Nuts to Consider…

Written By Jonathan Krogh

Dear Pensive Parishioners,

Simple elements sometimes capture majestic understanding. Julian of Norwich (1343-1416), the mystic who authored the oldest English texts attributed to a woman, is famous for her meditation on a hazelnut. She observed that this small and insignificant object existed because “God created it, God loves it, and God protects it” (Revelations of Divine Love, 1390-1410). Dame Julian perceived the expansive mystery of the Trinity, encapsulated in a single seed.

Julian was an anchorite, one who cuts themself off from earthly distraction to devote one’s whole self to meditation and prayer. As in Julian’s case, sometimes the choice of isolation was made after an extended illness where fevers and pain conjured visions, presumed to be of divine origin. Often prior to seclusion, the anchorite had a funeral to demonstrate their being dead to the world. Tradition held that, in 1373, Julian was near death and had a series of visions which she recorded shortly after her recovery. She spent the remainder of her days in a room off the chapel of St. Julians Church in Norwich, England.

Anchorites were not hermits. Hermits could wander and sometimes hang out with other hermits (including Herman, who woke up one morning in 1964 feeling good). Anchorites, on the other hand, lived in complete isolation, their needs attended to by members of the parish who would leave food and remove waste. They were supported as living saints who offered intercessions on behalf of the common good. Their job was to contemplate and pray. They were anchored in place and revered as spiritual anchors for their community.

We no longer support professional intercessors. We’ve adopted a spirituality that requires everyone to work out their own salvation, forbidden from outsourcing the harder bits. There are no longer job postings for virtuosic mystics. Our meditation on the oracle of the hazelnut has degenerated to the enjoyment of Ferrero Rocher and Frangelico.

My musing about Dame Julian this morning reminded me of my need to pause, detach and contemplate. Sometimes it’s the small stuff that quiets the heart and welcomes clarity. It’s a childlike fascination with an ant wandering across the sidewalk, or the way a rivulet of water from the hose mirrors the flow of a mighty stream. Sometimes deep and magnificent insight can explode from a tiny, mundane object in our hand if we stop long enough to wonder.

Inviting myself to anchor and see what’s nuts, I remain,

With Love,
Jonathan Krogh
Your Pastor 

Jonathan Krogh
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Shopping to Death