Evelyn Underhill Day - "Abba"

Led by Associate Professor Robyn Wrigley-Carr. We live in a fragile world, with wars, COVID and climate change. Underhill’s words written during World War II provide us with light and hope amidst this darkness. As World War II struck, Underhill was revising her retreat talks on the Lord’s Prayer (Abba) for publication in 1940. Then during World War II (until her death in June 1941), Underhill wrote words of support, inspiration and challenge to her Prayer Group (quaintly named the “Theological Kindergarten”). In these letters and in Abba, we hear Underhill’s voice of courageous encouragement.

This Quiet Day we will ponder and reflect upon Underhill’s thoughts concerning the Lord’s Prayer and her final letters crafted during wartime. These writings usher us gently into hope, providing nurture and refreshment to steady us in these uncertain times. Amidst the challenges that surround us, Underhill invites us to attend to the invisible Reality underlying all we can see and touch. Perhaps this Quiet Day is a time for us all to enter the “Theological Kindergarten,” so we can hear Underhill’s invitation to a renewal of the Spirit in ourselves and the whole Church, to “‘kindle our cold hearts and light up our dark minds,’ showing us God’s Will for the future and enabling us to do our part” (“Letters to the Prayer Group,” Eastertide, 1941).

Robyn Wrigley-Carr is Associate Professor in Spirituality and Spiritual Care at the University of Divinity in Australia. Her PhD (University of St. Andrews, Scotland) examined Baron Friedrich von Hügel as a spiritual director. Robyn is the author of The Spiritual Formation of Evelyn Underhill (2020), Music of Eternity: Meditations for Advent with Evelyn Underhill (The Archbishop of York’s Advent Book, 2021), and she edited Evelyn Underhill’s Prayer Book (2018). Robyn’s forthcoming book is entitled On Retreat with Evelyn Underhill. As well as writing numerous articles and presenting on podcasts, she is a spiritual director and leads retreats and quiet days in Australia, England and the USA.

The day can be combined with an overnight stay or two at the House. If you would like this please contact the Retreat House direct 01245 237251.

Host or Publisher The Chelmsford Diocesan House of Retreat