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Being Good Doesn’t Make You Free. The Truth Makes You Free.

By Nadia Bolz-Weber
Way to Freedom, Lukiyanova Natalia / frenta/ Shutterstock.com
Way to Freedom, Lukiyanova Natalia / frenta/ Shutterstock.com
Mar 28, 2012
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There’s someone who is new here at House for All … actually they are new to church entirely and therefore unfamiliar with liturgy. After coming to House for a few weeks I met them for lunch and asked what stands out for them at church expecting them to say the singing or maybe the community. “You know that part at the beginning where we all say together that we’ve fractured relationships and done things we shouldn’t and stuff?” Uh…I answered…the confession? “Yeah! they said. That’s so amazing.”

There’s a trend in starting new Lutheran churches to actually eliminate the confession and absolution in the liturgy because, well, it just makes people feel bad. And let’s be honest, it’s just a lot more appealing to go to a church that doesn’t make you feel bad.

And I guess there is some logic to that. I mean, if the point of religion is to teach us good from evil and how to choose the good, then who wants to start out each Sunday saying that you didn’t manage to pull that off. Again.

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Way to Freedom, Lukiyanova Natalia / frenta/ Shutterstock.com
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