Rowan Williams - The Problem of Prayer (N146)

What actually is prayer? What happens when we do it? What difference can it make, if any, to the events and circumstances we find ourselves in? Should we expect to sense God in prayer, or perhaps even hear him communicate to us? And if so, why do so few of us ever seem to have these sorts of experiences.

For many of us, these questions, and others like them, have led us to a place of disillusionment and prayerlessness. And yet we still yearn for the deep, rooted, holistic connectedness that prayer promises.

So we brought these questions, and others, to Dr. Rowan Williams, Master of Magdalen College, Cambridge, former Archbishop of Canterbury, and expert in the history of Christian spirituality. He's known as a man of great wisdom and deep spirituality. And he didn't disappoint!

“If things are difficult it's not because God wants to make things difficult. If things are difficult it’s because growing up is difficult and loving is difficult and trusting is difficult and faithfulness is difficult. Get used to it. But, the one who is within and beyond all this is the one who’s essentially on your side, who wants you to go through all this so you live as fully as you can.” - Rowan Williams

Interview starts at 8m 5s

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