When my dad was alive, he liked to tell people I was the least likely person he had ever known to go into the ministry. I observe something similar with regard to people I encounter in the church. Some of the least likely people become committed Christ followers while some of the more obvious candidates for faith never take it seriously.
Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941) could surely be classified as an unlikely Christian disciple. She was raised by parents indifferent to religion and had no formal religious training. She was agnostic in her early years, yet she also sensed the divine in ways she couldn’t explain. She dabbled in the occult before coming to faith after a trip to Italy and visit to a convent. She became a leading voice for spiritual renewal in both Catholic and Anglican circles. She was the first woman to speak to an assembly of Anglican bishops. She led retreats and earned a reputation as an accomplished spiritual director. A letter was found recently among Evelyn’s papers that she sent to the archbishop of Canterbury (leader of the Anglican communion), “People are hungry for God,” she insisted, “not for institutional religion.” She then commented on “the poor and shabby quality of the priests’ inner life.” She ended with an indictment on leading clergy of her day, “Their Christianity as a whole is humanitarian rather than theocentric.” Gutsy words! Since the church’s problems were primarily spiritual, not organizational, she counseled that what the church needed most was greater spiritual fervor and love for God. It was a shot over the bow for church leaders to cultivate an intentional life of prayer. Tell me? Did she write this letter in 1930 or to our time?
She prays with similar courage in today’s prayer: