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Grounded and Rooted in Love
A Foundation for Whatever Comes: An Advent Study of Julian of Norwich’s Revelations of Divine Love
When: Dec 4, 11, 18 | 8pm EST
Where: Zoom
St. Julian of Norwich lived in a world where plagues wiped out as much as half the population of Norwich in her lifetime. She survived catastrophic flooding, violent storms, a war, and a church more interested in ethnic purity and control than the spiritual well-being of the people. She reaches across the centuries to us with her Revelations that show a God who is not angry, but loving. A God of justice and true peace.
Come join this Advent study where we will delve into selections from Julian’s Revelations and perhaps learn to see God a little differently in our time. And learn how faithfulness in the small things translates to change across centuries.
We will be meeting for an hour to an hour and a half on zoom each week for three weeks during Advent. I’ll be using the new Oxford World Classics edition of Julian’s Revelations and will send out the chapters/page numbers a week in advance of our meeting.
If you can, please purchase the book at least a week before December 4th. If you cannot purchase the book, please reply to this email or message me and I will get the sections to you, I don’t want anyone to be left out.
For those of you new here, Hi! I’m Anna Elisabeth Howard, CJN. I am an author, movement chaplain, hiking guide, and graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary. I am passionate about mutual thriving and healing our place in the natural world. A Companion of Julian of Norwich since the feast of Julian this year, I love to help other people be accompanied by Julian and to discover Julian’s words.
For more on the Companions of Julian of Norwich:
I also led an Advent Study last year on Julian. If you were part of that, we are studying different sections this year, so it’s not a repeat! If you are new this year, that’s great too! You can, totally optionally, read my reflections on those passages from last year in the posts below.
Advent 2023
“I wish I could still believe in God, but I can’t be a Christian anymore because of ______” Fill-in-the-blank with racism, misogyny, homophobia, toxic capitalism, and so on. I’ve had this conversation with different people almost word-for-word over and over. White American Christianity has so defined God that many people cannot separate God from the toxic theology they were taught.
But this isn’t the God I see in the Bible. The Bible shows us a God meeting people where they are and nudging them towards justice and total thriving for all: shalom. The Bible details arcs of justice and societal reform. If we understand how radical those arcs were in the context of the day, we can extend them forward into the future and figure out how to work for justice, total thriving, and societal reformation in our day.
I grew up in that first world view. Come along, and I’ll tell you the story of how I escaped, and I’ll show you a theology that I believe paints a more accurate picture: a faith for the common good where everyone thrives and no one is left out.
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Anna Elisabeth Howard writes highly caffeinated takes on shalom as a lens for everything from her front porch in Hendersonville, TN where she lives with her husband and two sons. She is a community organizer and movement chaplain with a background in youth and family ministry and is a graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary. An avid hiker and backpacker, many thoughts start somewhere in the middle of the woods, or under a waterfall. She is a regular contributer to Earth & Altar and her latest book is Inward Apocalypse: Uncovering a Faith for the Common Good.
Buy Inward Apocalypse: Amazon | Independent Booksellers
Social media: Facebook | Instagram
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