My neighbor at Thousand Island Park stood on the stoop of my porch to return the bottle of ketchup she’d borrowed. She glanced down and noticed the book I was reading.* Then she said, “you know me, Thomas, I’m spiritual, not religious. I’m hungry for something bigger, but the hunger is in here (she pointed toward her heart) not up here (she pointed to her head).” In 1933 my predecessor, the Reverend Truman Hemingway was, in essence, run out of town following a 2/3 vote of the parish which called for his resignation. Among the complaints from Epiphanyites was that he was too religious, too concerned about prayer and worship. Maybe even as the Hemingways were driving north to Killington, Vermont, to pastor a country church and farm (the very church in which Tom and I were married almost exactly 70 years later), another person, living in England, wrote a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, her name was Eve-lynn Underhill. Ms. Underhill wrote to the leader of the Anglican Church about the priests of her church. Remember this was England circa 1933. She was concerned that too much emphasis was placed on the nurture and development of the intellect, and less on the improvement of the soul. She was quick to write, “I cannot underrate the importance of the intellectual side of religion; it’s necessary, but my real hunger is not for the reconciliation of theology and physical science, it’s for the deep things of the Spirit.” She went on to inform the Archbishop that most of the priests she knew were “ignorant of the laws and experiences of the life of prayer.” In that letter to the Archbishop Evelyn wrote, “people are hungry for God,” then she suggested that a life soaked in prayer, and through “adoring worship” we would be helped to apprehend God. I wonder if her words to the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1933 might describe something about all of us in 2013. Underhill’s words certainly capture what my Thousand Island Park neighbor was saying to me as she handed me the ketchup she’d borrowed: she wants something that will nourish her spirit, and she believes she’ll find that in just about any place except a religious institution. It’s not lost on me that both my neighbor and Evelyn Underhill used the word “hunger” to describe their yearning for God. The truth is I’m sometimes hungry for God as well. The irony is that much of the time I try to fill that hunger from my own well, giving my heart over to things that don’t satisfy. Too often I think it’s all up to me, or I fall into the trap of thinking about, rather than worshiping God. I’m no Truman Hemingway either because I often forget that God is the interesting thing about religion. This year your parish’s staff and leaders will do everything we can to capture what Evelyn said to the Archbishop of Canterbury: God is the most interesting thing about religion. Take some time this week to be silent, then consider one step you might take to know God better. Doing so might put an end to hunger.
* Life of Evelyn Underhill: An Intimate
Portrait of the Groundbreaking Author of
Mysticism by Margaret Copper, 2003.
