Brother Bonhoeffer speaks... (Listen 219 GA)

"God loves human beings.

God loves the world.

Not an ideal human,

but human beings as they are;

not an ideal world,

but the real world.

What we find repulsive

in their opposition to God,

what we shrink back from

with pain and hostility,

namely, real human beings,

the real world,

this is for God

the ground of

unfathomable love."

- Bonhoeffer

A prayer for the 219 GA of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.):

Lord of Life we confess

we are so busy looking back

we cannot see what is ahead.

We long for life to be the way it was

and yet you nudge us forward.

You come into our midst

and we push you away

when we refuse

to see with your eyes

and love with your heart.

We don't walk where you walk.

We don't listen when you do.

Forgive us.

Have mercy on us.

Amen.