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"All Shall Be Well, and All Manner of Things Shall Be Well"
11:30 PM Saturday July 21st and the last words "All was well," blew me away and filled my eyes with tears. After seven volumes and 4,100 pages, an extraordinary story had come to an end, and it had ended well, whole, powerfully complete. Good within and without had won a battle against evil within and without. Hope had become sight for a brief shining moment after so much struggle, pain, devastating loss and, yes, so much patience, love, sacrifice, commitment and friendship. And so Joan Rowling’s exceptional fantasy series came to an end, Harry Potter had faced his destiny with the love and support of his friends. The promise of the triumph of love, justice, and good was fulfilled. What would be was there. What could not be seen, what could only be hoped in trust that it would be so was present. "All was well." Would such convinced, trusting hope, clear in Rowling’s world, be potent, viable, and compelling here in this world? Will all be well? There are those among us who do not believe that is possible and who marshal powerful reasons, facts, and experiences to refute such hope. Some times you and I are among their number.
And yet, those final words from a fantasy world are words from our own world. Those three words that end volume seven Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows allude to the great saying of a 14th century English mystic saint, Julian of Norwich "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well." Those lines are some of the most well-known in all theological literature. They were spoken in the 14th century, a century when the Black Death killed almost half of the population of Europe, a century when the papacy was carried into exile, the 100 Years’ War began, and in 1389 the Battle of Kosovo fought, a battle which still haunts the peoples of the former Yugoslavia with devastating hatred. Such daring hope in such chaotic and deadly times! "All will be well." Dare we hope? "All?" Our problem with professing these words is having any confidence they are true in any sense.[1] Not in the world we live in! "All manner of things?" We all have our list of all manner of things that refute such hope. All manner of things are broken, corrupted, and distorted seemingly beyond repair. How little evidence there is for hope. Deadly despair seeks us all out. But we are those who do not succumb to despair’s temptation. We are those who hope for what we do not see, but trust will be. We are those who believe Julian is right: there is a God at work in this world out of love, a triune God we see clearly in Jesus Christ. Julian’s was an extraordinary trust in a story, a love story of a God who so loved the world that…you know the story. Isaiah’s old text professes this God: "My deliverance will be forever, and my salvation to all generations." (Is. 51:8b). Forever? To all generations? All things, all manner of things? We live in hope that the creation will be set free from bondage, and that includes us. Will all be well? Yes! We have the commitment of God to do this. We live as those aware that the work of God is not finished in this world, or in history, the transformation of humanity and of the creation itself is not complete. The present is shaped by the God who calls into life that which does not exist, who can do far more than we ask or imagine. Not just far more, but abundantly far more. Does that include overcoming the damage we have done? Compensating for the little we have done? All things? All manner of things? Yes. God will do this. God has been working toward this in the past, in places we can see. Memory is so important for hope. God is working toward this in the present, in some places and ways we can see, and others we will never see or know, but which are none the less God’s work What shapes this hope? What drives it? What gives it its perseverance, its faithfulness, its tenacity? Not something we do. Like Julian we are compelled to lean on God for we cannot see. She knows God perseveres through us, is faithful through us and to us. What drives and shapes her hope? A set of convictions that are a gift: We just don’t happen to be in this world by chance, or human contrivance. The world and each one of us is created by love. We are not here to fend for ourselves pursuing as much pleasure as possible and as little pain as possible. God has created us to live with God and one another in communion not hostility. Humanity has not been left by itself to deal with our deadly failures to love God, one another, and ourselves. God in Christ is involved to bring salvation and deliverance, healing and wholeness. Not withstanding all appearances, we will not be swallowed up into nothingness. At the end of history God will make our fragile lives imperishable so that we may enjoy God and one another. Suffering will not have the last word, evil will not triumph. And the wrongs we have suffered and committed will not finally shape who we are.[2] God keeps sending us moments that reach down into the deepest recesses of our spirit, moments that give us such perspective. As a result hope is reborn. Rowling’s Harry Potter was one of those moments for me. Julian of Norwich by God’s grace can be one for us all. All will be well. You can point to your own moments, or to those people who mentored you in all sorts of ways through books, in person, by observation in the media, and you knew, not of your own doing, and hope was alive again. Easter remains the most extraordinary moment of the truth about this world and God’s love for it. From Easter hope springs resurrected time and time again. For only love could face and defeat death. The Old Calvinists were right: we are predestined to be loved by God. The best people I know have been committed to this hope. They have loved, fought for justice, served and sacrificed faithfully, faced evil, suffered, lived, and died in this: they knew they were loved by this God and they learned to love with the same passion, faithfulness and perseverance one another and this wonderful creation. They teach us that this world is in God’s hands, not ours. And that frees them to accept defeats and win some victories in the time given to them by the providence of God and they knew that part of God’s love is not to allow us finally to botch it up. Such hope unleashes celebration in the heart. And when they were tottering between hope and despair, the sole reality upon which all that is dear and worthwhile rests, found them again: "Your God reigns…the Lord will go before you."[3] This hope also abides as our commission. God works in us; therefore, we must work – we must do the works of love and mercy, the works of being human and helping others to be human, as God defines humanity and wills that it should be. All goodness is of grace and all of it is yours for the asking and receiving by faith. We are saved by grace, to the end that we may nurture humanity in ourselves and in others.[4] Grace does its work in us so that all that is broken is embraced in healing love. Repair becomes the creative destruction of brokenness. Such hope does the work of love. You cannot evangelize what you do not love. You cannot hate what you would transform.[5] The good is always there by the grace of God, and you can never write off anyone as without a future. You are called to wager your life that this love is almighty, that the love that suffers and dies for the beloved is not impotent, but the true power of reality. You must claim the earth itself, all creatures, for this love; for it is the power that brings forth life for all that breathes.[6] And in many and small ways you will see the future that shall bear God’s image and fulfill God’s vision. Yes, you will. Sometimes the work will get done because of us, and sometimes the work will get done in spite of us, but the work will get done. Yes, it will! We will need to remember people who lived and died in such hope. Memory is prelude. Apart from the eyes of faith, the world remains as threatening as ever. But from the perspective of faith, we see beyond oppressors and victims living under the domain of evil to a world graciously being transformed into compassion and justice. That this is not an illusion but the only true reality rests not on our wisdom, but on good news, a love story. Because of that story all with be bathed in the light of God’s truthful grace. Disenchanted with life, the world, ourselves, will become enchanted once again. Take a deep breath. Sigh a little. Move forward. Stay rooted in story in which God’s dream will come true. Stay tabled and communal. Julian is right. "All manner of things will be well." Hallelujah! O yes, sing this every once in a while:
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F.
Harry Daniel