Dr Michael Spence, Vice Chancellor of the University of Sydney, spoke at the Sydney Prayer Breakfast on the subject of prayer and the death of his wife Beth. The talk and a transcript have been posted at The Bible Society.
It is a very powerful testimony of the way that God has provided a “great historic torrent of prayer” by which we can be carried when we simply feel unable to pray.
An excerpt:
For months after Beth died all I could do in my quiet time was say the Creed. I wanted to say ‘this is true no matter what I’m feeling’. I could say the Creed, I could say the Lord’s Prayer, and I could say the General Thanksgiving:
Father of all mercies, we your unworthy servants give humble and hearty thanks for all your goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all men. We bless thee for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for your amazing love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. And we pray give us that due sense of all your mercies, that our hearts may be truly thankful, and that we may declare your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives; by giving up ourselves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all the days of our lives. This we pray in the name of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.
I didn’t have to pray, because for 2,000 years the church had been praying. And I could join my prayers with that great, historic torrent of prayer. And that gave me the space to be… It gave me the space, before God, to say this is true and I’m sticking to it. And I’m going to be carried along by 2,000 years of the great intercessions of the church. You need love. You don’t need many words. You don’t even need your own words. But you do, and this is my last thing. You do need to listen.Read or see the whole talk here.
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