ‘for all the world’. It was reported with integrity and kept safe down the years because, according to the late Sr Benedicta Ward, it was intended specifically for our time.
On 8 May 1373 Julian received visions of the crucifixion. She pondered their meaning for some 40 years, living as an anchoress, or hermit, in a cell at the side of St Julian’s church in Norwich. She set out her understanding of all she had been shown in ‘Revelations of Divine Love’.
Dangerous
It was a dangerous and perforce secret mission. While the medieval church was preaching sin, punishment, purgatory and hellfire, Julian was writing about God’s unconditional love and merciful compassion. She wrote that God was never angry, that he looked upon his darling children ‘with pity, not with blame’, had forgiven us for all wrongdoing, past, present and future, and was for ever coming towards us with his mercy and love. Julian knew full well the risk she was taking. Had she been discovered she would have had to recant or be burnt at the stake.
Persistent
I see Julian as a brilliant journalist – the best of her kind. She had the integrity to risk her life for the story, as do many modern-day journalists. Julian is a reliable witness, a diligent fact-checker who dared to say, at a press conference with God, ‘Sorry, I didn’t quite get that point. Would you mind clarifying it?’ Add to her extraordinary courage and integrity a thoroughness and rigorous attention to detail and pains-taking efforts to describe precisely what she was shown, as she understood that every detail counted.
Not an easy task
Julian confronted the toughest questions, getting to grips with the puzzling and sometimes disturbing knowledge entrusted to her – deep, mysterious themes that take some unravelling. What to make of ‘sin is behoovable’ – translatable as ‘appropriate’ or ‘necessary’ or ‘sin shall be a glory’ – when you support the church’s condemnation of sin? She wrote it all down faithfully, with no fudging. The answer, she discovered, is that the pain caused by sin can become a source of self-knowledge and humility and an acceptance of God’s forgiveness and love.
An honest witness
Julian’s best known saying is ‘All shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well’, but she is no Pollyanna. She lived through war, plague, famine and social unrest. She viewed the world through the little window of her anchor-hold, to which people brought their cares, seeking kindness and understanding. Trust is hard to win and easy to lose. Julian’s honest voice is a witness who helps us, in a world of pain and uncertainty, find the courage to dare to trust that we have the certainty of God’s love.
Book review
Fr Luke Penkett
Claire Gilbert • I, Julian
Hodder and Stoughton, 2023, £9.99
Claire writes ‘The powerful, poetic book Revelations of Divine Love, in which a woman writes in English of visions she saw in May 1373, to a standard comparable to Geoffrey Chaucer, is the inspiration for my story.’ She adds, ‘My story, then, is a work of my imagination. But I have tried to make my guess work plausible’ (321). It is a story, lauded by such scholars as Janina Ramirez, Nicholas Watson, and Rowan Williams.
Hopefully this book will introduce many new readers to Julian, and inspire those who know her slightly to return with fresh eyes to Revelations of Divine Love.
Book review
Fr Luke Penkett
Victoria Mackenzie • For thy great pain have mercy on my little pain
Bloomsbury Publishing, 2023, £14.99
In this, her first book, Victoria has brought together two famous women mystics of the 14th century. People to whom Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe are just names are enjoying finding out about them. Hopefully, they will go on to read Revelations of Divine Love or The Book of Margery Kempe and discover a whole new world of aspiration, hope, engagement and love.
Victoria researched her subjects well. Readers can learn much about Julian, Margery, and their era from her book: there is a reference to the Ancrene Wisse, which readers of Revelations and The Book of Margery Kempe may not know.
It is well-presented, in three sections, drawing on the Penguin Classics translations and including poetry, prayer, and drama (at the eventual meeting). My hope is that, with bite-sized chunks of fiction, For Thy Great Pain might serve as a springboard into meditation and contemplation in our Julian Meetings.
Article
[unstated]
The 11th Step? What is it? What does it have to do with JM?
The 11th step is one of the twelve steps created by the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) in the mid-1930s. It has been used by a number of other addiction recovery programmes ever since.
‘Step 11: Sought by prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understand Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.’
AA is a spiritual programme, but not a religious programme, organisation or church. Members are encouraged to find the God of their own understanding – a Power greater than themselves.
Origins
AA grew out of the Christian religion, initially influenced by the Oxford Group (not the Oxford Movement) and later the Jesuits. The Jesuits sent a priest, Fr Ed Dowling, to see the founder of AA, Bill Wilson, as they suspected that the 12 steps were based on the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises.
This was not the case, but Fr Dowling became Bill’s spiritual director and an influential, non-alcoholic, member of AA. *
The AA founders quickly realised that, to spread their message of recovery as widely as possible, they had to be open and welcoming to people of all faiths and none. Their priority was helping alcoholics recover from their addiction, not promoting a religion or a religious practice.
The World Community of Christian Meditation has a section of its website and meetings dedicated to the 11th step. **
The 11th Step and JM
JM is not a recovery programme: it is based in the Christian faith. But it is a good fit for those in recovery who are looking for a way to practise the 11th step. JM has a natural affinity with 12 Step programme members, both in its organisational structures and principles, as well as in the practice of contemplative prayer and meditation.
I went to a lecture by Lawrence Freeman, WCCM leader, at a local Roman Catholic church. The church, a large one, was packed. I recognised many of my AA friends in the audience. I had a similar experience when Martin Laird, author of ‘Into The Silent Land’ gave a lecture in an Anglican cathedral. No doubt the audience also included members of Narcotics Anonymous and Gamblers Anonymous.
* see an article at https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/the-spiritual-exercises-and-the-12-steps/
** https://www.wccm.org/content/christian-meditation-as-an-11th-step-practice/
Article
[unstated]
Musings on the JM Magazine
We receive comments about our magazine from both ends of the spectrum. Some people love it and read it from cover to cover. Others, including some first contacts who should be circulating the magazine to their members, ask if they can come off the mailing list as they never read it. I am sure there are many people in-between these extremes.
One simple question is: ‘Do we need a magazine? What is it for?’
Possibilities
One suggestion is that much of the content of the magazine can be distributed on the website on a more regular basis. Subscribers to the website Blog/Articles page will receive an email notification every time something is posted.
We do appreciate that not everyone has access to the internet, nor wishes to use it. But a majority of people are now happy to use it, even if it is not their preferred way to receive a magazine.
With the August magazine we enclosed a letter to our 78 subscribers without email addresses asking if they had one we could use (it simplifies our admin) and if they still wished to receive the magazine. We had 20 replies. The vast majority did not have or wish to use an email address although all very much valued the printed magazine and wished to continue receiving it.
Continuing print edition
For those who wish to continue to receive a print edition of the magazine we could produce a collection of the website articles at intervals. It would still be print but would probably be presented differently.
Your comments and suggestions
Many of these ideas have come from people at the 50th anniversary, or who wrote in with their suggestions in advance of the event.
If you have any views on this idea, or any other suggestions to make regarding the magazine, please e-mail or write to the editor Deidre Morris. We will take note of all your comments and suggestions.
From one Julian Meeting
Would the JM Council consider producing a monthly UK newsletter via email which would enable the latest news to be communicated sooner than in the magazine – produced only 3 times a year? This would save on costs of both production and postage of the magazine. Very few people in our group read the magazine and it is more difficult to share the infor-mation with other people. Within a newsletter it would be pos-sible to have various links which would make it easier to email the relevant people on the JM Council.
For instance it would help to know
- about new groups starting
- what events are planned
- planned changes to the website.
Quotation
Dag Hammarskjöld
To preserve the silence within amid all the noise. To remain open and quiet, a moist humus in the fertile darkness where the rain falls and the grain ripens….
When the conflicting currents of the unconscious create engulfing whirlpools, the waters can again be guided into a single current if the dam-sluice be opened into the channel of prayer – and if that channel has been dug deep enough…..
Book review
Janet Robinson
Fr Luke Penkett • Julian of Norwich’s Literary Legacy
DLT, 2023, £19.99
This book is beautifully produced and has a useful foreword by Graham Usher, Bishop of Norwich.
It is a study of Julian as a writer and the author is specifically dealing with the short text known as A Vision Showed to a Devout Woman.
Penkett makes it clear that he is concerned with Julian’s literary background, vocabulary and style – and her first readers and listeners – rather than with her history, theology and spirituality. The information on the provenance of the MS of Julian’s short text which is included in a mid-fifteenth century anthology, probably collected together by Carthusians, is particularly interesting.
Whilst Julian herself claimed she was “unlearned” the author shows that, not only did she know her Bible, but she appeared to be familiar with early patristic writers such as Augustine and was influenced by many medieval religious texts, including the Cloud of Unknowing. It is suggested that she must have spent hours in her anchorage reading such works or having them read to her.
The analysis of Julian’s vocabulary and style is meticulous and exemplary. In the final chapters Luke Penkett suggests that she must have written with a listening audience in mind, since reading was often a group activity, or that the text would be used for lectio divina and meditation. The author’s listing of the words and passages marked in the margins of the manuscript shows how its readers used and valued the text.
I am not sure that this is a book which would immediately assist readers to deepen their life of prayer. Nonetheless it does give a richer meaning to Julian’s words and thought and would delight anyone who is interested in the composition of this well-loved and brilliant spiritual classic.
Book review
[unstated]
Kenneth Steven • Seeing the Light
Canterbury Press, 2023, £10.99
In this latest collection of Kenneth Steven’s poems, many reflect the stanza:
‘Learn to look for the little things
that weigh nothing at all,
but fill the heart with such light
they can never be measured.’
Many of the poems recall images or memories from early life – glimpses of little events which hindsight shows to be so important in becoming who we are. At times it is almost like looking through a family photo album.
One sequence of nine poems takes us down the River Tay and its tributaries – geographically, autobiographically and historically. Another pair of poems links 6th century and 20th century Skellig Michael. Unusually, there are 13 sonnets, not a form Kenneth Steven has use much before, but whose strict form suits their subject matter.
Nature, people, memories and history all open out onto the mystery that is creation, and how we grow and live in that created and creative space.