Welcome: Do you like the clock change this week?

Worship: a song or hymn about prayer

Word: Mark 10.46-52

Last week we heard the story of the disciples jostling for advancement. In contrast, here we have the blind beggar Bartimaeus who knows who Jesus is and calls for help.

• Discuss how a blind beggar could ‘see’ what is important better than the disciples did.
• Like the disciples, are we more aware of what we want than what we need? Does the consumer society encourage this?
• Why did people try to shut up the blind beggar?
• Do we shush people who are crying out in their need?
• What can we learn from Jesus’s question, “What do you want me to do for you”?
• Often we rush in with the ‘answer’ to someone’s problem without asking them what they need. Why do we do this?
• Why are we generally reluctant to ask Jesus for what we need?
• Are we aware of what our real needs are in the rush of modern life?
• The words of the blind beggar Bartimaeus are the origin of the ‘Jesus Prayer’: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner”. For more on this, see http://www.prayerguide.org.uk/thejesus.htm

 

Witness: When did Jesus last answer your prayer?