John 3:16
For God so loved the world…
"The Lord seeks a heart filled with love for God and for one’s neighbor – this is the throne where He would sit and where He appears in the fullness of His heavenly glory. ‘Son, give me thy heart’ (Prov. 23:26), He says, ‘and all the rest I will add unto thee’ (cf. Matt. 6:33), for the human heart can contain the Kingdom of God."
St. Seraphim of Sarov, d. 1833, A Russian Monk of the Jesus Prayer Tradition
As I walked into the room where one of the Community of the Lamb 12-Week groups was meeting, I was greeted with this urgent statement: “We really need to pray for the world, right now especially.” My immediate inner response was that this is exactly what the Prayer of the Lamb is about, and that this is a spiritual resource already engaged and available to be drawn upon now and for any moment or time of urgent need, for any crisis, for any crucial turning point or juncture in the events of the world.
The Prayer of the Lamb asks for the biblical mercy that is the loving-kindness of God, the flow of grace in abundance even to the absolute poverty of our need. As those who pray this prayer come to know, this mercy is utterly reliable and always available. It is present and able to be received regardless of rightness or worthiness or even ignorance of just how much need there is for mercy. Therefore in times of emergency, crisis, catastrophe or impending war we may pray for this mercy in the midst of anxiety, dread and despair, when we are afraid and feel we are helpless. The mercy of God is already present even as the words form in the heart - mercy to heal, reconcile, strengthen and transform, beginning in each one praying and radiating throughout the world.
Now we may think that when we pray the Prayer of the Lamb or any prayer or engage in contemplative prayer or meditation, that we are making a difference for positive good, that we are accomplishing an important ministry, or that we helping to bring about some act of mercy and grace. We may pray with great intention and sincerity, motivated by the love and devotion we wish to express for Yeshua. None of that really accomplishes anything of itself. But whatever works for motivating us to get on our knees or our meditation cushions comes at the initiation of the Spirit. We are merely the place at the moment where the intercession is occurring. Our bodies physically present, our minds silently reiterating the words of the Prayer, holding them gently in awareness, our breath continuing on its own giving a rhythm to the Prayer are all that is needed. All we bring is innocent presence in offering the Prayer obediently and trustingly.
Many have commented that while the practice remains the same – Yeshua, Lamb of God, have mercy on us, the turning of a circle of beads, the spontaneous flow of breath – what happens during each sitting is never the same twice. We may think that today I will practice in such a way as to foster great peace or no interruptions by thoughts or for experiencing expansion of awareness, but we find out ever so surely that we have no control over what happens during this time of offering the Prayer. It is for our own good that we should really come to vivid awareness about this, for then perhaps we can see that it is the One who has called us into discipleship who is doing it all. What an interesting discipleship! The less effort we do on our part, the more we let go of whatever we construe as our part of the work, and the more that we disciples leave to our Teacher, the better it is all the way around.
The great love of God for the world, for the whole of creation, seeks embodiment in those willing to be receptacles, those willing to receive, those willing simply to be still and awake and observing. Then for the sake of the world the One truly able to work is at work. In our hearts God so loved the world.
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