Sitting on Tuesday morning fighting the internal battle that often rages - between the desire to be still and to pray and the desire to get up and get on with all that had to be done that day - I was reminded of a moment of prayer in the gospels which we usually miss (or at least don't often see as "prayer") which feeds a simple prayer I return to again and again:
...a blind man, Bartimaeus (that is, the Son of Timaeus), was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!
Mark 10:47
It's a prayer that comes elsewhere in the gospels (eg in Matt 15) and expresses that most basic of heart attitudes to God - where prayer has to begin really - that of a sense of our own helplessness and need of Jesus' mercy.
One of the most ancient prayers of the Christian church picks this up and adds in the wider perspective of who Jesus is and was (there are various versions, but this is the one I know and use):
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God
have mercy on me a sinner.
It's known as a 'breath prayer', because it's short and simple enough to be uttered (or even just thought) as you breathe in and out - the first line on the 'in' breath and the second on the 'out'.
It might seem a bit odd or just plain repetitive, but I've found it to be one of the most effective and powerful ways of lassooing my heart and mind and helping me just stay still long enough to engage with the God who is always there, but to whom I need to actually pay attention.
Perhaps it's because it doesn't require me to create my own words, or because it starts me off in just the right place spiritually, or because it simply sits me at Jesus' feet with open hands - like the blind beggar at the side of the road - but I've found it a place I return to very often.
Tom Wright - whom some of us were fortunate enough to enjoy listening to last Saturday - extends the prayer into a Trinity of breath prayers, to Father and Spirit as well... but that's for another day.
Brother Ramon and Simon Barrington Ward ( two Christians of very different traditions) have written a wonderful book for contemporary Christians on "The Jesus Prayer" - search Amazon with 'Simon Barrington Ward' for information etc
Posted by: Tom Allen | October 05, 2006 at 12:13 AM