O Lord our God, you know who we are;
men (and women) with good consciences and with bad,
persons who are content and those who are discontented,
the certain and uncertain,
Christians by conviction and Christians by convention,
those who believe and those who half-believe and those who disbelieve …
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 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. Amen.
Karl Barth (1886 – 1968) (Adapted)
