“But as soon as we have understood Jesus Christ, we have understood our humanity, our nature and out function, which is inseparable from God. Now, because there is no humanity without God (atheism is a ridiculous invention), God commands us to pray, God participates in our affairs and our needs, our cares and in our distresses, in our expectations, and in everything. When we pray, ‘Give us…our…bread,’ we do no other than recognize what is the reality of our life; we admit that which is, namely, that we are nothing without him. And this command, this invitation to pray, to unite our cause with his, is a simple recognition of that which is: God invites and commands us to put ourselves beside Jesus Christ, who deigned to assume humanity. He was God, and he made himself a human being. This he interested himself in all these great things, and especially in all these small things, that preoccupy us.”
Karl Barth, Prayer (2nd Edition). Don E. Saliers, ed.; Sara Terrien, trans. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1985, page 50.
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