The Jesus Prayer work weekend was held recently at the Claymont Society for Continuous Education. This was the first seminar in a series proposed by my husband Jack, based on the Four Prophets morning exercise. He suggested that Claymont could host events delving into the inner work that each of these prophets represent. In the exercise, Mohammad is connected to Islam and Hope, Buddha—Buddhism and Acceptance, Llama—Tibetan Buddhism and Faith, and Jesus—Christianity and Love. Before he died, Mr. Bennett also mentioned a fifth prophet, Moses and Being.
Jack’s notion included having enough resources among Claymont’s own Fourth Way community to be able to address all these paths in-house. The series, supported within the framework of Claymont’s work-events, could be augmented by practical physical work and movements. Jack and I attended the first of these offerings.
Jesus Prayer Weekend
At the end of April, the Reverend Georgia DuBose led a work weekend focused on the repetition of the Jesus Prayer. She gave an historical introduction including how the phrase has been modified. When the word sinner was added in the Russian Orthodox tradition, the prayer become:
Lord Jesus Christ, son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
I must admit, in my head that phrase didn’t resonate. First off, my relationship since childhood, has always been directly with God, not Jesus. So I don’t think of Jesus as my Lord. Second, what’s with “living God” — what’s that supposed to even mean? To cap it all off, here we go with “me, a poor sinner.” Isn’t that just like Christianity—throwing the “s” word out onto everyone. Well, you’d think I was not off to a good start. However—
Much to my surprise, even though it was suggested that the prayer could be phrased in whatever way worked for us, I found myself repeating the original version as we worked in the garden. It didn’t take long for the phrase to drop out of my head and into some deeper part, repeating quietly on its own.
Connecting With the Prayer
“Lord” became an honorific, addressing Jesus. Then, while working in the garden I felt the connection with living matter that this earth is all about. Soon I sensed God in that “living” matter. And that included Jesus, who manifested as a human (a son) yet represented a more direct connection with what is beyond me—God. I want that connection too but what I have is a poor shadow of what Jesus had. Am I ready to say “Yes” to dying—or whatever God wants me to say “yes” to? I am so not how I want to be. In the depths of the remorse this evokes, I understand that indeed, I Am a poor sinner. Lord, have mercy on me. And I know He does, because Christ knew how hard it was to be mortal.
When I was the stream, when I was the
forest, when I was still the field,
when I was every hoof, foot,
fin and wing, when I
was the sky
itself,
no one ever asked me did I have a purpose, no one ever
wondered was there anything I might need,
for there was nothing
I could not
love.
It was when I left all we once were that
the agony began, the fear and questions came,
and I wept, I wept. And tears
I had never known
before.
So I returned to the river, I returned to
the mountains. I asked for their hand in marriage again,
I begged—I begged to wed every object
and creature,
and when they accepted,
God was ever present in my arms.
And He did not say,
“Where have you
been?”
For then I knew my soul—every soul—
has always held
Him.
Meister Eckhart
Thanks for your honesty Roberta. Perhaps this poem represents another take on the notion of being a “sinner” and where that all started. cr
I think it is “Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me a sinner”. Shortened by some to be “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me”. The hesychast put the attention on the middle part of the body and with the prayer follow their breathing.
In my opinion, Jesus called us all children of God and his only recorded instruction for prayer starts with “Our father…”
Having said this I believe he was a messenger sent from above and brought with him the most precious message of all, love. Agape.
“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner” is a longer form of the prayer. The words, “…a sinner.” were added later, in the Russian tradition of using the prayer. Other, earlier Orthodox traditions used the words “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.” One uses the words that seem to fit one’s need. God knows who we are. The aim is that one begins with oral repetition of the prayer, and that eventually, the prayer, as St. Simeon the New Theologian says, “…descends from the mind to the heart.” For a new practitioner of the prayer, simply to repeat the prayer is the aim. Embodiment comes with practice. Learning and working with the prayer with someone with more experience is useful.
Thank you Georgia!
Sometimes God Smiles…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d45grP-BkGA
There are a lot of variations even in the Greek Fathers; I like the common Athonite formulation found in Gregory of Sinai: Κύριε Ἰησοῦ Χριστὲ υἱὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐλέησόν με (Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me). But whatever resonates with you is the form to use.