{"id":1710,"date":"2026-05-08T14:00:42","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T14:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/?p=1710"},"modified":"2026-05-08T14:00:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T14:00:42","slug":"love-changes-everything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/2026\/05\/08\/love-changes-everything\/","title":{"rendered":"love changes everything"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

Jesus went on, \u201cOnce there was a man who had two sons.  The younger one said to his father, \u2018Father, give me my share of the property that will come to me.\u2019 So he divided up his property between the two of them. Before very long, the younger son collected all his belongings and went off to a foreign land, where he squandered his wealth in the wildest extravagance. And when he had run through all his money, a terrible famine arose in that country, and he began to feel the pinch. Then he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country who sent him out into the fields to feed the pigs. He got to the point of longing to stuff himself with the food the pigs were eating and not a soul gave him anything. Then he came to his senses and cried aloud, \u2018Why, dozens of my father\u2019s hired men have got more food than they can eat and here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go back to my father, and I will say to him, \u201cFather, I have done wrong in the sight of Heaven and in your eyes. I don\u2019t deserve to be called your son any more. Please take me on as one of your hired men.\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still some distance off, his father saw him and his heart went out to him, and he ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. But his son said, \u2018Father, I have done wrong in the sight of Heaven and in your eyes. I don\u2019t deserve to be called your son any more ….\u2019 \u2018Hurry!\u2019 called out his father to the servants, \u2018fetch the best clothes and put them on him! Put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet, and get that calf we\u2019ve fattened and kill it, and we will have a feast and a celebration! For this is my son\u2014I thought he was dead, and he\u2019s alive again. I thought I had lost him, and he\u2019s found!\u2019 <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

There is a connection, I think, between that reading, a 14th<\/sup> Century woman who the church celebrates on 8th<\/sup> May, and Steve Chalke who came to give our lecture this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in the 14th<\/sup> century a woman we call Julian lived in Norwich as an anchoress, in a cell attached to St Julian\u2019s church. When she was younger she nearly died – a priest was called – and that night she had a series of what she called \u2018showings\u2019 – visions or words which gave her a new understanding about God. This was in a time of war, pandemic, and religious violence. But despite all of this the overriding message that Julian heard was about God\u2019s love. She wrote down her reflections and this is how she ends her book:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
And from the time it was shown, I often asked to know what was our Lord's meaning. And fifteen years after, and more, I was answered in inward understanding, saying this:
'Would you know your Lord's meaning in this? Learn it well.
Love was his meaning.
Who showed it you? Love.
What did he show you? Love.
Why did he show you? For love.
Hold fast to this and you shall learn and know more about love, but you shall never know nor learn about anything except love for ever.'<\/pre>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
This understanding led Julian to new ways of thinking about many things – about God\u2019s love for creation, about the way we pray, and about the way God views us and our sin. She tells of a vision she saw of a servant given a task by their lord. The servant runs off eagerly, but falls into a gully, which he cannot escape from. He is hurt and in pain, and sorrowful, and the lord feels great pity for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Julian eventually came to see this as a picture of the way God looks on us humans, caught up in the sorrow and pain of our sinful failings. She sees that when we turn back to God \u2018then our courteous Lord shows himself to the soul with gladness and delight, with welcoming friendship, as if the soul has been released from pain and prison, saying tenderly: \u2018My darling, I am glad you have come to me. In all your sorrow I have been with you always, and now you know my love and we are joined in joy.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Julian\u2019s understanding that God looks on us \u2018with pity not with blame\u2019 links well with an understanding Steve shared yesterday about the reasons behind the actions of the children and young people that his charity Oasis supports. Some have been excluded from many schools. Some are living in safe houses but find it hard to live in that community. Some are now detained in Oasis Restore, a youth custody centre, having committed violent crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But all have grown up, said Steve, without love and nurture. They are full of pain and despair which comes out as anger. What they need is to know that they are loved for who they are – that they are a unique and precious individual – that someone understands their pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In our reading Jesus gives us a picture of a God who welcomes home the son who has so callously demanded his share of his inheritance and waltzed off to spend it. The father in the story has been looking out for his wayward son, and is delighted to welcome him home, with a warm hug and a celebration party. He is given a new start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What would it mean for us to look at ourselves through God\u2019s eyes, \u2018with pity, not with blame\u2019? To recognise our essential goodness, and the love that God has for us always, and the way God feels for us in the harm we do to ourselves and others. We are often much harsher towards ourselves than God is – God simply wants to gently welcome us home, to comfort us, and to nurture us into new life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe as we learn to accept the full extent of God\u2019s love and grace, we can, as Julian says, \u2018live gladly, live gaily, because of his love.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Julian says that \u2018the best prayer is to rest in the goodness of God, knowing that that goodness reaches down to our deepest level of need.\u2019 

Rest for a while in the goodness of God, allowing any concerns to surface, and handing them over to God.

Some words from Julian:

God looks on us with pity, not with blame.

In his love God wraps and holds us 
\u2013 God enfolds us in love, and God will never let us go.

A prayer from Julian to end with -  you might like to repeat it a few times quietly:

God of your goodness, give me yourself, for only in you I have all.
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