Pray Without Ceasing: The Poem Joseph Scriven Wrote for His Sick Mother

Joseph Scriven was a young man from Banbridge, County Down, Ireland, who graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 1842. In 1843, the night before his wedding, his fiancee drowned. A year later he left Ireland for Canada, and he later settled near Port Hope, Ontario.

In 1855 word reached him that his mother was seriously ill back in Ireland. He could not be at her side, so he wrote her a poem of comfort, titled "Pray Without Ceasing". It was never meant for the public. Later it was set to music by Charles Converse and became the hymn "What a Friend We Have in Jesus", loved by Christians across the world.

His own life stayed hard. About 1860 a second fiancee died of pneumonia. Yet Scriven spent his remaining years tutoring, preaching and helping people around him. He died in 1886, and his grave near Bewdley carries a monument to the hymn.

The lesson is simple, and Paul states it in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 (KJV): "Pray without ceasing."

Scriven's grief did not stop his prayers. It gave them words that still carry millions through their own hard nights.

Prayer point: Lord, teach us to bring everything to You in prayer, as a friend.

Over to you:
- Which hymn, in your parish or at home, has carried you through a hard season?
- When did bringing a burden to God in prayer change something for you? Share your testimony below.

Sources: Wikipedia, "Joseph M. Scriven" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_M._Scriven); Dictionary of Canadian Biography; Christian History Institute.
Photo: Joseph Scriven memorial, Banbridge, geograph.org.uk (CC BY-SA 2.0), via Wikimedia Commons