Anthony Bloom (1914-2003) was a medical doctor who became a Russian Orthodox priest. His childhood in Russia taught him “that life was violent, brutal, heartless” and all people were “adversaries.” Only the people closest to him could be trusted. His family emigrated to Paris in his teens, and he was sent to a boarding school. A priest spoke to his class at a time when Bloom had little use for Christ. He returned to his room after the lecture and started reading Mark’s Gospel, primarily to debunk what he had just heard. Then it happened. Bloom described it this way, “While I was reading the beginning of Mark’s Gospel, before I reached the third chapter, I suddenly became aware that on the other side of my desk, there was a Presence, and the certainty was so strong that it was Christ standing there that it has never left me.” He went on, “I met Christ as Person at a moment when I needed him in order to live, and at a moment when I was not in search of him. I was found; I did not find him.”
In the early days of television, Anthony Bloom often appeared on BBC TV in his role as archbishop of an area including England. He spoke on prayer in a program titled “Prayer for Beginners.” While he directed his remarks to newbies, his instructions are relevant for any who might think we are further along the way. Thomas Merton said, “We are all beginners when it comes to prayer.” Bloom wrote six books on prayer, including Prayer for Beginners. The following is an excerpt from one of his television programs. I invite you to utilize these five prayers as a guide to prayer:
Anthony Bloom
FIRST PRAYER: When it comes to praying, our first difficulty is to find which one of our personalities should be put forward to meet God…We are so unaccustomed to be our real self that in all truth, we do not know which one that is…so we may pray–Help me, O God, to put off all pretenses and to find my true self in Thee.
SECOND PRAYER: Since if we are to address God, this God must be real and since the pictures we have of God from earlier years, including childhood, may prevent us from meeting the real God…so we may pray–Help me, O God… to discard all false pictures of Thee, whatever the cost to my comfort.
THIRD PRAYER: Since we may come to God with boredom, fear and despair as we talk to God, it must be genuine talk…so let us put all our worries to God and drop these concerns. So, we may pray–Help me, O God to let go of all my worries and fix my mind on thee.
FOURTH PRAYER: Since we stand before God as stripped, reduced-to-the-bone people which we are when we remain just alone, and since we are also in the image of God…I suggest a period of silence of three to four minutes which we shall end with a prayer–Help me, O God, to see my own sins, never to judge my neighbor and may the glory all be thine!
FIFTH PRAYER: When we pray to God from all our heart…and yet there is nothing but silence, I only want you to remember that we should always keep our faith intact, both in the love of God and in our honest truthful faith. Let us say this prayer, which is made of two sentences pronounced by Jesus Christ himself–Into your hands, I commend my spirit. Thy Will, not mine, be done.
Rev. Dr. Peter James served 42 years as the senior of Vienna Presbyterian Church in Vienna, VA — 21 years in the 20th century and 21 years in the 21st century. He retired in 2021 and now serves as Pastor-in-Residence at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
Even as a pastor, prayer came slowly to Pete. Read Pete’s story.