Pocket Prayers for Commuters. Christopher Herbert

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       INTRODUCTION

      If you left home this morning to commute to work, the chances are that you will have had a range of experiences. Your thoughts and emotions, your worries and your delights will all have been jostling against each other on your way to the station. Perhaps you were running late or maybe (maybe?) there was nowhere to park or it might have been dark, wet and miserable. Then, on the train, the carriage was, as usual, packed. It’s not exactly a stress-free or easy way to begin the day, is it?

      And in case all this is not enough to contend with, you may also be worrying about a situation in your own family or about a difficulty you face at work.

      And then, after you have faced whatever work holds for you today, there will be the journey back home to contend with – the crowds out in the street hurrying, heads down, eager to get to the station or the bus. The subdued hubbub in the station concourse, and then an infuriatingly unruffled and disembodied voice saying, ‘We apologise for the late arrival of . . .’

      It’s a turbulent way to live and, as a result, some of the things that might give you a moment of peace or a time for reflection are crowded out. The very notion of a work-life balance causes you to smile wryly or even cynically . . .

      But suppose that inside all the things you are experiencing, real peace is waiting to be found? Peace of mind, peace of soul. Put it another way, suppose that God himself is actually present with you, waiting to be discovered; the still, small voice hidden inside all the turbulence that you and your fellow-commuters face each day?

      It is not a fanciful thought. There is plenty of evidence in the Bible, and in the lives of Christians, that people under stress have found that God really is present with them, even in the most demanding or the unlikeliest circumstances.

      This book is designed to help you structure some of your thoughts by offering you a pattern of ideas around which you can pray. Prayer and thinking are closely aligned activities. In prayer, you are doing your thinking in the presence of God and directing your attention towards the Almighty. You are making space and time to take your mind and soul on a walk towards God and the world. The prayers and reflections are meant to help you to ‘walk’ at a certain pace, slowly and thoughtfully. There should be no rush and certainly there are no deadlines to meet.

      Each day there are prayers and readings for the journey to work and for the journey homewards. They follow a number of themes and the mornings and evenings echo each other.

      It is my hope that this small book will help you to walk closer with God and discover the delights and challenges of doing so.