The Jesus Prayer

The Jesus Prayer is a very old prayer used by Christians to keep God in mind and keep themselves aware of His presence. It is very short, having a pretty much fixed content for centuries. The prayer is essentially a prayer for mercy but includes acknowledgement of Jesus's relationship with God and the Christian, and acknowledgement of the Christian's dependence on mercy as a sinner.Worded variously, an Orthodox version reads "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." Worded or thought in this form, the prayer is easy to say and can be used to focus us on our mission and place in God's plan. In the middle of chaos or around distractions, this short prayer can serve a useful purpose.

During periods of more extended quiet, the prayer can be expanded by reflecting on its words. The following is an example of using the prayer in this manner.

"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner."

"Lord, master, king. I don't know the complexities of those words, but I am prepared and I want to surrender my life to You. What matters is not what I want, but what you want."

"Jesus, the name above all names. Truely Emmanuel, you have graced the world with your presence and your children with your continuing abiding with us. Thank You for living in us, and giving us Your strengthening Spirit."

"Christ, Messiah, the chosen and perfect of God. Thank You for submitting to God's purpose, for faithfully revealing Him to us. As His annointed, thank You for dying for us, for rising to life, and preparing us to receive and to live in our God."

"Son, image, revelation. Divine and precious as a son. Representative and executor of our God's will and grace. As Son, You have declared the Father's will and have opened the way home."

"God, creator, and sustainer of our lives and world. No one else can take your place because You are so great, and powerful, and yet Your love is steadfast, good, and refreshing. Keep us in Your power safe and with You."

"Have mercy as an outpouring of Your grace and love. Overlook our faults and accept us as You do Your Son. We appeal to You for forebearance and patience in our weakness."

"On me, a creature. Frail, often times arrogant and prideful, having eyes and yet failing to see, ears to have heard but not hearing. Accept me in my rebellion and failures, and humble me and draw me back to you."

"A sinner; one who follows his own way; corrupt and hollow. I am nothing without you. Thank you for your grace and mercy. Accept the sacrifice of your Son as my atonement. Restore me to You and keep me safe."

"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner."

The prayer can be used in a variety of ways and in many situations - while stuck in traffic, waiting in line, in an elevator, or simply as a final appeal and reflection prior to sleep or immediately upon waking. Repeating the prayer is not intended as simply something to take up time or as an unthinking activity. Rather, repetition must be done with our full attention to the words and import of the prayer. It can serve as an entrance to greater prayer, awareness of God's presence, and resting in Him.

Try it, you will come to appreciate this very old and yet still appropriate prayer.

Scripture and Spiritual Formation

If there are things that together compose the sine qua non of the disciple’s life, Scripture is surely on of them. Scripture provides our primary physical revelation of both God and our purpose. It is with Scripture that we can measure our transformed being as we mature. Scripture is the authoritative record of God’s interaction with Man. But Scripture, simply learned, memorized, parsed, and critiqued in an academic sense is powerless and fruitless. Approaching Scripture as an interesting product of Man’s existence is to miss its import.

Scripture’s purpose is to lead us back to where we started; back to who God made us to be. Scripture reveals in its opening verses that Man (male and female) was made in the very image of God. Unlike the other animals, there is something different about Man and his being. It is not that we have physical bodies, or legs, or lungs, or blood. That we have a spirit is closer to the mark, but does not quite grasp the image concept. That image of God that we are is not just that we are spiritual beings in some aspect, but that we share the character of God Himself. We are intended to be people that model God, not because we have learned the fruit of the Spirit, but that we are transformed by the Spirit and evidence His character in our lives. We don’t learn to be patient so much as we become patient, and that from our innermost being.

Scripture then serves as a picture, of who we were made and who we are called to be again. When we read Scripture we should be able to see aspects of God in all the stories, in all the events. This revelation of God grows and becomes more defined as Scripture progresses. The Law is a revelation of God in various aspects, not the least of which is the Law’s demand for right action, justice, and mercy. The prophets pick up that theme, especially in Amos and Micah, and Jesus again brings it to the fore in Luke’s fourth chapter. The same theme is echoed by Paul throughout his writings.

But we see more of God as well. We see His promises being kept even if it seems to us to take an inordinate amount of time. Even when the people in the events cannot see God working, we can see Him as He shapes the events to achieve what He wills. We see His steadfastness and His loving concern for His people. While we see these as aspects of God, we have a suspicion that these are intended for us too. In our relationships we are called to be steadfast and lovingly concerned for one another. Christian charity is not new with the New Testament.

We also see that God has a purpose and that we may only understand a part of it. We come to see that trusting God, being the people we are made to be, even in the midst of turmoil, when what we thought we believed is tested to the breaking point, is what we must do. We come to identify so closely with God that in the final analysis we can do nothing else than trust Him. This is the essence and epitome of faith. Faith that is not faithful in excruciating trial is not the faith we are after because it is not the steadfastness that characterizes the people we were made to be. Faith is only tested when it looks as though faith has failed.

Our calling, and the proper use of Scripture is to transform us into people who so closely identify with God, His character, steadfastness, and concern, that we implicitly trust Him, behave out of our being without having to resort to Scripture proof texts, and that we become aware of our oneness with Him and others in this life.

Contemplative Prayer

Prayer has been called many things and has taken many forms throughout history. We have managed to make prayer a completely individualistic, perfunctory, and/or ego-stroking exercise. It was essentially this development that caused our Lord to tell us that when we pray, we ought to do so in our closets, not on the street corners. In fact He goes on to say that those who pray to be noticed by men receive their reward in that recognition. In other words, their prayer doesn’t count. If we are looking for recognition, that’s what we get; not an audience before our God.

There are various forms of prayer from public to private, from liturgical to popular, from planned to spontaneous. Prayer can be used for various purposes including praise, complaint, entreaty, intercession, thanksgiving, and confession. Any of these purposes can serve as prompting for prayer and any such prayer would be complete. Some folks however, have developed structures for prayer to ensure that our approach to our God is appropriate and includes every aspect of our relationship with Him. One such structure uses the acronym ACTS. These letters remind us that in our prayers, we should consider Adoring our holy and gracious God, Confessing our sins and recognizing that we are but sinning creatures, Thanking God for the blessings we have received and His steadfastness, and Supplication to ask our God for help for ourselves and others, for healing, for continued grace and forgiveness, and for His continued presence. This structure of prayer is appropriate for any prayer in any setting except perhaps those that call for a specific type or content in a prayer.

Another type of prayer, one that is specifically personal and individualistic, is contemplative prayer. In this prayer, the supplicant can use all of the ACTS as a sort of introduction to a period of listening and experiencing our God. In contemplative prayer, the supplicant seeks to enter God’s presence in as pure a form as possible, and to commune with or experience Him completely. This type of prayer becomes silent and even unthinking to some degree. Unthinking in the sense that to have our minds actively praying jeopardizes the possibility of simply experiencing the presence of God.

Thomas Merton is perhaps the most well known modern writer on contemplative prayer. Thomas was a Catholic monk who sought to be alone with God even in the midst of monastic life. At his monastery, Merton was even given permission to build a hermitage (an old tool shed) where he could be seen sitting sometimes in the lotus position contemplating and/or meditating on God. But more than that. Contemplative prayer reviews, evaluates, and determines who we are, who God is or more correctly, what God is in relation to us. While much of today’s religious self-reflection points to the fact that we are nothing (and that is correct in its own way), the contemplative realizes that we are a word spoken by God. While that makes us small, it also means that creation (also a word spoken by God) was made by our God for His pleasure. We were made for God’s pleasure. If anything, that does not make us insignificant. The contemplative supplicant eventually comes to realize that we were made in the likeness of our God and are called to return to Him, to understand that likeness, and to allow ourselves to be lost in the essence of God. We come to see the common origin of everything physical – that our God has made it all, and we come to see things just and as simply as they are – without agendas, without false stories, without supposed perfection.

Merton is but one in a long line of contemplatives. Many there are who have sought and experienced the presence of God. To do so, all alike urge that we seek God simply as God. Not as a benefactor, not even specifically as savior, but as God – in His essence. To do so requires that we clear our minds, remove distractions, and listen. But we are not to listen too hard because in our attempts to hear, we may well miss the message and presence of God.

Beginning a contemplative prayer life is not in and of itself much different that the ways we normally pray, except that it is intensely personal and individual. Begin by finding a quiet place in which you will not be disturbed for some time (to start, 15 minutes perhaps). It may help to read a portion of Scripture or some favored devotional, although Scripture is likely best. Place yourself in a comfortable position, one that won’t require much adjustment for the time you’ve allotted. It is appropriate to relax by way of closing your eyes, cleansing your body by deep breathing, and then moving to moderate or normal breathing in the relaxed state. Begin with a prayer, perhaps one that acknowledges God, invites Him to you, and asks that He allow you entrance to Him. You need not make this prayer overly long, three to five sentences at the most. And then clear your mind – but don’t fight thoughts, and listen. Mental activity per se is not proscribed, but all such activity to should be at the response to thoughts that come to you and be limited to evaluating your relationship, character, and being with that of God.

Over time, the amount of time you can spend in contemplative prayer will grow – to an hour or more, several times a day. Your thoughts will become clearer, less cluttered with day to day concerns, God’s character and His desire for you will become clearer, and you will experience His presence. Not all the time, but from time to time, God will be with you in an almost physical sense. In those instances, God as He is, your purpose, and your relationship to creation become clear and the world becomes simple.Don’t worry if you don’t achieve this seeming nirvana right off or very often. You’re learning and it will take time. There are many challenges to reaching that place and chief among them is you. Contemplation is not something done so that we can say we’ve done it, it isn’t the latest fad, nor is its importance in the event itself. Rather contemplation is simply a way to enter His presence and experience Him. It is God we are after, not an experience. It is hard to enter God’s loving presence while worried about our lives, about getting ahead, about appearing pious. All of these must go in the process of perfecting contemplation. You will have set backs. Those are normal, accept them and try again.