There are many epiphany stories in the Bible. Epiphany stories are part of our history, and part of the history of our faith.
There is one Epiphany story in particular that has always intrigued me, that of Julian of Norwich. Julian was a young woman of faith who lived in the thirteen hundreds. In her young adulthood, she became very ill; so ill that as she lay in a fevered coma, her family thought she was dying and called the priest to deliver last rites. But Julian didn’t die.
Instead, she recovered! And, not only did she recover; she had an Epiphany! You see, she had not been alone in that fevered coma. God had come to her with signs, “showings” that were visible through the mist of fever and disease. She drew meanings from these showings, and was called to reveal them to the world. I remember the first time I read her “Showings.” I was taken aback with her sensual language of familiarity, love, and intimacy.
I had two thoughts. The first was her love of Christ. It was a romance beyond anything I’d ever envisioned. The second was a miracle. This was one smart lady for not getting herself executed during a time when women who professed mystical insights were seen as witches and burned at the stake. Not Julian. She anchored herself within a small church in Norwich, England. In a tiny cell off the sanctuary she lived a long, productive, prolific life. People came to her for spiritual guidance and words of comfort as she saw them through wars and pestilence, life and death.
As years passed and her spiritual growth deepened, she found new messages within the signs given her. With those new messages, she was called to write a much longer, profound book on the showings than her original. Her writings are still used today by people of faith as guides to our ever deepening relationship with God and with Julian.