This morning, in the beautiful Swiss countryside just outside Geneva, World Council of Churches’ ecumenical officers are meeting at the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey. Our topic is “ecumenical formation” and just how we intend to raise up a new generation of ecumenists.
And, we began our day with Morning Prayer in the little stone chapel at the center of this educational institute associated with the University of Geneva. Among the prayers were these:
L: Before the world began, when everything was shapeless, You were there…
Hovering over chaos, planning the texture, the taste, the sight and the sound of things,
Balancing the opposites, weaving the rainbow,
Turning the random into the real.
A: And for this we praise you.
L: Before we began, when, in the womb, we were shapeless, you were there…
Calling us your own, planning our nature and the novelty in us,
Weaving our potentials, making us unique,
Turning the random into the real,
A: And for this we praise you.
L: And even now, Now when we dream dreams or puzzle over the future;
Now, when our ideals are challenged and the second best becomes attractive, you are there.
Upsetting our easiness, contradicting our compromises,
Replacing our narrow vision with the sight and sound and taste of a better life,
Picking up the loose stitches of our devotion,
Turning the random into the real.
A: And for this we praise you.
L: And it always will be so. For you did not say you were the answer, you said you were the way;
You did not ask us to succeed, you asked us to be faithful;
You did not promise us paradise tomorrow, you said you would be with us to the end of the world.
Turning the random into the real.
A: And for all this we praise you, now and forever. Amen!
That We All May Be One 
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