Evelyn Underhill and We Are Called to Worship

This week's reading is found on page 251 of Spiritual Classics, Richard Foster, editor.

Evelyn Underhill was a prolific writer who contributed over 30 books to spiritual thought. Raised by a family of barristers and judges, she became a Christian as an adult, and after much searching, eventually became a devout Anglican. Her first major writing, Mysticism: A Study in the Nature and Development of Man’s Spiritual Consciousness established her as an expert on the subject and began her down a path of moving into new spaces for women, as she became the first woman to give a series of lectures at Oxford and would later become a fellow of King’s College at Cambridge. Fond of St. Theresa’s saying that to give Our Lord a perfect service Martha and Mary must combine, "She conducted retreats, and emphasized the importance of combining the life of solitude with God and the life of shared community. Throughout her life, her mornings were given to writing and her afternoons to visiting the poor and to the direction of souls.

*What obstacles sometimes hold us back from full assent to the experience of worship?

*How can we enter more freely into the transfigured life as exemplified by Moses, Elijah, and Jesus himself?

*How do worship experiences shape our communion with God and with others?