As I continue to reflect on how we all journey together in this “time warp” time towards Christ’s kin-dom, I’d simply like to share today a prayer by Karl Barth from Sunday’s worship.
O Lord our God!
You who know who we are;
men (and women) with good consciences and with bad,
persons who are content and those who are discontent,
the certain and the uncertain,
Christians by conviction and Christians by convention,
those who believe, those who half-believe, those who disbelieve.And you know where we have come from:
from the circle of relatives, acquaintances and friends
or from the greatest loneliness,
from a life of quiet prosperity
or from manifold confusion and distress,
from family relationships that are well ordered
or from those disordered or under stress,
from the inner circle of the Christian community
or from its outer edge.But now we all stand before you,
in all our differences,
yet alike in that we are all in the wrong with you and with one another,
that we must all one day die,
that we would all be lost without your grace,
but also in that your grace is promised
and made available to us all in your dear Son Jesus Christ.We are here together in order to praise you
Karl Barth
through letting you speak to us.
We beseech you to grant that this may take place in this [day],
in the name of your Son, our Lord.