“Shameful/Sinful Mankind: Uncomfortable in God’s Presence 羞愧/有罪的人會因神的臨在而不安“（Genesis 創世記 3:8-9）
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’
天起涼風的時候，那人和他的妻子聽見耶和華神在園中行走的聲音，就藏在園子的樹林中，躲避耶和華神的面。耶和華神呼喚那人，對他說：“你在哪裡？”
Like Adam and Eve, Jonah and Peter, etc. fleeing from God’s presence, mankind need God above everything else, yet are uncomfortable in His presence because sin never feels comfortable in the divine presence! This is the self-contradictory moral situation sin has brought us into. The notion that there is a God but that He is comfortably far away is not embodied in the doctrinal statement of any Christian church. Anyone who dared admit that he held such a creed would be considered a heretic and avoided by respectable religious people; but our actions, and especially our spontaneous utterances, reveal our true beliefs better than any conventional creed can do.
就如亞當和夏娃、約拿及彼得等等躲避神的臨在，人需要神，遠超過需要任何的事物，然而祂的臨在卻令人感到不安，因為罪性從不在神聖的同在裡感到安舒！這是罪性已把我們帶進那自相矛盾的道德處境裡。任何基督教會的教義中，都沒有包含如下的觀念：世上真有一位神，而祂卻離我們感到自在的遠。若有人敢承認他持有這樣的信條，必被視為異端，為有聲望的宗教人士所迴避；可是我們的行為，尤其是我們衝口而出的言語，都比任何傳統的信條更加顯明我們真正的信念。
Prayer: God of Trinity, you obviously know where we are but also know a gulf has been made between you and us, a gulf that you yourself would have to bridge. You heartfelt cry, ‘Where are you?’ is meant to arouse our sense of being lost, to express your sorrow over our lost condition and our accountability before you as well as to lead us to confess, repent and return to you. Thank you for coming to us through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit patiently and personally with truth and care showing us our lost condition and waiting for our answer with repentance and loving obedience. Amen.
禱告：三一神啊！你明顯地知道我們在那裡，卻也曉得在你與我們之間，已有一道鴻溝分隔，那你自己會定意要彌補的鴻溝。你衷心的呼喊：「你在哪裡？」，是為了要引起我們迷失的感覺，表達你對我們迷失境況的憂傷，並我們在你面前的問責性，與及引領我們認罪、悔改、回轉歸向你。感謝你透過耶穌基督和聖靈，以真理和關愛耐心地親自來找我們，顯明我們迷失的境況，等待我們以悔改和鍾愛的聽從作為答案。阿們。
