From an open window to an Open Table: Julian of Norwich and the gift of welcome
Julian of Norwich, painted by Open Table member Lou Ryan, whose own journey to Christian faith was inspired by Julian’s writings. Read Lou’s story: ‘I felt so at home that I thought nothing could be better’
AMONG around 100 people who attended the Open Table Pride service at Liverpool Cathedral in July was an author whose work has been inspired by the writings of Julian of Norwich.
Julian was a fourteenth-century English mystic and anchoress whose Revelations of Divine Love is regarded as the earliest surviving book in English known to have been written by a woman.
David McDermott's book Prayers from Revelations of Divine Love offers a contemporary collection of contemplative prayers inspired by Julian's sixteen revelations. Here David reflects on the connection between her life and the story of Open Table, particularly the significance of the word open.
An open window
I was delighted to attend the Open Table service for Pride at Liverpool Cathedral in July 2026 and to see how the Open Table movement has grown into a network of 37 communities across England and Wales.
“Now nothing has to be in secret. All are welcome at Open Table.”
I first encountered Open Table when there was just one community, meeting at St Bride's Church in Liverpool. To see how that one table has become a network of communities across England and Wales is a remarkable story of growth and welcome. It brought to mind the parable of the mustard seed: something small can grow into something much larger than anyone might have imagined.
What inspired me most was the word open in Open Table.
After Julian of Norwich received her sixteen visions in 1373, she went to live as an anchoress in a cell connected to a church in Norwich. The cell had a window into the church, but it also had an open window into the world.
Through that window, people could come to see and talk to Julian. She was able to listen to them and pass on the message she had received, sometimes in secret, to those she called God's friends.
Julian lived at a time when the Church's teaching focussed heavily on sin, punishment and retribution. People were taught to fear God's judgement and encouraged to seek indulgences, spiritual actions to reduce punishment for sin and get to heaven.
Against this background, Julian's perception of God as forgiving and benevolent was profoundly different.
I felt inspired to think about the parallel between Julian's open window and Open Table. Through the open window, Julian shared the message she had received from Jesus Christ: that all people could freely come to God's ocean of mercy for forgiveness and liberation.
God's love and Open Table
In the final chapter of her book Revelations of Divine Love, Julian asks God the meaning of her revelations. The answer she receives is that they were shown for love, and that love was the reason they were shown.
When I wrote my prayers inspired by Julian's message, I changed the word love to devotion, because I understand Julian's God as a benevolent God who gives to all people unconditional and immeasurable love, mercy, forgiveness, compassion and liberation.
Just as God's light and love shone through Julian and through that open window into the world, so through Open Table God’s message is given to all who come as themselves.
That welcome includes LGBTQIA+ people, their friends and families, and all who seek a place where they can experience God's love and care. At Open Table they can come as themselves, find belonging and liberation, and receive Holy Communion.
The growth of Open Table is, to me, a powerful expression of this welcome. What began with a single community in Liverpool has grown into 37 communities across England and Wales. The story is not simply one of numbers. Each community represents a place where people who may once have felt excluded can find a table at which they are welcomed.
If there had been a secret Open Table in the fourteenth century, I believe Julian would have directed anybody who felt excluded towards it. Now nothing has to be in secret. All are welcome at Open Table.
Who was Julian of Norwich?
Does a fourteenth-century mystic have any relevance for our times? And why has her work only become widely known in the last few decades?
Julian described herself as 'a simple creature unlettered'. Yet she was given, in her understanding, a unique insight through sixteen visions.
In 1373, when Julian was around thirty years old, she became so seriously ill that she was believed to be close to death and received the last rites. But it was not her time to die. During this illness she experienced the sixteen visions.
These included visions of Heaven, the extent of Christ’s suffering, the benevolence of God, and the Virgin Mary. They gave her insights into the nature of the Trinity, the Incarnation and the relationship between God and humanity. They also gave her insights into the spiritual journey of humans, God's involvement in our lives and God's everlasting wisdom.
After recovering her health, Julian dedicated the rest of her life to prayer and contemplation at the church now known as St Julian's Church in Norwich. Over more than twenty years of prayer and consideration of the visions, she received what she called 'inward instruction' from the Holy Spirit, leading to a longer version of her work, Revelations of Divine Love.
It is the earliest surviving book in English known to have been written by a woman, and it is now read and loved by people internationally. It is valued not only as an important literary work but as a classic of Christian spirituality, and Julian is recognised as one of the most significant English theologians.
Why did Julian's message take so long to be heard?
To understand why Julian's work did not become widely known, we have to reflect on the times in which she lived.
England was going through an anxious and oppressive time. The Black Death had devastated the population, and there was was widespread unrest and lawlessness known as the Peasants’ Revolt, followed by executions. The Church was also disliked by many because of demands for tithes (one tenth of a peasant’s harvest or income). During the 1380s, the movement associated with John Wycliffe called for reform of the Church. His criticism of Church doctrine and abuses was condemned and he was accused of heresy.
The Church, in union with the state, still exercised enormous authority over people's lives through its doctrine. Those who challenged accepted beliefs could be seen as a threat to institutional authority. In 1401, the English parliament passed an act which allowed heretics to be burned alive.
Against this background, Julian's perception of a forgiving and benevolent God was distinctive and challenging. She would have been at great personal risk, potentially facing trial for heresy and burning at the stake.
Her writings were handwritten scripts, produced long before the printing press became established in Europe, which also helps explain why her work was not widely circulated.
Julian's message for our time
The essence of the Revelations is God's benevolence towards His children. We are regarded by God with tenderness, and through the suffering and death of Jesus Christ, we are offered forgiveness and redemption.
Julian lived in turbulent times, yet her message was one of complete faith in God, with peace and assurance. More than six centuries later, I believe that message still has something to say to us.
This is why I was so moved by seeing the Open Table communities gathered for Pride at Liverpool Cathedral.
Julian's open window offered a way for people to encounter a message of God's mercy and love at a time when many experienced the Church as a place of judgement and exclusion.
Open Table offers something profoundly resonant today: a place where people can come as they are, where nobody needs to hide, and where LGBTQIA+ people, their friends and families can gather around the table and receive the welcome of God.
From Julian's open window to Open Table, the message is one of opening rather than closing; of welcome rather than exclusion; of love rather than fear.
And, like the mustard seed, what begins small can continue to grow.
Discover more about Julian
More than six centuries after Julian, I was inspired to translate her work into contemplative prayers. My prayer is that they might continue to transform lives as they inspire all who read them to consider Julian's teaching about God's benevolence.
