Breath Prayers

I'm thoroughly enjoying my journey through NT Wright's book, Simply Christian. This book is simply amazing - creative, huh? It's been compared to CS Lewis' Mere Christianity and I've have to agree with that comparison.

A main theme of this book is "echoes" of the Christ-story in the world. It's where I got the inspiration for Easter Sunday's, "Echoes of Easter" message.

In his chapter on prayer, Wright lists some breath prayers. I spent time praying these today. You pray a "breath prayer" by breathing in the first half and breathing out the second. Here are his three prayers:

"Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner." I've been praying this for years.

"Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, set up your kingdom in our midst." Beautiful.

"Holy Spirit, breath of the living God, renew me and all the world." What a bold prayer!

"Hear O Israel; The LORD (Yahweh) our, The LORD our God is one; and you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart." This is the Shema passage, Deuteronomy 6:4. Shema is the Hebrew word from prayer.

Wonderful prayers.